Page 97 of Beautiful Betrayal

I laugh. “Yes. You really needed a rescue from the beautiful woman fumbling all over herself. I think she was the one who needed rescuing.”

He laughs now. “Is that right?”

“Yes. It’s right. How are you feeling about being with Bennett?”

“Damn good. I’m grateful for this opportunity.”

“I do owe you,” I say.

“No,” he counters quickly. “You do not owe me. You were good at your job. If you hadn’t been, I’d have fired you.”

I pause at his new office door. “Thank you.”

“Thank you?”

“Why would I want to be anywhere I wasn’t wanted?” I open the door and motion him forward.

He doesn’t move. “About that.”

“About what?”

“On second thought.” Now he motions to the office and enters ahead of me. By the time I join him, he’s set his bag on a chair, barely glanced at his gorgeous office and he’s facing me expectantly. I shut the door. “What’s up?”

“Grayson can’t feel good about me. Not after I worked for Ri for a decade of my life.”

“He trusts me. You decide if he trusts you.”

“How?”

“By doing your job.”

“When can I meet him?”

I have no idea why this bothers me, but I can feel myself recoil and alarm bells are going off in my head. “Focus on winning cases. As you already know from your raise, Grayson’s generous with his bank account.” I don’t give him time to say more. “I’ll meet you in the conference room down the hall to the right in half an hour. I’m handing you all but one of my case files.” I turn but he halts me.

“All of your cases?”

“I’m moving to corporate.” I hesitate only a moment before I say, “Don’t make me sorry I brought you over. There are people who would hurt Grayson.”

“I’m not one of them.”

“Then make sure you have your ears and eyes open with the right team in mind.”

I turn and exit his office, and my nerve endings are prickling in all the wrong ways. I head down the hallway with one destination in mind: Eric’s office. When he’s not there, I return to my office, shut my door and call him. “Hey, Mia. What’s up?”

“I brought Kevin Murphy to take on my old cases. He was my supervisor at Ri’s firm and with Ri for ten years.”

“I’m aware. And?”

“And I trust him, I do, but I just got a weird vibe from him. Maybe I’m paranoid after our talk this morning, but my trust just doesn’t feel good enough. Not when he might burn Grayson. Can you have Blake check him out?”

“Already done. So far he’s checked out.”

“Are you sure? Because I can’t be the reason something bad happens to Grayson, Eric. I can’t.”

“You, Mia, are the good in that man’s life. You are not bringing any bad on him, but you did the right thing. Better safe than sorry.”

“I love him.”

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