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“I love you too, Ovi.”
I ended the call and let out a heavy sigh. Keeping my father away from work was going to be more difficult than sneaking in here and pretending to be him. Not only did I need to keep him away, but I also needed to make sure Niko didn’t know he was back. That would be just as bad.
There was only one person who I needed to update if I could get a chance to. Almi. Of course, he didn’t look too pleased to see me with Niko. Can’t blame him. I’m sure he got into trouble. And now here I was, following Niko around the factory. Almi must have a lot of questions. The funny thing was, I couldn’t answer any of them. Just like all the employees on the floor, my being here made no sense to me either. Niko said he was impressed with my reports. I didn’t care how good they were. I had lied, sneaked around, and impersonated an employee. I shouldn’t be allowed to go anywhere on company property, never mind be paid to be here.
The person who knew Niko the best was my father. Maybe tonight over dinner I could ask him about Niko. That would be a sure way to ensure we both got indigestion.
Niko owned the largest manufacturing company in Tabiq. I shouldn’t have asked my father about him. His information must be all over the internet.
Opening the laptop, I keyed in his name, Niko Rio. Sure enough, a picture of him filled my screen. The saying a picture tells a thousand words was wrong. All it told me was he was very handsome. Something I had figured out the moment I had crawled out from under the desk. But I needed to know what was behind those gorgeous dark eyes of his. What was he really thinking? What drove him? What were his likes and dislikes?
I kept searching and found an article about him. I scanned it but noticed he never once mentioned Tabiq. All he did was talk about the quality of his furniture and how he prided himself on fulfilling custom orders. Great. Something else I already knew.
Where was all the personal information about him? I spent the next hour glued to my screen but came up empty. Either Niko was the most boring person there was who had no life outside of work, or he was amazing at hiding it.
Guess I was going to have to find out for myself. The only way to do that was by spending time with him. I got up from my desk and went to his office. His door was open, and I could hear him on the phone. I stopped and should’ve turned and gone back to my office, but I couldn’t once I overheard him.
“Firing him was the right decision,” he said. “Should’ve been done a long time ago. Totally useless.”
What an ass!I couldn’t believe he was speaking about my father like that. He was far from useless. For years, my father gave this company everything. When my mother was sick, he came to work and never let anyone know the hell he was going through.
I was so angry. My hands clenched in fists. This might cost me my job, but no way was I going to allow him to tarnish my father’s name.
Turning the corner, I stepped into his office and found Dean Henderson sitting there with Niko. Great. He wasn’t only trashing my father but doing it to a Henderson. The onlyother significant employer in Tabiq, one who might consider employing him.
Niko was surprised to see me and was sure my expression had puzzled him. But he was about to learn I was not someone to mess with.
Hands on my hips, I growled out, “Mr. Rio, I do not know who you think you are, but you have no right to talk about him in such a manner. Useless?” I had such a hard time even uttering the word, but I did. “He is a very hardworking, loyal person who has done far more for your company than you give him credit for. Maybe if you were here in Tabiq overseeing your company more often, you would know that.”
Niko waited and then asked, “Are you finished?”
I looked at Dean who was sitting there with a stupid grin on his face. That only angered me further. Turning back to Niko I said, “It doesn’t matter what I say or think. You have already made up your mind about him. Sadly, you will not know how wrong you are until it is too late.”
“I guess you’re not finished,” he stated.
I huffed, and said, “You are infuriating. I’m being serious here and you’re acting like this is some kind of joke.”
“No. I’m enjoying listening to your rant about something you know nothing about, and I have no idea why,” he said.
“Really? I overheard you talking about him. You called him useless. You said firing him was long overdue,” I reminded him.
“And you know we were talking about him, how? Did we say his name?” he asked.
I thought back and then shook my head. Had I jumped the gun? No. My father was the only person Niko could’ve been speaking about.Try talking your way out of this one. “Is there someone else that you fired lately?”
Niko grinned. “Not yet, but getting tempted to. Not that I need to explain myself, but Dean and I were discussing one ofhisemployees. Or should I say, former ones? One of theuselessones. We werenottalking about Trye.”
I felt my cheeks burn hot with embarrassment. When I met Dean’s gaze, his expression was filled with amusement.
“I’m...I’m sorry. I...I...” There was nothing I could say. I blew it. Not just for me, but for my father as well. Not only was I wrong, but I admitted to eavesdropping on their conversation.
No words would come, and I dashed out of his office back to mine, grabbed my purse, and left the building. I didn’t need to stay to hear the words, ‘You’re fired’. It was inevitable. I deserved it. I couldn’t have been more unprofessional if I’d tried.
When I got in my car I was overcome with tears of frustration. It was as though the past month had been for nothing. And now I needed to go home and tell my father the truth.
The drive home was a blur, and I was surprised I made it home in one piece. A couple of horns blared as I cut them off, and I didn’t even wave to apologize. I needed to get home, lock myself away, and let myself have a good cry, more than the one I was already having.
As I pulled into the driveway, I had the perfect view of our kitchen window. The blinds were open, and I could see that my father was cooking. Parking my car, I watched him. Even from a distance, I could see that he looked...happy. When I opened the car door, I could hear music coming from the house, and my father's voice booming as he sang. I closed my eyes briefly soaking in the sounds that brought such joy to my heart. It sounded like the old house before my mother became ill. A time when we were all happy and carefree. It felt so good until I remembered why it all ended. Mother died and took a piece of us with her.
