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“Dominic, no. I don’t think you understand. I’m in love with someone else.”
“But you’re not with him?”
“Not exactly.”
I have a sinking feeling in my chest when I see the big smile he throws at me.
“That’s all I wanted to hear. I can see that I rushed you and came on too strong. I hear what you are saying, and I understand. If you change your mind, I’ll be here.”
With that final statement, he winks at me and turns on his heel to head back the way he came. Still reeling in shock, I stand there looking after him.
The birds are still singing, the kids are still playing, and the old couple is probably still holding hands somewhere. And here I am, watching my stubborn ex-boyfriend walk away from me, probably for the last time. He’s not going to accept that we are over, so I won’t be able to see him again. The last few months have been a confusing mess. But for the first time in a long while, I am certain about something.
I am certain that Dominic and I do not belong together.
I’m hoping the rest of the day goes much smoother. Jake isn’t in the office today, so I have the place to myself. I get a lot of work done with relatively few interruptions. I work on two of the three clients that Jake gave me to work on. I have yet to look at the file on my uncle’s company.
Jess and I talked yesterday. She thinks that I should forget the entire plan and talk to Jake. He might understand if I plead my case with him and tell him I can’t work on that project due to a personal conflict. I don’t need to confess the only reason I took the job was to get to that file. I haven’t done anything that would get me into trouble yet. If I can get ahead of this thing, then maybe it will be okay. Jake and I may have a shaky relationship, but he can be reasonable.
That leaves the problem of my uncle’s company. Nothing has changed. He is going to lose the company. If that happens, I don’t know how I’ll be able to forgive myself for doing nothing to prevent it. There could be something in those documents that helps him. He claims thatnumbers were fudged and that correspondence was sent out to vendors with false claims. What if I am able to get proof that the Anders Group stooped to malicious methods to ruin him in order to buy him out? Maybe he would be able to sue them or at least make them settle out of court. They should be made to pay for what they’ve done to him. Given how far in the process they are, I’m not even sure this would help my uncle, anyway.
I don’t know what to do.
Do I turn on Jake, or do I turn my back on my uncle?
Immersing myself with work helps me get my mind off things. Jake has been entrusting me with more and more each day. I’ve been building on my skills to the point that I am comfortable with my daily tasks. I’ve come to discover that I actually enjoy my work.
When I initially took this job, I assumed I would be required to do horrible tasks involving background checks to dig up dirt on people to ruin their lives or devalue their companies. I pictured politicians each November and how they sling mud at each other and make terrible accusations to ruin the other. I believed that because that’s what my uncle told me happened to him.
But that’s not what I’ve been doing. I’ve done background checks, and I’ve done research. But everything I’ve been asked to do has been to protect the Anders Group from making bad investments. Before a bid is put in or a deal is closed, they want to make sure there are no hidden surprises. It’s understandable that they would want to do their due diligence to make sure everything is as it should be.
I’ve not seen any evidence of them doing anything nefarious or underhanded. Now that I’ve gotten to know Liz and Jake, I would be surprisedif any of that is going on. They just don’t seem like the type of people who would do the things my uncle is accusing them of.
Then why would they target my uncle’s company? None of it makes any sense. His is not a huge business, unlike some of their other deals.
I’ve got to be missing something. I have to look in the file just to be sure.
Thinking about this makes my head and heart hurt. No matter what I do, someone is going to lose. And I have a sinking feeling that I will lose either way. Do I go behind Jake’s back and help my uncle? Or do I let the current takeover plans continue and allow my uncle to lose his company?
Jake isn’t in his office right now. It would be the perfect time to see if he is hiding anything in there. I know that he has a locked drawer in his desk. I’ve seen him put folders in there, and one had my uncle’s business name on it. He won’t be in the office today. There is virtually no way to get caught because it is rare for anyone to come to our offices. And even if they did, I work for Jake. I could easily explain my presence in his office. No one would question me for being there.
How do I open the lock, though? I have a set of keys that Liz gave me. But I don’t know if any of them will work for his desk. I doubt the lock would be difficult to get into, were I to try and break in.
I owe it to my uncle to try.
What if me doing this, is the only way to save his business?
Decision made, I sneak stealthily into his office. It is unearthly quiet, and I can almost hear my heart beating. The air conditioning clicks on with a loud thud. Or at least, it seems loud. In reality, the quiet hum of the air puffing out would not even register with me on a normal day. But today isn’t normal. Today is the day I finally cross the line. Today is theday that I have dreaded since I started at the company. There’s no coming back from this.
I can still leave. I haven’t done anything wrong yet, I say to myself.
But I continue. I sit at his desk in his comfy armchair. Like the man himself, the desk is neat and tidy. Not a paper out of place. He left his agenda on his desk. I smile when I look at it. I remember the way I teased him about the planner. I still don’t understand why he has a paper copy of his schedule when we use the online scheduler. I guess it’s just part of his charm.
Or maybe he has the paper agenda for things he doesn’t want me to see? Surely he wouldn’t just leave it on his desk if it had confidential information in it? Right? So, if I peek into it, it’s not like I’m doing anything wrong.
I turn in his chair to look out the window. We are so high up. I love looking down at all of the people and the cars. They all have their errands to run and jobs to go to. I wish I could be down there, too. Anywhere but up here.
I’ve not made eye contact with the locked drawer yet. The thought of opening it sickens me. I’d rather sit here and look out the window.
