Page 89 of Boss Me

“Cooper, be reasonable. It’s what’s best for all of us.” He lifted his arms to encompass his office, the sixth floor, the historic building. “We’ll all take our payouts and go on to the next venture. You’ll have more time to spend with your loved ones. We all will.” He let his gaze drift to the framed photo on his desk, the one of himself, his daughter, Phoebe, and her horse.

The people I loved depended on Synergy. Even if Ben wasn’t my assistant anymore, I couldn’t leave any of them, especially not his sister, jobless. I paced a few steps away from his desk and then back to stand in front of him. “I can’t. I can’t let you.”

Weston squared his jaw. “You will. It’s the right thing to do.”

My rage stayed curled up in a ball inside me, like Coco when he napped. I propped my hands on my hips, taking advantage of my size. But I kept my voice soft. “I won’t.”

He shook his head, and an expression almost like regret crossed his face. “You will. I have quite a few incentives to make you see my way of thinking.”

“Incentives?” What could he possibly offer that would change my mind?

“You’ve heard of carrots and sticks. I believe you already have a carrot. You don’t want to see my stick.”

“A carrot?”

A slight smile lifted his lips. “Surely you consider your handsome young man a carrot? He seemed to make you quite happy.”

A chill juddered down my spine. I shoved my numb fingers into my trouser pockets. “W-what?”

“I was sent a video documenting how you spent your spring break.” He tapped a key sequence on his keyboard and turned his monitor to face me. The video was silent and grainy, but my face was easy to make out, my mouth gaping in ecstasy as Ben, his back to the camera, pounded into me.

My breath caught in my chest. That beautiful moment we’d shared, the closeness we’d experienced, the vulnerability I’d worked so hard to give Ben, all of it there in crude black and white for Weston to examine and judge.

“Mr. Levy-Walters is your assistant, is he not?” He craned his neck to watch the video, his face impassive. “I wonder what the board will think of your arguments when they see this.”

“He resigned. Before that.” I waved a trembling hand at the screen then tore my eyes away from it. How the fuck had he gotten that video? No one ever went into my place, not even housekeeping. Had Ben—? I swallowed. No. Ben wouldn’t have planted cameras in the bungalow. Not ever. But who?

Weston watched the screen for a few more seconds. “Does it really matter?”

It didn’t. In that video, I was a privileged man, taking advantage of a subordinate, regardless of whether I was still his employer. “Are you—are you blackmailing me?” I sank into the chair. Without the steel of my anger, I had nothing to prop me up.

He tilted his head again. “I’m simply sharing all the facts with you.”

It was blackmail, pure and simple. But if I called him out on it, the video would become public. And he probably had more. Weston never came to a negotiation unprepared.

It didn’t matter. What mattered was how I responded to his threat. Slowly, I rose to my feet. “I’m in love with Ben. I’m proud of our relationship.”

Weston pursed his lips. “You’re the Chief Operating Officer, overseeing human resources at this company. Banging your secretary—or being banged by him—is not a good look.”

“You’re right.” I swallowed. I thought after Ben resigned, our relationship was acceptable. But the black-and-white video proved me wrong. I had all the power. I’d practically forced Ben to resign. It wasn’t a good look for the COO, in charge of employee relations.

“I’ll make a statement to the employees,” I said. “The board will decide on the consequences for my actions. If they decide to remove me, so be it.” It was what I deserved. And not so different from what I wanted. Though Ben would be pissed off about the violation of our privacy. Hell, I was, too. “How did you get that video?”

He paused the playback and speared me with a hard stare. “Does it matter?”

It didn’t. Ben would be even more upset if Synergy was sold to Gurusoft and everyone he cared about lost their jobs.

I’d been wrong, so wrong about Weston. Jackson had been right all along. No one who cared about me, who respected me, would use a video like that to get what he wanted.

I’d thought of him as a father figure. But like my actual father, he didn’t give a shit about me.

I leaned a hand on the back of the chair for support. “Release it if you must. I’m not budging on my position.”

He tightened his jaw. “I have another card to play. I didn’t want to do this, but you leave me no choice.” Looking almost regretful, he picked up his desk phone and hit a button. “Julie, please send in our new security guard.”

“Security guard? What the fuck, Weston?” Was he going to have me escorted out of my own building? For having consensual sex? For disagreeing with him? The anger, hot and familiar, finally woke and stirred in my stomach. My fist curled, wanting to smash something. I pinned it to my thigh.

The office door opened, and the last person I expected to see slithered through it. He wore a faded navy polo shirt. His khaki pants hadn’t ever met an iron, and they were too short for his long legs, showing a couple of inches of dingy gray tube sock. He was still wiry and fit like he’d kept up with his boxing regimen, but his hair and the stubble on his jaw had gone completely white, and his face was more lined than when I’d last seen him.

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