Page 11 of Protected By Him

By the time I’d returned from lunch, Jon had everything I’d asked for waiting in my inbox. He’d even included a note, thanking me for taking this off his plate. As I glanced over the statements, I noticed some other online purchases. It looked as if they were for prepaid gift cards. That was not uncommon, since sometimes we would have contests among the staff, I could only assume, to promote employee morale. Sometimes gift cards were given to the winners. But that wasn't often, and the gift cards were almost always less than fifty dollars. These transactions amounted to much more, and I was seeing a lot of them.

It was evident that none of these, other than possibly the gift cards, were legitimate transactions on behalf of Prime Media, but how was Mr. Harvey connected to these businesses?

I decided to print out the records, so I wouldn’t have to squint at my computer screen while I looked over them. I’d also be able to take the copies home if I needed to.

I didn’t want to risk someone else seeing what I was working on, so I waited at the printer, ready to grab the stack of reports the moment they were done.

“Boo!” someone laughed in my ear, causing me to jump a foot or more.

When I turned to see Emily giggling behind me, I gave the woman a hard glare. “That wasn't funny.”

But Emily was already bending over in laughter and clutching at her sides. “You should have seen your face,” she said as her loud laughter finally subsided into little giggles.

I just rolled my eyes and walked back to my computer to close the window I’d left open. Emily did not need to know what I was up to.

“What are you doing?” she asked, as if she could read my thoughts.

“Just a little research,” I said casually. I hoped I hadn't sounded as strange to Emily as I did to my own ears.

“You’re doing something illegal, aren’t you?” Emily accused.

My heart skipped. But when Emily let out raucous laughter again, I rolled my eyes.

“I got you again.”

“Ha…Ha” I said with sarcasm. “You’re such a child.”

“Well, it feels good to act like I am,” Emily said with a sigh.

I quickly grabbed the papers and walked with Emily back to our cubicles. She and I had become good friends over the years as we worked closely together.

I knew that Emily was having problems in her marriage. She had recently discovered that her husband was cheating. They were trying to work it out and save their relationship, but it wasn’t going well.

Emily plopped down in her chair “Are you alright?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said, but her sigh was the sad sound of the defeated.

Then, as if she had just remembered something, she sat up. “I forgot! The reason I came to find you at the printer was because Mr. Harvey asked for you. He wishes to see you.”

My heart skipped so hard, I had to look down to be sure it hadn't jumped right out of my chest.

“Did he say what he wanted?” I asked as I stood.

Emily shook her head. “He did not. But you'd better go find out. Don’t want to keep the big boss waiting.”

I slipped out of my chair and made my way towards Harvey's office. I wondered about what he could want. He rarely called for me unless he had a story to assign me personally, but even that was exceedingly rare. But maybe that was it. Maybe he wanted to send me on an assignment.

As I approached Mr. Harvey's door, my heart was thudding so hard, I could feel it in my temples. I tried to regain my composure, and with a deep breath, I tapped twice on his already slightly ajar door. I heard a grunt, which I took as permission to enter, and pushed it fully open.

“Good morning, Mr. Harvey,” I greeted him politely and settled into the chair opposite his desk.

“Lauren, how are you?” he responded without looking up.

I winced. Was I so far down the food chain that he didn’t even know my name?

"It's Laura." I corrected with a smile. But Mr. Harvey merely looked at me as if I had told him that the moon was green.

"So," he began, "what are you working on right now?"

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