Page 258 of Savage Bosses

My plan was contingent on her arriving as expected. I had no idea where her head was. This was our first argument—hopefully the last because I hated fighting with her already. In her anger, she cut all my access to her.

I wasn't a fan of angry Judy-Lynn.

No, if she canceled, she would do it by email. I couldn't see her canceling it to my face. That defeated the purpose of running.

“Answer the phone.” Teddy's voice sounded from my cell.

That ass.

I glared at the device. When had he changed the ringtone to his voice? He focused on the Cornerstone project in San Jose. I barely saw him and Jason outside of business calls and meetings.

Even more important, why in the hell was he calling at two-fifty in the morning California time?

I snatched up the phone. “What happened?”

“I should be asking you that,” he replied. “Clearly, you haven't checked your email.”

I bit back a sarcastic reply and clicked my inbox. There were hundreds in my inbox. “A little context would be nice.”

“Check out the one with the subject line 'nice girls finish last and easy ones get the job.' It's quite inflammatory.”

I clicked the email, filled with cold dread and fury. “I want Ellen gone if she had anything to do with this.”

Images of Judy-Lynn and I at the Commodore and her house stared back at me, salt in a wound I wanted healed. She was every bit as sexy in the third person in that green mini-dress. The last one was of us kissing in her doorway. The voyeur made us appear like eager lovers that didn’t want to part from one another instead of hurt and confused. We looked good together. Even if I had to dole the real me out in chunks, I was happy with her.

I was glad I didn't have to lie to her anymore.

But I hated the cost.

“I wholeheartedly agree, assuming we can prove that it was her and it didn't look like retaliation for a Whistleblower activity. We do have ethical policies to consider.”

“I want this to be recalled.” I opened theBlatherdirectory to see who in IT was already online.

“There's no point. The recall process isn't a hundred—“

“I know.” But I needed some sort of action.

Michelle Gray had a greenavailablestatus next to her name. I moved her to the server team after her assistance with Jerry’s sabotage and I discovered her degree in cybersecurity. Even better, she was an old schoolmate of Judy-Lynn. She'd have a vested interest.

I dialed her number on my desk phone.

“Hello?” a nervous voice answered on the first ring.

“Shut down all outgoing mail until I advise otherwise.”

“Done.”

“Thank you.” I hung up the phone. I paced for a few breaths.

“Kudos.” Teddy congratulated me. “That gives us enough time to do damage control.”

“I'm not firing Judy-Lynn.”

“Of course not. She's competent at her job and is well suited for you.”

I picked up my phone. That couldn't be. I must have misheard. “You told me to stay away from her.”

“I told you not toplaywith her. That's an important difference.”

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