Page 84 of Reclaiming Love

Chapter 46

“You?”

Yeah, me. Noah reveled at the unexpected shock on Matt’s face.

In all his recent run-ins with Matt, even as late as yesterday when the guy was still recovering from the shock of having all his picture files corrupted, Noah hadn’t let on that he’d be in charge of the new hire.

He didn’t want this guy in his company, let alone working under him. But he was willing to do it, if it meant he had to leave the Zimmerman Group. And having that turdball here meant he got to keep an eye on the guy. He intended to make Matt Elliott pay for everything he’d done to Melissa.

“I didn’t realize you were so high up.” Matt sounded impressed, a little envious even, as he followed Noah down the hallway.

They sat down in Noah’s office, facing one another across the desk. “Tell me a little about yourself,” prompted Noah, suitably shifting through the paperwork he had on the guy. Then he sat back, his hands clasped over his stomach, trying to listen to what he had to say.

Noah saw the guy’s lips move, but hardly paid attention to what he said. The entire time Matt was talking, Noah only saw the movie of Matt and Melissa replaying over and over.

The more Matt spoke, the angrier Noah got. It was an effort to play it cool and to never once let on what he was thinking.

“That’s how I ended up at the Zimmerman Group,” said Matt, after what must have been at least ten minutes of non-stop blowing his own trumpet.

“I see.” Noah suitably rearranged the sheets of paper on his desk. “Tell me why you want this job so much?” He sat back, the pile of papers neatly lined up. He let Matt warble on some more, as he settled back into his chair. When Matt was done, he looked at Noah, awaiting the next question. Noah smiled at him, affably enough.

Matt adjusted his position in the chair. Waiting patiently.

“What’s your stance on indecent images?” Noah asked, taking particular pleasure at the look of complete confusion on Matt’s face.

“Excuse me?”

Noah repeated. “What’s your stance on indecent images?”

Matt stiffened visibly. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“It’s only a question.”

Matt shifted in his chair. “I don’t see what that’s got to do with anything to do with my work or career.”

“Hmm.” Noah pulled his body taller as he sat in the chair. “We deal a lot with monitoring clients’ servers and a lot of that is done remotely. We have access to many networks and machines on clients’ sites. I wondered what your take on it was. We have to be aboveboard, totally clean, totally accountable ourselves.” He relaxed into a smile, enjoying every minute of the random but not so random things he was telling Matt, designed to faze him, throw him off kilter. And from the expression on Matt’s face, he could see that it was having the desired effect.

Matt gave him a questioning look but so far hadn’t answered his question. To prompt him further, Noah asked, “You must have such practices at your current employer?”

Matt moved in his chair, loosened his tie a little. “Yeah. I guess.”

“Of course your employer has such practices in place.” Noah laughed, so out of context here, but he was enjoying making this guy uncomfortable. “I mean, no one wants a dodgy employee working for them, right?” Maybe he’d overdone it now.

Matt eyed him warily—as if he was looking for the double meaning in Noah’s words.

“I wanted to give you the heads up, dude. I know you wouldn’t have any shit like that on your boxes.” He stared directly at Matt, who winced. But he couldn’t prove a thing.

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Matt mumbled, though he seemed less sure of himself. Noah continued, asking him about his technical capabilities, his current responsibilities at his present workplace and then went on to tell him more about the position at Black Diamond.

But by now Matt appeared to have lost the expectant look of unfettered enthusiasm he’d worn when he had first walked in.

Mission accomplished, thought Noah, jaw clenched as he tried to get a grip on the gnawing anger that simmered below the surface. He could not, no matter how hard he tried, completely erase that footage of Melissa crying while the man abused her. It took all his might to stop himself from landing a solid fist across the guy’s face.

After an interview that lasted under an hour, Noah saw Matt to the door and told him that he would be in touch in due course. After Matt left, Noah returned to his desk and rubbed his fingers against his chin. On paper the guy looked great. If Noah didn’t know what he now knew, the guy would be a sure bet. On paper, to a high-tech startup such as Black Diamond, Matt Elliott looked like the model employee.

It was scary how much lay hidden beneath the surface. Noah felt it his duty to recommend him to Rory but with reservations.

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