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“Simple,” Slater said. He pulled up a file that he had compiled on Beck when he did the background check on her. Knox had all of his employees vetted to make sure that they were good candidates. Unfortunately, checking to make sure that the person wasn’t a crazed stalker wasn’t part of the background check.
“That’s Beck’s file,” Knox said.
“Right,” Slater agreed. “And, she put her sister, Rainey Nolan, down as her emergency contact—phone number and all.”
“Remind me to give you a raise, Slater,” he said, patting his friend’s shoulder. “Good work.” Knox pulled his cell from his pocket and dialed Rainey’s number.
“Let me do the talking, Boss,” Slater said, taking the cell phone from him. “I’m betting that your girl has given her sister an earful and she won’t have a very high opinion of you. As your head of security, telling her that she and her children aren’t safe, she might be more willing to listen and talk to me.”
“Good point,” Knox said. The phone rang three times and then a groggy woman’s voice answered.
“Hello,” she whispered.
“Mrs. Nolan?” Slater asked.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Who the hell is this?” Knox bit back his chuckle and Slater shot him a look. He could hear the family resemblance between Beck and Rainey—both were feisty and didn’t take shit from people.
“My name is Slater Tyson and I think that you and your family might be in danger,” he said.
Her sigh filled the room. “Is this some kind of prank?” she asked. “Listen, I’m a single mother of four. I don’t have time for this shit,” she insisted. He knew that she was about to hang up and that they were going to miss their window of opportunity in getting Rainey on their side.
“Don’t hang up, Rainey,” Knox all but begged.
“What the hell?” she breathed. She sounded beyond frustrated.
Knox pulled the phone over to himself and Slater looked at him like he had lost his mind. “My name is Knox Heart and I’m your sister’s—well, I hope that I’m her boyfriend, but that does sound kind of lame. Beck said that she wants no strings attached—just sex, but I just can’t do that with her. So, yeah—I guess I’m her boyfriend. Hopefully—well, that is if she doesn’t kick me to the curb after I tell her everything. I’m at least her boss—I think.”
Slater groaned and pulled the phone back from Knox. “You are bad at this kind of shit, aren’t you?” Knox shrugged.
“You have five minutes to tell me what the hell is going on here and then, I’m going to call the police to tell them that you’re harassing me, Knox,” Rainey said.
“It’s Slater again, actually. My boss sucks at the whole expressing his feelings thing. Before Beck was hired, a woman named Felicity Jones worked for Knox and she ended up quitting. You see, my boss is a workaholic and he had a problem believing that all of his employees should have the same work ethic. He foolishly called Felicity at four in the morning to ask her for some reports and she rightfully quit,” Slater explained.
Knox crossed his arms over his chest and stared Slater down. “Thanks, man,” Knox breathed. “You really painted me in a good light.”
“Four minutes,” Rainey growled. Knox had to admit, he liked Beck’s sister.
“Right,” Slater agreed. “Felicity met with Knox yesterday afternoon, basically begging for her job back and when he told her that he had already hired a new assistant—your sister, she got upset. She saw a note that Beck left for Knox on his desk, saying that she was looking forward to their dinner date last night, and Felicity threatened to go to HR with that information. She even said that she’d make up some stuff about her strictly work relationship with Knox to get him in trouble.”
“Doesn’t Knox own the casino?” Rainey asked.
“Yes, half of it,” Knox said.
“Then, why would it matter if she went to HR with the news that you slept with your assistant?” she asked. “Because I know that’s what happened between you and Beck last night, Knox. She told me all about that.”
“If Felicity went to HR and told them that I was in a relationship with Beck, then the whole office would know,” Knox admitted.
“So?” Rainey asked.
“I promised your sister that wouldn’t happen until she’s ready. She promised me to consider what we’re doing, a relationship, and I promised to give her time before the whole casino finds out. The only people who know about us are Slater, my business partner Ace, Felicity, and now, you.”
“Oh,” Rainey breathed. “That’s kind of sweet. So, you’re protecting her from Felicity going to HR because you made Beck a promise not to tell the whole office?”
“Yes,” Knox said, “but, now there’s more.”
“Well, you might as well tell me the rest,” Rainy sassed. “I’m already awake and all.”
“You’re in danger,” Slater said, cutting to the chase.
