Page 47 of Single Dad's Second Chance

“I thought you were a smart man, Henry. Someone smarter than trusting a filthy criminal like her.”

I scowled, slitting my eyes and ready to lash out at her for slandering the woman I loved. I wouldn’t stand for her to make up this bullshit. I got it. She was jealous and antagonistic of Mia, but this was taking it too far.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I demanded.

She huffed a laugh. “My God. You’re so clueless.”

I gritted my teeth, taking offense to that remark. Mackenzie used to say I was clueless as well. She’d nag that I was too stuck in my work to be aware of how unsatisfied she was with me. That I was oblivious to how long she’d been cheating on me near the end. She claimed that I had tunnel vision to work and it was my biggest flaw.

“She’s a criminal,” Ann enunciated, spelling it out like I was a moron.

I shook my head. This was bullshit. How low would she stoop? “No, she’s not. Mia couldn’t be a criminal.”

Ann lifted her chin, defiant. “Yes, she is. I did my homework on her.”

I shook my head faster as wrath claimed me. “Impossible. I’d never let a criminal be an employee on the executive floor. I’d never let someone with a record handle sensitive documents. And I sure as hell wouldn’t trust someone like that to be near my son.”

Ann grinned, covering her mouth like she had to keep in laughter. She was looking past me, at the elevators.

With the sinking feeling of my stomach dropping, I turned and found Mia.

She’d overheard it all. She frowned, not making eye contact as her cheeks turned pink. When she blushed, it was normally sexy. Her flush made her that much morerealto me, but right now, the idea of her experiencing embarrassment peeved me.

She’d only be embarrassed if this nonsense Ann was saying was true.

But it couldn’t be.

“Then I’ll quit,” she said, not looking up at me. “I’ll see myself out.”

18

MIA

Keeping my face lowered, I avoided looking at Henry. I couldn’t. I refused to. Seeing the anger and judgment written on his face would be too painful of a hit to take.

My heart was already cracked. Shame burned through me. It stung, so deep and hard, that he’d be that kind of a person. To talk so harshly aboutme, someone who’d always be in his corner and there for him however he needed or wanted me.

He’d never known about my past. I preferred to keep it that way, at least until I could afford to expunge my record.

Too late.

It seemed that Ann had gotten so jealous, so desperate to remove me from the scene, that she went digging and looked me up.

“What?” Henry demanded.

I glanced up, furious and wounded. He never used that tone with me. We argued and bickered constantly, but he had no right to snap at me like that. Like I was the villain.

A fleeting thought hit me that he wasn’t trying to project his anger at me, but at Ann. I knew he was fed up with her. He’d told me the other night when I stayed over that he wanted hergone and out of his life. He had no patience for her drama, and it almost made sense that he’d be mad in general in this context.

But there was no mistaking how he directed his anger atme. No error in witnessing his scowl of disbelief atme. Not her.

Ann was merely the messenger, I supposed, but the message remained true.

“I’ll quit, then.” Holding my head up high, I relied on the remaining embers of my spirit to keep me strong. “I’ve got integrity. If you’re going to judge me because of one mistake in my past, then you can look for someone else.”

I didn’t wait. I couldn’t. Tears threatened too close to the surface. Turning sharply, I headed for my cozily small office. So many little colorful trinkets and décor would have to stay. I’d have to leave it all behind, these details that marked this place as my space, that identified me as this person in the office family.

Hearing Henry’s footsteps hot on my heels, I knew he’d demand answers. He’d give me that judgmental bullshit as I packed up my things, and I couldn’t bear it. I couldn’t stomach shoving my things in a bag or box while he glowered at me.

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