Page 68 of A Reclusive Heart

“It was open,” Holly said, shrugging it off as she made her way around the desk and headed for the door.

“No, it wasn’t,” Jamie said, clicking open the recent documents folder and what she saw there had her seeing red. “You went through my private files?” she demanded as she looked up to find Holly watching her with something close to pity.

“Someone else must have gone through them, Miss Harris. I only came in here to leave you a note,” Holly said dismissively.

“Then, where’s the note?” Jamie demanded even though everything in her screamed for her to shut up and leave it alone, but she just couldn’t. Holly had gone through the books she’d written, her e-mails, and her lists.

“I figured out what I needed, so I guess I didn’t need to leave a note after all,” Holly said as Jamie picked up the phone.

“Fine. Then, we’ll just let Rick handle this,” Jamie said, starting to press the extension for Rick’s office only to find the phone suddenly yanked out of her hand.

“You can’t do that!” Holly snapped, looking furious.

“Watch me,” Jamie said, moving to take the phone back only to have Holly pull it out of her reach. “Holly, give me-What did you do to my computer?” Jamie snapped as she watched in horror as the files on computer began to flicker before disappearing one by one.

Trying not to panic, Jamie tried to turn off her computer and when that didn’t work, she began clicking on her files, hoping to save them only to watch everything on her desktop disappear faster until the screen turned a stomach-clenching black.

In a matter of seconds, everything was gone, her notes, her lists, the books that she was editing, and the two books that she owed Rerum Publishing. They were due next month and there was no way that she was going to be able to finish them in time.

“Why?” Jamie mumbled hollowly as she looked up to find Holly swallowing hard as she glanced from her to the door behind her.

“I-I...” Holly stammered as she dropped the phone and rushed towards the door only to have Jamie step in her way.

“Why did you destroy my work?” Jamie demanded as Holly tried to move past her, but she wasn’t going anywhere.

She was done letting people push her around.

For so long, she’d allowed people to take advantage of her, to walk all over her, and push her around simply because they knew that they could, but now…

She was done.

“If you don’t start talking right now, then I’m going to call the police,” Jamie bit out as she watched Holly swallow hardseconds before she reached for her. Jamie tried to duck out of the way, but unfortunately for her, Holly was faster than her.

“You can’t do that!” Holly snapped as she squeezed her arms tightly. “You’ll ruin everything!”

“Let go of me!” Jamie ground out as she struggled to break free, but Holly refused to let her go.

“Look, I can fix this. I’ll get Rick to push back the date on your contract. I already planned on doing that. Now that Nick’s gone, Rick will have no choice but to let me take over your contract. It should have been mine in the first place, but now that Nick’s gone, I can make you bigger than Dana Pierce,” Holly said as her manicured fingernails dug into Jamie’s skin, making her wince.

“Let me go,” Jamie snapped as she struggled to pull away from her.

“You have to believe me. If Nick had just backed off like he was supposed to, I never would have had to resort to destroying your books, Jamie. He didn’t need you, not like I needed you,” Holly said with a crazed look in her eye that actually terrified her.

“What are you talking about?” Jamie demanded, trying to pull free again, but the crazed woman refused to let her go.

“Nick’s already a senior agent. He didn’t need you, but that bastard was too selfish to give anyone else a chance. Don’t you understand?” Holly demanded as she shook Jamie roughly. “I had the best chance of getting J.L. Lewis. I’ve been here the longest. It was supposed to be my turn,” Holly angrily bit out with so much venom that Jamie momentarily forgot about the pain in her arms while she watched Holly struggle to stay in control as she pushed her against the wall.

“I thought you wanted Nick,” Jamie said quietly only to have Holly slam her against the wall.

“Want him?” Holly asked with a humorless laugh. “Why would I want him? He’s a whore just like his mother, only he does it for free,” she said acidly. “But before you came along, he was the key to everything.”

CHAPTER 33

“Say that again,” Nick said, pinching the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache starting.

“They wanted her out of the apartment,” the detective explained again with a weary sigh.

“So, they sent her death threats?” Nick asked in disgust as he dropped his hand away.

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