Page 45 of The Bargain

Phil grumbled something under his breath before exiting the office. I watched him on the cameras to ensure he left.

Sighing, I picked up my phone, irritated at the woman who was costing me my best employee.Then keep him if you want to. You’ve always known what he was like, but you’d never cared...until now. Why is that?Lea taunted in my head. Fuck, I could hear her stupid witch-doctor nonsense when she wasn’t even here.

“Now’s the time to prove you’re worth the massive retainer I pay you every month,” I announced as soon as Elise, the owner ofHired!a head-hunting company I used from time to time, answered the phone.

“Mr. Beaumont?”

“Yes. I need you to discreetly get feelers out. I need a new corporate lawyer to head my legal department. I need the best of the best; experienced, calculating. Salary opened to negotiation. I need candidates tomorrow by the end of play. All that in complete anonymity.”

“Tomorrow? Sir, that’s -”

“You’re the best, aren’t you? Impress me.” I hung up, knowing that she was going to impress me.

I turned to the video camera again. Opal sat in the small armchair in her bedroom, her legs up, her head on her knees, as she looked out the window. I couldn't see her face from this angle and that unsettled me.

I rolled my eyes.It’s not your problem Dean, you didn’t do anything for once. And yet, I found myself going to the kitchen to retrieve a bag of frozen peas.

I sighed when I reached her bedroom. The door was still slightly ajar.

For once I knocked, giving her a sense of privacy, she didn’t really have.

She remained in her position, but turned her head to face me. Her cheek was bright red and already swelling a little. “I swear I didn't do anything. I didn’t proposition him. Please don’t throw me out.”

I took a step forward and stopped. She’d almost been raped and this was the first thing she said? She was really destroying all of the preconceptions I had of her.

“I know,” I replied softly.

“You do?” she asked, raising her head a little and arching her eyebrows in disbelief.

I nodded. There was no point in explaining anything else. Walking closer, I extended her the bag of peas.

“Why?” she asked, taking it tentatively.

“Because it will help with the swelling and the bruising,” I replied, awkwardly standing close to her chair. “Are you okay?”

She hissed as she rested the bag on her cheekbone. “Why are you being kind to me?”

If asking if she was okay after seeing her almost getting raped and handing her some frozen vegetables was enough for her to call me ‘kind’, her standards really were non-existent.

“Because it’s never acceptable for a man to force himself on an unwilling woman. No matter who she is or what she was.”

“Ah, I see. Rape is a no but coercing is a yes?”

I knew she was talking about the blowjob. I stood up straighter. “I gave you the choice, Ms. Collins. You decided to get down on your knees. You could have walked away, no hard feelings.”

“No hard feelings?” she asked with an arched eyebrow.

“Well.” I couldn’t help but give her a half-smile. “No harder than usual.”

She nodded. “Fair enough. It would have been hard to go lower than the hate and disgust you’re already so generously bestowing on me.” She sighed. “Anyway, I’ll be okay. It’s not anything I haven’t experienced before.”

Chagrined, I couldn't help but wonder if that was her superpower. I was a smart man, a calculating, ruthless one and yet, I almost felt compassion for her.Almost?Even knowing who she was, how she duped my brother, I felt it.

“Try to keep it on your cheek for the next half an hour or so.”

She nodded. “I know.”

I wondered how many times she had needed to do this before. I shook my head with a sigh. I couldn't let her affect me. I turned around briskly but stopped just before I exited the room. “Don’t worry about Phil. He won’t come here anymore,” I added, unable to control my urge to reassure her.

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