Page 73 of My Forbidden Boss

“There are other details you should know,” Tristan says.

That’s…not what I expected him to say. “Such as?”

“I’m surprised you haven’t called me back about this. I left messages,” he says.

“I haven’t checked any messages.” I say.

“For three days? What have you been doing? You’re normally joined at the hip with your cell…don’t tell me. I can imagine. You have it bad for this woman,” Tristan says.

Anger flares, burning away the numb inside. I don’t have patience. I pace my office, unable to stand still any longer. “Just tell me what these details are.”

“I tracked down Glen Brandt while you were away,” Tristan says.

That has me stopping in my tracks. “What’d he have to say?”

“He says Bourke went to Moss Creek. Before the tender was announced,” Tristan says.

I take a minute. “Why would a man like Max Bourke go to small-town USA?”

“Especially one that’s been hand-picked for an unannounced-as-yet development,” Tristan says.

I run my finger through my hair, spin on the balls of my feet. “How would he know where the development was ear-marked for?”

“He paid off someone low-level on the council for the information. Brandt said Bourke has contacts throughout the country like that,” Tristan says. “It’s how he’s got the jump on most of his projects.”

That comes as no surprise. I wouldn’t put it past a man like Bourke to do that. “You think Adeline knew about the tender prior to the development announcement as well?” I say.

“The question remains, why would Bourke take the time to go to Moss Creek, pick someone like Adeline out of the blue to set her up in your office to get information about Blue Sky? What could motivate her to do something like that? Why would he ask her when he obviously has more experienced people he can use?” Tristan says.

I return to the window, stare at the black sky. “Money. It’s always money. He paid her off to work for him and steal information from me.”

“By wearing second-hand clothes. Living in that rat-infested apartment. Accepting your gifts only when you make her. Doesn’t sound like the usual money-grabbing female sniffing around your wealth,” Tristan says. “Didn’t you tell me she lives in a nice, middle income house with her parents? What twenty-one-year-old woman would do what she’s done without a damned good reason.”

I don’t like the buzz of wasp wings inside my stomach. The more I think, the more they scrape the inside of my gut. She never offered me a reason. She only apologized to me when Andrea called her out, crumbling as much as I was.

She accepted everything I said, resigned to it. She hid nothing. Simply stood her ground and took it all.

What twenty-one-year-old woman could take that?

This puzzle is missing key pieces and I know where to find them. I sit at my desk and turn on her cell. It’s not pass-coded and I get in easily enough. The cell pings with unread texts when it fires up, the screen rolling with unread messages.

“Oh god.” Lava flows through my veins, the fire burning away my frozen insides. Nausea punches my gut at the unread messages. The threats. The acidic words dripping with intimidation. Harassment. Extortion. Using her mother against her. All from a person who Adeline marked as SD.

“What are you doing?” Tristan asks.

I put my cell on speaker and read out the texts to Tristan. I go back through to the first message she received from that scum of a human being.

“Fuck,” Tristan says.

It’s succinct and exactly how I feel. Bourke has been fucking with my girl and I didn’t have a clue.

“Who the hell is SD?” Tristan asks.

I wrack my brain, but come up with nothing. “She never mentioned anyone going by those initials.”

“Why would he or she be using her mother against her? Why would they be homeless? And how is Bourke mixed up in this mess?” Tristan asks.

“I don’t know.” My voice is hoarse. Nothing about this makes sense.

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