Page 74 of Enticing the Fixer

My mouth drops open as I ball my hands into fists. “What?”

“They got here about fifteen minutes ago.”

“All of them?”

“Everyone except you and Ian Lightfoot.” The scent of her perfume fills the elevator car.

“Did they say anything?” I rake a hand through my hair.

“Ms. Graham stopped in and demanded to speak to you. I told her you were out, but she had to go into your office before she’d believe I wasn’t lying to her. She said I had to find you before everyone ganged up on you.”

“Meaning what?” The elevator jars to a stop, and we step out onto our floor.

“I don’t know.” Her face is ashen as if she’s made herself sick with worry. She grabs my lower arm, and I cringe. Tattoo. Tattoo hurts. I ease backward, allowing her hand to slide off my arm.

“I’m concerned they’re forcing you to sell the company. Your father would be livid if he knew. He fought hard to squash the mild uprising the board pulled before he died. He would be devastated if they went around you.” Her brows raise. “Unless you want to sell the company. I know it’s been a lot on your shoulders since Jack died.” Her face flushes. “I mean your father.”

My heart skips a beat. Were my dad and Valeria an item? Lord. Heat floods my face, and my skin grows clammy. I grab the collar of my button-down shirt and fan it. This I didn’t see coming. “You knew the board wanted to sell?”

“Of course. We….” Her mouth clamps shut, and she swallows. “Yes. As his office manager, I knew everything that was going on.”

“I see.” I study her until my vision goes fuzzy.Breathe. You can do this. You’re not letting them railroad you.“Conference room?”

“Yes.” She nods and swipes both hands on her skirt. “Don’t let them win.”

“I don’t intend to.” I steady my shoulders and march down the hall toward the conference room. It’s game time. And this time, I know the rules.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Leo

Before I stepped foot in the building, I contacted Truman with an update. Kinsley might discount what her father’s friend said, but I can’t. I must figure out who had access to her office during the time the virus was being uploaded. All of it fits together. It must.

When I open the door to the accounting department, Carla steps around the corner and crosses her arms over her chest. “What were you and Kinsley doing?”

“What do you mean?”

The flash of anger in her eyes jolts me back to reality. There are more threats here than the board members. “You and Kinsley. What were you doing?”

Telling her, it’s none of her business will only cause her to become more unglued.

Clearly, she’s decided to have a delusional fixation on me, and my attempt to throw her off my scent has fizzled out. I’ve always had this type of magnetism. The crazy ones. The fact Kinsley isn’t batshit crazy is a miracle.

“When I stepped out for lunch, Kinsley’s vehicle wouldn’t start.” I grab my cell phone and type on the screen. When the top video for a bad starter comes up, I shove it in her face. “Listen. It sounded like this….” I press on the video. The bad starter sounds as grating as a fork scraping across a plate.

“Fine.” She rolls her eyes and marches to her door, twisting the knob. “As long as you understand, messing with her is bad news.”

The muscles in my neck tighten. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“She’s bad luck.” Carla wrinkles her nose. “And she’s way too old for you. You need to be with a healthy woman who can still have children. I mean, after you go to the doctor to fix your little problem, you’ll want to settle down and have a family.”

“Thank you for worrying about me. I appreciate it.” I snap the door open and fall into my office, snapping the door back shut. Cuckoo-for-cocoa-puffs. Why does everyone in this building seem suspicious? Okay, Carla is coming off as more psycho than suspicious.

I rotate my neck, causing a loud popping sound to fill the quiet space of my office. It’s time to end this once and for all.

After I have the computer booted up, I run an advanced program to identify a date and time stamp for when the virus went live. The time it was uploaded might not reveal anything if the perp didn’t start it when they uploaded it.

Here’s to hoping it was activated upon implementation.

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