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“Looking for someone?”
Bennett’s silent approach still surprised me all these years later. We grew up together and other than his stint in the military, we’d been working together since we got our first jobs in fast food during high school. It didn’t seem to matter though, because I still jumped when he popped up out of nowhere.
“Dammit, Bennett.”
He looked smug, a smile tugging at his lips. It was about as much as I’d get from him. His military career may have been short, but that didn’t make it easy for him. He didn’t talk about it much, but he wasn’t the same man who left.
“How’d the meeting with Melvin go?”
I sighed. “There was a hiccup when we began, but it went in our favor in the end. Did you see Robyn on your way up here?”
“No. She leave early or something?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out.”
While he called down to the security office to see if she was seen on the cameras, I called Luka. He was my CFO and my closest friend after Bennett. He was also better at dealing with people and I knew if I found out Robyn had left after I told her to wait for me, I was going to lose it.
“Vincent.”
“Luka. I’m going to need you to join me upstairs.”
His voice went low and sultry. “Oh? What for?”
I rolled my eyes. “Shut up and get up here.” I hung up before he could say anything else irritating. The asshole barely had to speak before he was driving me up the walls. I probably wouldn’t have put up with him for so long if he wasn’t such an integral part of the company. And a personal friend.
The cameras showed Robyn leaving while I was still in my meeting. When I tried to call her to get her to come back, she refused to pick up the phone. She always picked up for Luka though, so I had him call her and demand she come back.
When she strode into my office, her gaze was locked on Luka. She apparently wasn’t expecting me to still be here. She came up short, her eyes darting between the three of us.
“Mr Andrews. I thought–”
I narrowed my eyes. “You thought what? That I’d conveniently forget your screw up and move on with my day? You nearly lost a multimillion dollar investment.”
She pursed her lips into a pout. “I didn’t do it on purpose. No one ever told me that the files were downstairs. How was I supposed to know?”
Making an irritated sound, I picked up the piece of paper on my desk. Priya brought it with her when she brought up the file. It was the receipt from the day the file arrived, as well as the logs of the several phone calls she made to Robyn directly, saying it needed to be picked up. I handed it to Luka, who scanned it. He made a tsking sound behind his teeth, shaking his head slowly.
“Looks to me like someone wasn’t willing to ride the elevator to pick up a file. It’s not looking good for you, sweetheart.”
“Luka,” I snapped. I didn’t need a harassment case on top of everything else. He flashed me a grin before turning back to Robyn. She was working herself up, her bottom lip trembling and big tears gathering in her eyes.
“I swear, Mr Andrews, I never got any phone calls. I–”
“Since you not only were blatantly negligent with an important file and you refuse to admit to your transgression, I’m going to have to let you go. Bennett will show you down to the security office so you can turn in your key card and company ID. I’ll have human resources call you with any paperwork they might need you to sign and–”
“You’ve got to be kidding me! It was one stupid file! That guy was a creep anyway! He was always staring at me! You can’t just fire me!”
My lip twitched against a scowl. I found it highly unlikely, given that Melvin had just recently lost his wife and was still grieving, but I would look into it anyway. I wasn’t going to dismiss a harassment claim just because my employee was a pain in my ass. It didn’t change Robyn’s fate, though.
“You can clear out your desk. Bennett, please escort Miss Sharp out.”
She took a step back, glaring at him. “Don’t you dare touch me.”
Of course, none of this could go easily. If I didn’t get some real help soon, I might have an aneurysm.
Chapter Two
BENNETT
