Page 44 of Indecent Demands

This was where the executive assistants would hang out during their lunches since generally they were too busy running the schedules of the C-level execs to actually go out somewhere and eat. Which was fucking depressing, if you asked me.

It was right around lunchtime, so I was able to go in and make some coffee while waiting for people to file in.

Soon enough, a few people entered—men and women—chattering. “Coffee?” I asked.

A few responses came back as ‘yes’ and so I got to work. “It must be crazy right now, with the upcoming public offering,” I noted. “How’s everyone taking it?”

“I think Damien’s going to fire me just to give himself some catharsis,” one woman groaned. “Nothing I do lately is right!”

“He’ll be better after the offering,” another assistant said. “He’s just stressed. You’re an amazing assistant.”

“Yeah, tell him that.” She rolled her eyes. “He owes me a raise for how crappy he’s been treating me the past week. In fact ever since that security guy showed up.”

“Maybe there’s been a security breach,” one of the men said.

“We would have heard about it,” the second person who’d spoken replied. “It would be a lockdown for all of us. They’d make us do those annoying passwords with the two-factor authentication.”

Everyone at the table groaned.

“I heard from someone down in tech that he’s just poking for holes and doing a general beefing up,” I chimed in. “I think so that Damien can promise potential investors that everything’s state-of-the-art and their money is safe.”

Damien’s assistant took her coffee from me, shaking her head. “I don’t know what’s up, but he’s upset about something. It’s like he keeps waiting for a shoe to drop, and it’s not dropping.”

“What about the others?” I asked casually. “I mean, he can’t be the only one who’s nervous.”

“Jackson? Nervous?” Another man snorted. “Yeah, right. Ever since his daddy got Damien to sign that stupid contract that gives Jackson partial control and a massive stock share, he’s been lazy as all hell. He doesn’t care what’s going on.”

“At least Brian tries,” another woman said.

“You’re only saying that because you want to sleep with him.”

“No, she’s right,” the first man replied. “Brian does try. Jackson’s just too used to coming from money.”

Everyone pulled out their lunches and sipped their coffees in silence for a moment, enjoying their meal and the caffeine boost. Time for me to speak up.

“Doesn’t Damien want to… I don’t know… find a way out of this?” I asked. “If Jackson isn’t doing anything to help the company but has that much control, surely… Damien would want to buy him out?”

“Fat chance,” the second man muttered. “The only way that Damien could get away from Jackson is if Jackson died.”

I nearly dropped my coffee cup as the realization hit.

So that was it. Ten million was alot. But if you split it in two, five million per person… Jackson and Brian…

Smirtech was about to make a public offering. It would be worth hundreds of millions, if not a couple billion—what was five million per hit to get rid of the two hangers-on standing in between Damien and complete control of such a company? The only two ‘friends’ that Damien couldn’t shake off and abandon?

I felt sick and glanced at the clock on the wall. “Shit. I’m late. See you guys later!”

None of them had any idea who I was. Maybe I was better at this lying thing than I’d thought.

I hurried down the hall, heading for the elevator that was just arriving. It opened—and I literally ran into the man himself: Damien Harcourt.

I swallowed. “Mr. Harcourt.”

My voice cracked. Crap. Okay, maybe I wasn’t so good at this lying thing after all. Or at least I wasn’t good when I was unprepared.

Damien stared at me curiously. “You’re in the IT department, aren’t you?”

I nodded. “Yes. I’m Ariana.”

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