Page 103 of Bargain With the Boss
“It’s not on you, Sydney. Not by any stretch of the imagination. It was her lies that caused me to leave. It’s not on you to correct that.”
“Tell that to the people who count on me.”
“Honestly, I can transfer my shares to you. You’d have a bigger stake to protect your people.”
My eyes stung again. “If it comes to that, we’ll look into it. For now, you need that for FHK and your family.”
“Okay.” He stood then helped me to my feet. “Nessa is so little, I just can’t go with you.”
“And you shouldn’t. You have a life here. Michelle Keller will just have to face that fact.”
I just wasn’t sure how I was going to handle it.
But it was time to face her head-on.
Chapter 24
Xavier
I backed away from Syd and Jude.
Sabotage.
The word fuzzed in my head like static.
More lies.
Everything between us had been a damn lie. I couldn’t even listen to the rest of the conversation after she’d confessed that she’d been sent to spy on us and find a way to ruin everything.
To report back to her mother.
The tears had nearly swayed me, until she’d said it was her fucking directive.
From the jump.
And I’d let her into our system. I jogged back down the path to my bike and took off to the offices. I didn’t even remember getting to FHK headquarters. It was a complete blur of humiliation.
All the times she’d asked about the business wrapping it in worry—she’d been looking for a way in. To see if there were places she could twist our files to suit her purposes.
To play me for a fool.
Usfor a fool.
I parked and ran to the door, my fingers shaking on the code panel as the anger bloomed hotter in my chest. I strode across the showroom to the spiral stairs, my hip slamming into the rail as I rushed upstairs. The pain barely registered as I got to the top. I went to my desk and logged in before I even sat down.
The backdoor program I’d put in didn’t feel so paranoid now.
Had part of me known she was lying? I’d pushed it aside because I wanted her. Wanted to believe she was for me. That the connection I’d felt was something special.
But it had been a spell.
I was so damn stupid.
I tracked through her work. The files she’d touched. My stomach churned as I followed her trail. She’d checked every single file that had anything to do with our money. Had she altered it?
Sabotage.
The word pushing at my brain like a fever.
