Page 88 of Exposé

I shook my head. "I'm waiting for another source to pull through."

She exhaled through her mouth, pursing her lips. "I'm not sure how I'm supposed to give you any more leniency—"

"I know. Just... Please." I pressed my hands flat on the table. "I am so close to breaking through on this. I can feel it."

"You haven't—"

"And now, with Kane dying just days after I spoke to him... you can't tell me that's just a coincidence. That man was paranoid that someone was going to off him."

"Ava, you haven't produced anything on this story for 2 weeks."

"A good story takes time, Whitney. That's all I need." I paused, biting the inside of my cheek, my fingers digging into my cuticle. "Just a little more time. Please?"

"I don't know..." She tapped her pointer finger on the stack of paperwork in front of her.

"I won't ask again." I leaned over the table, my elbows resting on the surface, my knuckle pinched between my teeth.

"Alright. You have one more week. If you don't produce anything of substance, that's it. I'm putting you on animal shelter duty for a month."

My left eyelid twitched as I stood, restraining myself from offering her a gigantic hug. "Thank you."

"You have a condition."

"Okay?" I gave her a wary look.

"I want a report on Kane."

"But you handed it to Max. I can't take that from him. He already despises me."

"Psshh." She picked up her papers and stood. "He doesnot."

"Does... Did you not see his glare today?"

"That's his reaction to everything. Jamie brought in the cake one time, and he glared at each bite he took. The man had a blast."

I laughed, letting a bit of tension release from my shoulders.

"You worry too much." She rested a gentle hand on my shoulder, her reassurance like an asp's bite. "Get these stories done so we can move on."

Nodding, I left the conference room, phone gripped tight in my hand, and plopped into my rolling desk chair.

"What the hell was that about?" Aria slid into my cubicle with her chair. "Are you fired?"

"No. She wanted an update. My deadline was today." I dropped my phone onto the desk and crossed my leg over my knee. Loosening my belt, I bounced my head against my chair and exhaled a puff of air before looking at her again. "My source is dead."

Her mouth gaped as her eyes darted over the office, then scooched in closer to me. "Who?"

"Kane Rogers."

Aria raised a brow. "He'syour source?"

I nodded. "Was." My fingers pinched my lower lip, my phone buzzing on my desk. "Dammit. I've got to take this."

"Who is it?" She frowned and extended her neck, looking at my screen.

"Yoursource." I pressed the green button and put the phone to my ear. "Hello?"

"It's Dr. Kline," his gruff voice crackled over the phone. "I ran your mystery pill through every machine I’ve got. Mass spectrometry, chromatography, even that old spectrophotometer I keep around for nostalgia. And let me tell you—"

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