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“You’ll be moving to Ezra’s office.”
“Permanently?” I asked. When she said I’d been requested, I’d assumed that she meant for a few days, maybe a week, not forever. “But I’m a temp,” I reminded her. I could feel beads of sweat starting to form across my neck. “You oversee my contract…”
Maggie shrugged. “I tried to explain that, but Mr. Wright insisted. He’s got a lot of high-profile cases on the horizon, and he made it clear that he was not taking no for an answer. I’ve already sent your information to HR to begin processing.”
Her words made me gulp. I’d lied to the temp agency. Word on the street was that they were willing to overlook certain…details…if you were reliable enough and showed up to your job, a rarity in temp work. Something told me that HR wasn’t going to be so lenient, though I couldn’t say that to Maggie.
Instead, I nodded and returned to my desk to begin packing up my few things. I didn’t have any personal items, so it didn’t take long to grab my supplies–just some pens and notebooks.
“I guess I’ll be heading up now,” I said to Maggie, unsure of what I should do next. Her dark eyes look up from her own computer, and I try my best to keep myself still as she examines me. I hate being looked at. I’ve done my best these past few months to blend in. I wanted nothing more than to be vague and uninteresting. A woman you didn’t look at too closely. If people looked, I feared what they would see.
“Wait,” Maggie said, as I started turning to leave. She released a sigh and folded her hands over themselves. Her pursed lips were still pinched, but her cheeks relaxed. “Be careful around Ezra Wright.”
I opened my mouth to assure her that she had nothing to worry about, just as I tried to tell her yesterday, but there was something in the way she was looking at me that made my mouth snap shut.
“I don’t know what happened yesterday, but I know men like Ezra Wright. He’ll take what he wants from you, and he’ll leave you broken.” Maggie gave me a hard look, and I almost chuckled. I’d already been left broken by a man. There was nothing that Ezra Wright could do to me that would trump what happened with Nikolai. But I couldn’t tell Maggie that, so instead, I nodded and stayed silent as I walked out of the door.
It didn’t matter anyway. I had no intention of letting Ezra Wright or anyone else get close to me. Plus, I didn’t even know if I would still have a job once HR saw my falsified paperwork. Hell, I’d be glad if I managed to not go to jail.
Sighing, I started making my way towards the elevators. It felt like I was going to my death.
* * *
“It’s going to be great to have you around to help,” Tommy said, as he helped me get settled into my new desk. “It’s been just me for the past few weeks and whew!” He blew out a breath to exaggerate his point.
I couldn’t help but smile at him. Tommy was the type of person who never seemed upset. His energy was infectious, and I couldn’t stop the smile I felt spreading across my face. When this all eventually blew up, and I was led out of here in cuffs, I hoped that he would not think too terribly of me.
“Do you know why Mr. Wright asked for me specifically?” I whispered. I didn’t know where he was and being in the vicinity of Ezra Wright was making me nervous in a way that I did not enjoy.
Tommy’s cheeks pinkened slightly, and I felt my stomach drop. “He was impressed with your work,” he said. He was looking everywhere but to my eyes, a sure sign that he was lying.
Leaning forward, I did my best to imitate the look that Maggie had given me earlier. “What aren’t you telling me?” My voice was as stern as I could make it.
Tommy sighed. His shoulders drooped, and I knew that he was going to crack without too much pressure, “Fine,” he muttered. He looked behind his shoulder towards Ezra’s office. “There’s an attorney who is gunning for Wright, and though he’d never admit it, he’s nervous.”
I raised a brow. “Okay…” I wasn’t sure what any of this had to do with me. “Mr. Wright would probably benefit from someone with more experience, especially with this attorney sniffing around.”
“Oh, yea.” Tommy wasn’t so much agreeing with me, as he was remembering that I’d asked what my role in all of this was supposed to be. “Honestly, I don’t know. Ezra doesn’t normally get involved with the secretaries.”
My brows knit as I wondered what made me so special.
“Honestly,” Tommy said, “I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Ezra has a reputation, but he doesn’t bring that shit into the office. I think he just likes screwing with Maggie. She’s the reason we are short staffed.”
“I hope so. I need this job.”
Tommy nodded, his face serious. “You don’t have anything to worry about. Ezra takes care of his people. You do a good job here, and you can get any job that you want.”
I nodded and returned my attention back to setting up my new workspace. I’d assumed that Tommy was going to head back over to his desk, but he was lingering uncomfortably. “Is everything okay?”
“Ezra wants to meet with you?”
That uncomfortable feeling in my stomach grew. “Why?”
“He wants to get you up to speed, that’s all.” I must have looked incredulous because Tommy raised his hands in mock surrender. “I swear!”
I said nothing as I grabbed a pen and my legal pad. It was best to try and get this over with. Squaring my shoulders, I walked towards Ezra Wright's office and gingerly knocked. He jerked the door open causing me to step back in surprise.
“Good morning!” Ezra was dressed in a fitted dress shirt and trousers. His dark hair was pushed off his face, and we were so close that I could see the gray specks in his dark blue eyes. He wasn’t wearing a jacket, and his shirt was pushed up over his forearms. “Come in.”
