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“Not only did you force them out, you did the same to Alberta.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. No one promised Alberta shit. Her problem was that she wasn’t qualified for the job she wanted. Acted like it was owed to her. But instead of being grateful for the job she had, she starts spewing garbage, hires a lawyer, and sues the company.”

“So she should be grateful? Why? Because she came out of the STEM program and was hired here straight out of college?” It was all starting to fall into place, the way his soon-to-be ex-CTO’s mind worked.

“Dude, she’s making north of ninety grand and she owes that to this company. To you.”

Nate’s vision was starting to go red and he felt his head exploding. “She owes me nothing—you got that? Not a goddamn thing. She’s here because of her own hard work. And let’s get another thing straight. Shewasqualified for thesenior project manager position, untilyouchanged the job title and added a certification requirement. A requirement, I might add, that Brent Houseman was given the chance to obtain at the company’s expense before he was promoted to the position.”

That was the other thing Nate had learned: Jack had been behind all of it. It had been done under his direction and with his explicit approval.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I told you, she wasn’t promised a promotion—”

“Don’t lie to me.” Nate smacked the club hard against the floor, punctuating his anger. “I spoke to Duncan. I know you’re lying. Now all I want to know is why. Why did you work overtime to make sure Alberta didn’t get the promotion she was promised? The position she deserved.”

Irritation flashed in Jack’s eyes and his voice cooled ten degrees, his entire posture taking on a defensive crouch. “Who said she deserved it? Because she’s a woman and a minority? Do you know how many other college graduates just like her aren’t making close to what she makes? Some who won’t make that much in their lifetime?”

“What are you saying—she should be grateful for what she has and not strive for more? Because that’s what you fucking did? Because that’s what I did? Because that’s what most white men in this industry do? Goddamn you, Jack, for being so much like your fucking parents. I thought you were better than that, but it’s obvious you had me fooled.”

“Oh, give me a fucking break. Just because I didn’t think she deserved a promotion doesn’t mean there’s a white robe and hood hiding in my closet.” Now his friend was all scorn, going for the obvious stereotype because it was easy to ridicule the card-carrying racists.

“Not only are you a racist, but you’re a sexist too.” Everything Kennedy had said about him was true. “Which I can’t have in the CTO of my company. You’re fired.”

Jack glared at him. Then, with a dark, humorless laugh, he shook his head and treated him to a disdainful look. “It’s Kennedy, isn’t it? This is where this is coming from. What, she convince you I’m the big racist boogeyman?”

“Keep her name out of your mouth,” Nate warned, his tone ominously flat.

Jack’s expression hardened. “What happened? She find out she was an affirmative-action admission at Columbia?”

“Fuck you.” Nate had never come closer to laying his former friend flat on his back. Instead, he tightened his hand around the head of the club until his knuckles turned white.

A coldness entered Jack’s eyes. “I’m the best fucking CTO you’ll ever have. Have fun trying to replace me.” His friend had always thought a lot of himself.

“I’ll try not to put too much of my back in it,” Nate said dryly. Financially, his ex-friend would be fine. The company stock he owned would be more than enough to make sure his annual country-club dues were paid for life.

“I’d think very hard about this if I were you. There’s no coming back from this. Once I walk out that door, I’m gone,” Jack said in final warning.

Rounding the putting green, Nate returned the golf club to the rack. “I wishyou’dthought about that when you started playing God, picking winners and losers without a fucking thought of the damage you were doing to the company and everyone involved.” Alberta, Jacob, and Carol might just be the tip of the iceberg. Who knew where else and how many times he’d tipped the scales. “Now you have thirty minutes to pack your things and leave.”

How long had this been going on? He’d have to take over the investigation now to make sure they got to the truth.

“Damn, Kennedy really has you by the balls,” Jack sneered.

Nate exited the office without responding and immediately called the head of IT to tell him to disable Jack’s security credentials for all the systems ASAP. Then he called his head of security to ask him to escort his ex-friend out of the building in twenty-nine minutes.

He and Jack were done.

25

They’d been hacked.

Kennedy didn’t know whether to laugh or roll her eyes. She did both.

When a response finally came, after a mind-boggling fifty-two hours, that had been the explanation from Phillip Draper and Samuel Weber. As for the company itself, the day before ECO Apparel had put out a statement that said it was investigating the authenticity of the emails. They didn’t want to act rashly and all of thatblah, blah, blah.

When it came to business, the agency hadn’t acquired one single client since the leaked emails became public and her—and now her face—a household name. A curiosity. While most of the attention remained focused on the two men, the number of calls from local media for an interview with her hadn’t ceased.

Kennedy blamed that on the way ECO Apparel was handling the situation. What they should have done was immediately issue an apology. An abject apology. Not so much for her but for the sake of the company. Second, they should have announced that both men would be placed on unpaid leave during the investigation—which shouldn’t take more than twenty-four hours. Once the emails were authenticated, the men should have been fired. They’d quickly fade from the spotlight and so would she. And maybe then business would resume as normal. Instead, she remained on tenterhooks, wondering if the agency would survive the scrutiny.

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