Page 1 of Tempt Thy Neighbor

Prologue

Holland

“I quit.”

There’s a quiver to my voice, and my face is burning. There’s a tingle beginning at the back of my neck, my mouth growing dryer by the second.

Holy crap. I did it.

“Excuse me?”

My father’s voice booms through his oversized office, and I’m betting if we were in a smaller space, the windows would have rattled. That’s how loud he is. There’s no way others in the office can’t hear him, making this the second time this morning he’s yelled at me in front of employees.

And that is exactly why I’m putting my foot down and quitting the job I’ve hated for years.

I push my shoulders back, lifting my chin and meeting his angry stare with a strong one of my own. “I quit.”

He huffs, resuming his pacing, tossing me an irritated glance. “You can’t quit, Holland.”

“I just did,Dad.”

He hates it when I call him Dad at work, but as of thirty seconds ago, I no longer work here. I can call him whatever I please, and to be honest, right now I want to call him an asshole because that’s what he’s being.

I was late this morning for the first time since I began working for him right out of college. It wasn’t like I overslept or was being lazy. I had a blown tire and was stuck on the side of the highway for over an hour while every Tom, Dick, and douchebag flew past me doing eighty, offering dust instead of help.

By the time I got ahold of my brother and he walked me through how to change my tire, I was late.

It didn’t matter that I left my apartment early to get to work early like I do every day. It didn’t matter that this was the first time in the history of working for my father that I’d been late. All he cared about was that I wasn’t there.

He stops pacing, resting his hands on top of his desk, staring at me as I sit across from him, hands folded together in my lap. “Well, I don’t accept it.”

I want to laugh. Of course he doesn’t accept it. Without me, he’d fall apart, and he knows it.

“Doesn’t matter if you accept it or not. I don’t need your permission to quit.”

His face is turning redder by the second. “Holland…”

I hold my hand up and stand. “No. I’ve made my decision. I—”

“A silly, in-the-moment decision youwillregret if you don’t take a second to think about it.”

This moment right here tells me I won’t.

If I stay, he’ll think this behavior is okay.

If I stay, he’ll just do this again.

If I stay, I’ll still be unhappy.

I can’t stay.

I know it, and deep down he knows it too.

I wasn’t supposed to be his assistant this long, and it’s unfair to both of us if I don’t move on and do something more fulfilling with my life.

He’ll see.

He sees the resolution in my eyes and shakes his head, shoving off his desk and gathering up a stack of papers to keep his hands busy. “I think it’s best you clear your desk out today, then.”

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