Page 143 of Dear Grumpy Boss

The security guards remained silent. They’d probably heard all this before.

“Where is Weston Aldrich? When he finds out you’ve treated me this way, you’ll lose your pathetic rent-a-cop jobs.”

“Ma’am, as we told you already, our orders came directly from Mr. Aldrich,” one of them informed her.

Simon was practically vibrating beside me, but he was quiet as a mouse, not missing a single word.

“This is absolutely ludicrous, and I refuse to believe a word you say. I need to speak to Weston. I demand it.” Marisol tugged her elbow free and tried to spin back around toward the building, but she was stopped before she took a step.

“Ma’am, if you don’t leave Andes’ property, we’ll have to call the police. If Mr. Aldrich wants to talk to you, I’m sure he’ll be in touch.”

The threat of arrest finally made her stop fighting. A car pulled up to the curb, and the guards helped her into it. They stood there, waiting until the car had driven away before retreating into the building.

Rebecca blew out a heavy breath. “Wow. I’m going to need to know what that was all about, stat.”

My stomach was a mess of writhing worms. I pressed down on it and swallowed hard.

“We’ll read about it in the news,” I uttered.

“Screw that, I’m heading inside. You know someone has the tea.” Simon squeezed me in a side hug. “Would you like me to text you when I find out?”

I shook my head. “No. I don’t need to know.”

He sighed. “All right. Have a great time in Wyoming. Kiss a cowboy for me, love.”

The thought of kissing anyone but Weston made me want to scream, but I smiled at Simon and promised to tell him all about my trip when I got back. Rebecca waited with me until Saoirse arrived to drive us to the airport, then she hugged me and told me everything would be okay.

I didn’t believe that for a second, but at least I was getting out of there, giving in to my instinct to run far, far away from the source of my pain.

Hundreds of miles between me and Weston Aldrich.

It wasn’t forever, but it was all I could give myself at the moment.

Chapter Thirty-six

Weston

IwalkedintoAndesThursday morning, and it felt like a hazy film had been wiped away.

The piece of information given to me by Elise had been the start of uncovering the nefarious, destructive conspiracy that had been going on right under my nose. Once that initial thread was pulled, it all came unraveling in a surprisingly swift and complete deluge.

The past three years, the lead of my California field team had been accepting bribes from Brian Lewis to falsify his inspection reports. He actually hadn’t set foot in that factory in more than two years. Without oversight, Brian had been cutting corners to save money, illegally disposing of waste into the environment.

When my field team went to inspect Dominic Peters’s factory during our negotiations, he’d been offered the same deal: cash in hand to look the other way, allowing Dominic to ignore our strict policies.

No doubt he would have accepted, but our negotiations had gone awry and Andes had contracted a third factory.

Dominic Peters proved to be the underhanded, duplicitous scumbag I had first appraised him as. When he didn’t get our business, he decided to get even by going to the press.

Through all this, Marisol had been beside me, most likely shaking in her boots while playing the supportive friend. The fact of the matter was, she’d been in charge of the field teams on the West Coast and all this flying beneath her radar was impossible to believe.

My team scoured her computer, uncovered proof of her negligence, and she’d been escorted from the building, her access to both Andes and me revoked. The last acknowledgment she would ever receive from me was my signature on her letter of termination.

A lot of people’s lives were going to be turned upside down, some ruined, but I couldn’t help being relieved. Now that we knew exactly what we were dealing with, we had a path to recovery.

And now that the haze was gone, a sudden and acute sense of clarity washed over me.

I had made a massive mistake with Elise. I had been aware that I was, but I’d been on a single-minded mission to save Andes. I hadn’t had the mental headspace to halt the ball I’d started rolling.

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