Page 5 of The Powerful Boss She Craves

Micah took in her creamy complexion touched with a hint of magnolia, the exact colour of the flowers his mum so adored. He’d been right about her heritage, Chinese and Caucasian mostly, and stunning. Her cheekbones were high, her eyes an intense brown and shot with hints of gold and green. Her nose was long and straight. Her full mouth was covered in a pale pink lipstick, and even that hint of make-up was unnecessary.

Micah, used to attractive woman and not normally caught off-guard, swallowed and tried to ignore the way she ignited his desire. What the hell? Yeah, she had good hair—thick and a deep, dark brown—and a great body, but he’d dated supermodels, sports stars, actresses and aristocrats and nobody had ever,ever, caused his world to tilt, to knock him off-balance like this.

Calm down, Le Roux.

Ella leaned forward, adjusted the vents and ran her hand over the sleek dashboard in front of her. He expected her to compliment the car but the next words out of her mouth rocked his world.

‘I’ve recently resigned from my position as an event planner for Le Roux Events. I did that because our biggest client, Neville Pillay, sexually accosted me.’

Pillay?He’d met him a few times and had liked the guy. He was said to be the most popular entertainer in the country and was respected as a philanthropist and actor. He looked at Ella and saw that her fists were clenched. Her expression was blank but the muscles in her neck were tight with tension. He’d lived with a consummate liar his entire life and could spot BS from a mile away. Micah knew Ella was telling the truth.

He chose his words carefully. ‘I’m so sorry that happened to you, Ella. Did you report it to the police? To Ben Winters, Human Resources?’

Her laugh was high and false. ‘Yes, I reported it. The police said that because there were no witnesses, and because it wasn’t what they termed a serious assault, it was a “he said, she said” situation. Ben and Siba, our HR guy, suggested I gave him the wrong signals and asked me to forget it.’

They said fury was coloured red but to Micah, it was a deep black, and endless. He closed his eyes and asked another question. ‘Start at the beginning and tell me everything, Ella. Every little thing.’

By the time she was done, Micah had learned that the company had been covering up Pillay’s misdeeds for years, and that every single person to whom Ella had taken her problem had disappointed her.

He’d always been proud of the work he and his brother did and was proud of the company they’d built. Right up until this moment. He felt sick, ashamed and soul-deep, skin-exploding angry.

‘I don’t expect you to believe me—you have absolutely no reason to—but neither my brother nor I knew anything about this. It was never brought to our attention,’ Micah told her, conscious of how weak his explanation sounded.

‘I just wanted you to know, in the faint hope that you’ll do something so that it doesn’t happen again,’ Ella told him, her hand looking for the door handle. ‘I’ve resigned, so I’m out of here, but he might do something else, something worse, to someone down the line.’

‘That won’t happen,’ Micah told her. ‘I will fix this, I promise.’

She looked at him, her eyes deep and fathomless. ‘I’d like to believe you, Mr Le Roux, but I’ve heard too many empty words and insincere promises from your company, and throughout my life, to believe anyone about anything.’

She slipped out of his car and, without looking at him, slammed the door closed. Micah watched as she walked back to his building, her spine straight and her chin up.

How the hell was he going to fix this?

He didn’t know but he would. He’d do it for that proud young woman and, as she’d pointed out, for his future employees.

Micah instructed his on-board computer to call Jago and, when his twin’s face appeared on the screen in front of him, he spoke. ‘Do you know about a sexual harassment claim made by Ella Yeung, employed by us as an event planner?’

Jago frowned and shook his head. ‘No. Should I?’

‘Our Head of Human Resources does.’

Jago shrugged. ‘Were our protocols followed and, more importantly, did our employee get counselling? Is she okay?’

Micah rubbed his temples with his fingertips. ‘No. Nobody believed her, Jago. Because of the fame of her accuser, not one person in our organisation took her seriously.’

‘Who harassed her?’

Micah told him and Jago’s eyebrows flew up in shock. ‘Well, he wasn’t on my list of most likely offenders.’

‘Mine neither but I believe her, Jay.’ Damn, he hoped Jago stood with him on this, but if he didn’t he’d go it alone. Their people had disappointed Ella but he wouldn’t.

‘Good enough for me,’ Jago replied.

‘I plan to take Pillay down, but that will take finesse,’ Micah told his twin, his tone resolute. ‘But I intend to find out what went wrong in our organisation first. They branded Ella as a trouble maker and pretty much forced her to resign.’

‘Right.’ Jago’s expression darkened and his navy eyes turned black with anger. ‘What the hell, Micah? We have a policy, a protocol, and our employees’ wellbeing always come first!’

‘Not this time. Maybe you should alert the board, Jago, because heads are about to roll.’

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