Page 23 of Save Me the Trouble
But when morning rolled around, the reality of my reaction was like a bucket of ice water over my head.
I approached Diane’s office, and the knot in my stomach tightened with dread.
This was it. I rolled my shoulders back, prepared to do whatever it took to keep my job. Killian was the one who’d led me on—lured me closer. There were a dozen baristas to witness it. Maybe I’d crossed a line with my reaction, but I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
I knocked lightly on the door, my hand trembling.
“Come in,” Diane’s voice called from the other side.
I pushed the door open and stepped inside, instantly finding Diane seated behind her large, glass desk. Her expression was sterner than normal.
“Good morning, Grace.” She gestured for me to sit in the chair opposite her, and I did so, my heart pounding in her chest.
“Diane,” I murmured, bracing myself for whatever came next.
Diane folded her hands on the desk and regarded me with a calm, measured gaze. “I need to speak to you about Mr. Crown.”
I stiffened and nodded. “Of course.” I felt the heat already scalding the surface of my cheeks.
“He called me personally this morning to discuss a sensitive topic.”
My throat became too tight to swallow as I waited for the hammer to drop—for her to tell me that my actions crossed a line and I’d jeopardized the company’s last chance to make things work with Mr. Crown.
“But I need your word that what we’re about to discuss doesn’t leave this room,” she continued. “For the sake of everyone’s reputation.”
“Of course,” I replied, my voice definitely sounding strangled.
Diane scrutinized me for a long second and then sighed. “Alright.” She linked her hands in front of her on the desk. “Mr. Crown instructed me to tell you the truth about what happened with Aleta.”
I stilled, a cold chill rampaging down my spine. “The truth?”
“I want you to understand that we have an NDA in place with him, so normally this information would be confidential, but he personally gave me permission to break that agreement to share this with you.”
“Okay,” I croaked, hardly able to hear my own voice over the blood thundering in my ears.
“Aleta came on to Mr. Crown. It started with small insinuations and flirtations, but when he rebuffed her, it escalated. She would leave photos…of herself…for him hidden in his office, and notes of a…sexual nature.”
My world tilted on its axis, nausea churning in my stomach. I’d been so quick to judge, to accuse Killian of things…and here, what I thought couldn’t be farther from the truth… and then, with Diane’s next revelation, the full weight of my mistake that morning crashed down on me.
“He asked her more firmly to please stop and also reached out to me to request a new curator. Even with all of that harassment, he still tried to spare her. He didn’t reveal to me then what was going on only that he wanted a new representative from Embers,” she continued. “When I brought it up to Aleta, she lost it. She snuck back into his office, waited there for him, and then tried to force herself on him.”
By now, I was sure my jaw had crashed through all thirteen floors and landed on the sidewalk below.
“At that point, of course, there was nothing else he could do to try and get her out of any repercussions for her actions. He provided me with security footage from his office as well as the photos and notes that she’d left him.” Diane wrinkled her nose, clearly recalling how distasteful she found them. “And all he asked was that I handle this discreetly with her, and if she didn’t cause any more problems, he wouldn’t press charges. He also requested an NDA that I wouldn’t share any of what happened. Until now.” Her eyes narrowed. “To you.”
I’d accused him of ruining Aleta’s career, of taking advantage of her, when in reality, it was her; she was the one who tried to take advantage of him. And yet, despite having every reason to not only ask for Aleta to be fired but to press charges, he’d let her go quietly. Kept the horrible truth under lock and key even after she spread all these rumors about him.
Diane’s voice broke through my spiraling thoughts. “Grace. I’ve been checking in on his profile. In three days, you’ve made more progress with Mr. Crown’s account than anyone else. Why is he asking that I share this information with you?”
I swallowed hard, her throat struggling to work.
Because I accused him of the worst possible thing. A lie.
Right after I kissed him.
If he hadn’t told her either of those things, then neither would I.
“Because I ask hard questions. Because I don’t let his reputation or power or how much money he has stop me from doing my job. And there were certain questions…conversations…that prompted me to ask about Aleta because her version of the story…”
