Page 60 of Return on Love

“So, rumors have it that Priscilla had been cheating on Bob for some weeks now. Maybe even more.”

“Wow! I want to say, serves him right, but I know it really hurts when someone cheats on you. So, I’m also a little empathetic.”

“Really Eva. How can you? Anyway, so you obviously know that her brother is marrying Stephen Stratham’s daughter. Apparently, she has gone a step further and has ensnared his son.”

I don’t know how to react to that. Does this woman have no heart? No soul? She had a boyfriend since college. Then she used Bob to get into our firm, and threw him off as soon as she found a richer (okay, much, much richer) guy.

“Well, good for her.” That’s all I can say. I mean, how’re you supposed to react to this?

“Girl, I’m not so sure about that,” Lily remarks, and I shoot her a curious look, urging her to spill the tea. She leans in closer, her voice hushed. “You know that dude’s a total player, right? Yeah, he’s loaded, but I seriously doubt he’s gonna put a ring on Priscilla’s finger. Rumor has it he was dead set against his sister marrying Priscilla’s brother too. My bet? He’s just messing with her.”

Honestly, I couldn’t care less about Priscilla. I roll my eyes and brush her off. “Well, if that goes south, she’ll find someone else. But forget about her drama. Any news on Bernard?”

“He’s not been in office. Overheard Gordon talking on the phone with another partner earlier today. They have a team looking into it, led by our dear Priscilla, and they’ll present their findings on Monday in front of everyone. The way Gordon spoke, it definitely wasn’t good news for Bernard. Apparently, he’s been dipping his fingers into the firm’s cash. Not 100% on the deets, but I caught Gordon saying something like that.”

I nod. I want to tell her my plan to expose Weber, but if it goes wrong, I don’t want to implicate her, so I just keep quiet and nod. The fact that Priscilla is leading the investigation doesn’t bode well for Bernard. If her company analysis is anything to go by, I’m sure she will not look at anything beyond the obvious. It’s not fair for Bernard. He deserves someone better and more competent looking at things, not someone like her.

Lily puts her hand on my shoulder. “What’ll you do if they find Bernard guilty? I mean, of course you work with Weber now, but his involvement in Ryan’s company might hurt your chances of getting the dough.”

“I’ll just take one day at a time, and see how it goes from there.”

Chapter 18

“The fear of loss is a path to the dark side.”—Yoda

I meet with a few other people. Everyone is buzzing about Bernard. He’s been with the firm for many years and considered one of the strong pillars. People are sympathetic, but everyone knows that if he’s found guilty, it will decimate his career and reputation. No one will touch him after that.

Ryan messages me that Weber has left, and that he has access to his system now. Well, while I’m just gossiping with the office folks, at least Ryan has been doing some work. Just as I’m about to leave, I see Hayden. It’s his last day and there’s a small send-off cake party for him. With Bernard not being there, Hayden didn’t want one, so it’s just a few of us, hugging him and eating a bit of cake.

It’s late afternoon by the time I go back to Ryan. I know how finicky he is about food and its timing.

“I’m sorry it’s late for lunch. Come, let’s eat first.”

He readily agrees. “This body needs calories, so yeah, I’m hungry. C’mon.”

I take him to a small restaurant near the office, which I know makes amazing grilled salmon. Once we’re seated and have placed our orders, I ask him the question that has been eating me. “Did you find anything?”

He looks around to see no one is close enough before replying. “He has not sent that email to James from Bernard. I double checked everything.”

“How’s that possible? You must’ve missed something.”

“But,” he continues, lowering his tone to a whisper, “when I found nothing regarding Bernard, I checked about CashCross. And there I found some emails that seemed weird.”

“Weird? How?”

“I’m not sure, since they didn’t write it clearly. Weber and Neil's communication hinted at certain things. I was still looking at them when you came in.”

Just as the waiter places our food on the table, I see Neil and Priscilla enter the restaurant. Talk about the devil.

“What are they doing together?” I ask, mostly to myself.

“Who’s that?”

“The man is Neil, the associate working on CashCross. The woman is Priscilla. She’s buying her way to partnership in the firm. She’s also the one Bob cheated on me with before dumping me.”

Ryan turns his head for a second look.

“She’s pretty, isn’t she?” I ask him when he turns back to face me.

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