Page 104 of One Sweet Lie

She was convinced her lie wasn’t a big deal.

“Given the fraud that she was, I think it was rather generous of you to buy that for her,” Denise said. “It’s a testament to how much you care about your employees.”

“I guess.” I sipped my water.

“Maybe she’ll finally learn what character integrity means wherever she ends up next, you know?”

“Right. Well, in the meantime—” I stopped. “What did you say about character integrity?”

“That maybe Harlow will learn what that means.” She pressed a hand against my forehead. “I think you need to take some more time off. You look sick.”

“No,” I said. “I need everyone to leave the room.”

“Sir, the charity group is on their way up here.”

“Now.”

Everyone rushed for the exit without another word.

“Not you, Denise,” I said. “Stay behind.”

I walked over to the windows, waiting until we were alone.

“What’s going on?” she asked. “You’re acting strange.”

“How did you find out Harlow wasn’t a real nanny?”

“Huh?”

“You heard me,” I said. “How’d you find that out?”

“Pierce, you’re speaking another language. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Mrs. Wharton said she received a note that mentioned ‘character integrity’ and ‘due diligence’ when you sent over my donation,” I said. “I was wondering why any organization would ever question getting a million-dollar gift from a billionaire. Unless they thought it was some type of test, or that I would ask for it back if I knew Harlow wasn’t a real nanny.”

“You’re talking in circles, Pierce.”

“Okay, I’ll lay it out in a straight line, then,” I said. “You didn’t like Harlow because I was falling in love with her, and you thought she was in the way. So, you decided to ruin that any way you could, didn’t you?”

Her face paled by the second, and she was speechless for the first time since I’d known her.

“As much as I appreciate your concern for my personal life, I don’t understand what you gained from that,” I said. “I also can’t help but think that your actions were about something else.”

“Something else like what?”

“You tell me, Denise.” I glared at her. “Why would you want to hurt me?”

“I wasn’t hurting you by revealing that she was a fucking fraud.” She crossed her arms. “That’s all there is to it, and if anyone found out about it, it would make one hell of a scandal.”

“A scandal for the agency maybe,” I said. “Not really for me.”

“Every headline would read, ‘Nanny Agency Used by Billionaire Jets Owner’ before whatever came next, and you know it.”

“Again, that would be a problem forthe agency, not me.”

“I wanted to do what was best for your children.”

“My children hardly know you.” I hissed. “I can count the number of times you’ve come to see them on one hand.”

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