Page 33 of I Am Salvation

“And did you alert your boss?”

“I honestly wasn’t sure what to do. I found out from one of my colleagues that my boss knew about the issue already and didn’t want to fix it because of money, of course.”

“Of course,” I say.

“Anyway, I knew the right thing to do would be to bring it to the client’s attention, but after I talked to my colleague—he told me that everyone all the way up to the top already knows about it—I wasn’t sure what to do. So I called my dad.”

“What did your dad tell you to do?”

She sighs. “He didn’t tell me anything. He said I was a grown-up and had to figure this out for myself but to trust my conscience.”

“And your conscience said to tell the client.”

“That’s just it.” She frowns. “I had decided not to. For the good of my colleagues.”

I cock my head. “Seriously, Diana?”

“Well…yeah.” She bites her lip. “I’ve never had to think about what it might feel like to not have money. To worry about those things. And I didn’t want to put any of my colleagues in that position.”

Dragon scoffs. “First of all, Diana, your colleagues are all high-paid architects. Whether or not one of them has a pregnant wife, they’re still doing fine.”

Diana bites her lower lip. “Maybe. I just know they don’t have the kind of money I have.”

I chuckle. “No one has the kind of money you have, Diana.”

“You said you wouldn’t judge me.”

“I’m not judging you.” Then I realize how my voice just sounded. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” She takes a small sip of her margarita. “I don’t expect you to understand.”

“But I do understand.” I reach across the table, place my hand on hers. “At least I think I do. I want to.”

She smiles at me, squeezes my hand slightly. “I ended up telling the client anyway. I have no idea about the fallout. My boss found the email that I hadn’t yet sent and raised holy living hell.”

“How did your boss find the email?”

“The asshole sneaked into my cubicle and looked through my computer files.”

I drop my jaw. “Seriously? And you’re still worried about how this will affect your colleagues?”

She frowns, looking down at the table. “I have no idea who’s going to be affected by this. But I was angry enough over his snooping that I sent the email right in front of him. Then I left.”

I scratch the side of my head. “You just leaned over him and sent the email? While he was sitting there?”

A small spark of fire shoots through her eyes. “There was a bit of a struggle. But yeah.”

“That’s…pretty fucking badass, Diana.”

She demurely takes another sip of her drink. “You say that as if you’re shocked, Dragon.”

I blink. The few sips of that margarita have brought out her flirty side.

I don’t hate it.

“I’m not shocked. More…amused.” I smirk for a moment and then look right into her beautiful eyes. “For what it’s worth, I think you did the right thing.”

She sighs. “I hope I did, Dragon. I know I did the right thing for the client and for the millions of guests who will one day visit the resort. Like… What if something happened when the resort was full? At the very least, people would have been inconvenienced, but worst-case scenario, they could have gotten hurt, could have died.”

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