Page 64 of The Re-Proposal

Doberman remains slightly in front of me, an arm extended as if to keep me from walking forward.

I stare at the woman, not recognizing her. “Who are you?”

She freezes. Pink rises in her cheeks and her eyes dart back and forth. “You… you don’t even know who I am?”

I lift a brow, waiting.

Vargas winds the window down. “You okay, boss?”

Rather than answer, I take a step toward the woman.

Doberman stops me with a cold look.

I shove his hand down pointedly and approach my attacker. The security team steps apart so I can walk through.

Coldly, I assess her. She’s wearing a T-shirt with a logo of the ice cream shop. Her hair is in a net and her shoes have splotches of ice cream all over them.

“I was the HR director at Regitech. You walked in one day and ruined my life on a freaking whim.” Her finger pokes close to my nose. “You’re a bastard, Cody Bolton. And all the noise they’re making online isn’t half the story.”

A door opens and slams shut. Vargas joins me on the sidewalk. He hands me a fresh handkerchief.

I accept it and wipe my collar, one corner of my lips curling up.

The woman’s eyes widen. “Are you laughing?”

“HR director, huh?” I draw the cloth down my neck. “How under-qualified were you that you moved from being an HR director to an ice cream scooper?”

Her cheeks turn a mottled red.

I flick her a dark look. “Regitech was raging with corruption and sexual harassment cases. Whoever their HR director was, she conveniently turned a blind eye to the many complaints filed by female workers.”

The ice cream assaulter glances away.

“Given you’re here instead of in another corporate office convincing women that no one will listen or believe them even if they’ve been assaulted, it probably means that you weren’t qualified for that position in the first place.”

Her mouth parts and her eyelashes flutter rapidly.

“It means,” I lean in to whisper in her ear, “that not only are you a sad excuse of a human being, you were also a fraud. One who only got the job for your ability to look the other way when the higher ups stuck their hands in places it didn’t belong.”

She trembles. Eyes stained with hatred find mine. “You sure are cocky with your bodyguards and your money. But there will come a day when you won’t be so arrogant. And on that day, we’ll see who’s laughing.”

The woman whirls around and stomps down the street.

Vargas moves as if he’ll follow her.

I shake my head.

He grits his teeth, but nods and returns to the car to get the wheelchair for Joel.

“Are we still eating ice cream here?” Joel asks, wheeling toward me. “After all that?”

I glance back at him. “You don’t want to?”

“What if it’s poisoned?” He shudders.

“Only one way to find out.” I lead the charge into the ice cream shop and calmly order for myself, Joel, Vargas, my driver and the team.

I don’t bat an eyelash when I take a bite and I calmly return to the car, studying my tablet while I finish the cone.

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