Page 42 of Married to My Master

Hell, Emily would probably need to find one soon, too. She’d need a lawyer, too, with the way all this was turning out. She shook her head. “I don't know. But it's not looking good, Jas. I mean, I certainly can't go back there. I'm a hard-nosed bitch when I need to be, but I refuse to be part of something this unethical. It's just not right to hurt the people we're trying to help, all while we're bleeding them dry for medications that don't even work.”

Her assistant sighed.

“Besides,” Emily continued, “I refuse to go down for something that piece-of-shit Barker did. He deserves to be hung out to dry for this, not me.”

Both women turned their attention back to Dane as he came back into the room. His face was longer than Secretariat's. More bad news.

“We've got a problem,” he said, his voice sunken low. “Charlene won't run the story.”

Chapter Eighteen

Emily

“BioSphere's been complaining about harassment,” he continued. “Now her editors are telling her to back off, or they'll start pulling ad dollars and getting their industry partners to do the same. Worse than that, they're threatening lawsuits in court if she even makes a peep.”

“So, that's it, then?” Jas asked, a frown pulling her mouth down at the corners. “More wine anyone?”

No, this wasn't how it was supposed to work. This wasn't the way that things were supposed to go down. They had the evidence, so why couldn't they just get it out? She'd be damned if she was going to be crucified in the court of public opinion on this. “We can go somewhere else,” Emily suggested. “Some other reporter, maybe? I mean, I'm the CEO, and we have the documents. Why can't I just blow the whistle myself?”

Jas shook her head. “Think some other board would pick you up then? You might get out of this, but you'd never work for another pharmaceutical company in your life, and you know it. Who would hire a manager that's going to go running to the press the moment things look slightly off?”

“Then social media,” Emily suggested. “I could release all the work there and hope some bloggers pick it up?”

“They'll just think you're crazy,” Jas said. “PV would spin it so hard it'd look like a vinyl record. Besides, it'd still be career suicide, Em. You'd be throwing your whole life away. And who would believe you, anyway? Stop being so arrogant!”

Emily sat back in surprise at her assistant's words. They were like a slap in the face. Arrogant? Was she really acting that way? She quickly thought back over her actions for the last week, starting with her board meeting with Edward. She'd thought her position as CEO was the final word, and that Barker would bend to her will without question. Look where that had gotten her, though.

She'd believed she could just brush Dane away like a crumb from her jacket, a piece of lint that would just disappear with a flick or her finger. Boy, had she been wrong about that one!

She had thought she'd be quickly rescued from his clutches. Instead, here she was, sitting with him and her assistant, having deeper and more confused feelings than she'd ever had for any man.

Finally, she'd believed her spot was so secure at BioSphere and that they'd brought her in because they desperately needed someone with her talents. She'd convinced herself that she was too invaluable to lose. She was irreplaceable.

Jas was right. Emily was being an arrogant bitch. And, if she wasn't careful, she'd bring them all down with her.

Her assistant spoke up when Emily didn't say anything for a long moment. “Em? I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way.”

Emily shook her head. “You know what?” she asked. “You're right. You're completely right. I have been arrogant about all this, and I'm letting it get in the way of my decision making.”

Her friend smiled hesitantly at first, then more broadly. “I'm glad I didn't hurt your feelings.”

“No,” Emily said, laughing a little, “you did. But sometimes we have to hurt if we want to grow.”

# # #

Dane

Dane walked into the room, his head full of half-cooked, crazy plans. Emily was still his hostage, after all, wasn't she? Maybe he could use that to their advantage in this whole thing. Or not. He didn't know for sure, considering how everything was happening so quickly.

“Jas?” Dane asked. “Do you mind if we're alone for a little while? We need to figure out our next move, and it'd probably be better if you weren't involved. If we do decide to do something, we don't want it to reflect poorly on you.”

“Yes,” Emily agreed. “It would probably be best if you weren't involved from here on out.”

Jas looked back and forth between the two of them, shocked. “You guys can't just boot me out of the club now!”

Dane held up a hand. “We're not booting you out. We’re just protecting you.”

“Right,” Emily said. “Look, Jas, I've got money set aside. I can take of myself, but you need this job and a good work history. If you get mixed up in all this, it won't look good for you. Like you said, no one's going to hire a whistle blower CEO. Same goes for a CEO's assistant, don't you think?”

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