Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 104532 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 523(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104532 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 523(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Turning my face sideways, I stare through my window to where a bank of dark clouds are building on the horizon. There are a million and one questions I can ask, but the one I push through my lips is, “Does Violet know?”
“Elliot approached her. Violet is the one who relayed the message.”
That makes me look back at her. “What’s his motive?” It can’t be money. She said herself she doesn’t have any.
“He’s protecting his father,” she says with a wry smile. “He wants to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
I narrow my eyes. “But you don’t trust him.”
“Correct.”
“When did this happen?”
“The affair or the blackmailing?”
“The blackmailing. When did Elliot give Violet the message?”
“Not long before the office party.” She drums her nails on her knee and casts her eyes to the sky as she presumably does a mental calculation. “About two weeks.”
I twist in my seat. “Let me get this straight. Two weeks before the office party, Elliot rocks up with photos of you and your lover and tells Violet what exactly?”
“That if it happens again, the photos will go to Gus.”
Something about the whole scenario smells fishy. Why would Elliot protect a father who, at that time, had chosen me, a stranger, over his own son for a promotion? It’s not like Elliot to want nothing out of the blackmailing for himself.
Unless…
I go cold, the brittle anger I’ve only recently managed to push under the surface resurrected by a nasty suspicion that takes root in my mind.
Unless Elliot blackmailed Violet.
For what?
And then it’s clearer than a blue sky on a cloudless day.
To steal my program.
Violet was always in the office after hours—alone. She had access to the computers. That made her an ideal candidate for theft. Elliot used her, and Violet stole my program to protect her mother.
I ball my hands into fists. From a logical point of view, it makes sense. Elliot must’ve been behind it. How else did Violet know what to look for and how to copy it? She’s not computer savvy enough to have figured it out on her own. Why haven’t I considered this sooner? Maybe because I was too blinded by my rage. Maybe because she never denied her guilt. And maybe because I could use her crime against her and apply a little blackmailing of my own.
“Why did Gus promote Elliot instead of me?” I ask carefully.
Gia cocks a shoulder. “Who knows? As I said, Gus serves his own agenda. Making Elliot his partner must’ve benefited him more in the end.”
Violet didn’t tell her mother the whole truth. No, Gia is blissfully unaware of Violet’s crime.
“So,” Gia says. “Will you help me?”
“What exactly am I looking for?”
Sagging in her seat, she blows out a breath. “Photos of me and a man. I don’t know how many there are. I haven’t seen them myself. Only Violet has.”
“I assume you want to destroy them.”
“I want them in my hands. I want to see them burn to ashes with my own two eyes.”
I nod my understanding. “I hope you’re not this trusting with everyone, especially not the people who work for your husband.”
She leans forward and starts the engine. When the radio blares to life, she turns down the volume. “As I said, I asked you because my daughter trusts you and because you saw for yourself who Gus really is.” Flashing me a smile, she says, “I’m not stupid.”
“Gia,” I say as she turns the Landcruiser around and heads down the hill. I wait until she glances at me before I continue. I want to make sure she sees how serious I am. “I’ll get you those photos, but only this once. If it happens again, you’re on your own.”
“I didn’t ask you to help me more than once,” she says, forcing brightness into her voice.
Then she tunes me out, humming to a song that comes on as if she has no care in the world.
The whole way back to Midrand, I go over everything in my mind. The more I think about it, the more I’m certain my theory is right. But I want to hear it from Violet’s lips. Tonight, she will confess the truth.
Most of the employees’ cars are still in the parking lot when we get back to the office. It’s not even five.
“Thank you,” Gia says when I jump from the Landcruiser.
As I can’t take credit for a job I haven’t done yet, I don’t tell her she’s welcome. Besides, this job isn’t going to be a pleasure. I’m too clever to get myself caught, but there’s no arguing that hacking into anyone’s desktop at Starley Solutions, let alone the new partner’s and Gus’s son, is risking my life.
Breaking every speed limit and skipping a red light or two, I get home in twenty minutes. Violet exits from the neighbor’s house when I park in the garage. I walk toward her with long strides, meeting her halfway down the street. Her eyes flare when she looks at my face.