Page 79 of Her Boss

He finally met my eyes. “This is between us. It doesn’t concern you.”

Rick murmured to me in a way that was likely intended to be reassuring, but it only increased my dread. “It’s all right, Genie. It’ll be okay.”

Something terrible was about to happen—and it was going to happen to Rick.

“You don’t have to do this. He’s… he’s always done what you’ve asked. This… this isn’t right.”

My uncle’s deep baritone cut through the tension in the air. “You’re in no place to tell me anything. To demand anything. Not after what you’ve been… engaging in.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Oh, but you know.

Chester’s face contorted in rage as he snarled, “It’s out of your hands. You’ve caused me enough trouble already, it’s time to close this chapter and cut our losses. Which means you!”

I stared at him in shock, my fists clenching so tight the nails were digging hot pain into my palms. “How can you do this to your own family?”

There wasn’t an ounce of caring in his voice. “I didn’t take care of you out of love; I did it out of obligation. That obligation has been more than fulfilled. And what fucking gall you have making demands after going behind my back and fucking one of my associates! As if you had no idea that Rick was off-limits to you! You’re smarter than this, but rather than use your brain, your actions seem to be dictated by that dirty little cunt instead.”

Rick cut in, his voice cold fury. “If you say something like that again, Nantes, you’ll be saying it through a mouthful of broken teeth.” His jaw clenched. “Leave her out of this, or you’ll wish you had. Deal or not, you don’t talk to her like that. Not fucking ever.”

Chester’s composure returned quickly, my uncle flashing a wolfen smile. “Rick made his choice, and there are consequences for every choice in a man’s life.”

A hot, sick feeling settled deep in my stomach, and I sagged back into my chair. I was still reeling at the cruelty of my uncle’s words, that he never loved me, that raising me was only another job to him.

“What choice?” I asked him, glancing at Rick, then back to my uncle.

Chester’s eyes blinked, and he lifted his chin toward him. “You didn’t tell her? I gotta admit I didn’t see that coming, Trafford.”

I spun to face Rick, grabbing his arm, desperation tightening my throat. “Didn’t tell me what? What the fuck is going on here? What does he mean? Tell me.”

For the first time, there was real reproach and even displeasure in Rick’s eyes, his voice lowering an octave. “Sir.”

My mouth dropped open, my belly tightening. But I complied, almost on autopilot, that commanding tone something I’d long accepted I simply couldn’t resist—even if I wanted to. “Tell me, please… sir.”

Chester grunted, disgust clear in the tone.

Rick shook his head. “Let’s just get this done.”

“Oh, go on, tell her, Trafford! You’ve lost everything already. Maybe you’ll lose her too, in the end? My day would look even brighter, I must tell you.” The sadistic amusement in my uncle’s eyes made him look ugly, as if the reveal of his true motivations had shown me the creature he truly was all along.

The man I’d looked up to, had drawn comfort from. The one man, up until Rick, whom I’d thought was always in my corner.

It was all an illusion.

“Fuck you!” I yelled, leaning over the table at him.

Chester’s eyes danced in the face of my rage. “Stupid girl. This is the bed you’ve made. Now, you’re going to lie in it.”

Rick pulled me back. “Genie… Genie, that’s enough. Just sit tight. I don’t like this any more than you do, but I have to get this done.”

“Sign, please,” Willington intoned, his beady eyes switching between Rick and Chester, and back again.

Rick took up the pen, and with the tip just hovering over the line that would destroy his life… the door to the conference room swung open, a strange man strolling in.

He had a sharp pale slate suit and a rugged, handsome face. He carried a slim, stylish briefcase of chocolate leather, the man moving with a bearing that suggested he was used to getting what he wanted.

The stranger took a seat at Rick’s right, setting his briefcase on the floor between them.

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