Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 112701 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112701 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
“Help me.” His plead washes over me, and determination replaces all the anger and hurt I’ve harbored.
We may be far from fixed, but I have faith that we'll find our way back for the first time in a long time.
I’ll help him get rid of her once and for all.
“Have Stuart draw up the paperwork and hire a company to pack her things. We’ll have her out of here in no time.”
He smiles.
“Thank you, son.”
I nod. “I’m going back to uncover whatever damage she’s done in New York.”
She’d talked to Raven. She said she had. What the hell could she possibly have said?
“What’s wrong, Charles?” my father asks, and I turn back to him.
“I met someone. Someone . . . I care very much for,” I admit.
A smile spreads across his face. “That’s wonderful, son. I’m thrilled to meet her.”
I shake my head. “I allowed my past to ruin things. We’re done, and I fear that Tabitha might have put the final nail in the coffin. I’m just not sure how.”
His eyes cloud over, hate for Tabitha evident across his entire face.
“Whatever she’s done, we’ll make her pay,” he promises, and I nod. “Don’t allow love to slip through your fingers, Charles. It only comes around once, and whoever this girl is, I can tell she’s the one.”
I purse my lips, unwilling to think about that right now.
I’ve caused so much hurt. I’ve allowed Tabitha to destroy my one shot at happiness without doing a thing. It was the memory of her betrayals that seeped into me and poisoned my thoughts toward Raven.
Sorry isn’t enough. It won’t fix things between Raven and me because I’m not fixed. Before I can offer her anything, I need to work on myself. I need to understand that not everyone is after my money.
Raven never was.
I have to be open to being loved.
Raven loved me.
“I’m going to make Tabitha pay,” I promise before I stalk from the room, ready to take on pure evil.
46
Raven
Charles walks into the office and straight into a board meeting with the directors, likely hearing for the first time that we lost Diosa.
I groan, having missed out on my opportunity to tell him I had nothing to do with it. I’m desperate to find out what is happening in that room and can barely concentrate on the rest of my work.
People keep asking me why the board is meeting, and I can’t answer them. It isn’t public knowledge that the Diosa account is on the rocks. People don’t know the pitch was compromised—stolen by Bauer. I know that I’m coming across like an idiot, being as though I work directly with Charles, but I don’t want to say too much until I figure out what is happening.
I still can’t believe it. How did the opposition get our presentation? I couldn’t even blame Asher because he had never even seen it. There is no way he could’ve gotten ahold of the file.
I can’t figure it out. But somehow, somewhere, it’s been leaked. And because I’m the one who created most of it, I feel responsible.
The board is going to hold me accountable.
I might lose my job.
I’ve already lost so much.
Charles and now Cavendish.
An hour later, Shelby calls my desk phone.
“The eagle has landed. The eagle has landed.”
“What?” I ask, thoroughly confused.
“The board has adjourned, and Charlie is back at his desk.”
Now’s my chance to pounce. I have to ensure him that I have no idea how Bauer got the file.
“Thanks, Shelby.”
I rush from my office, practically running down the hall to Charles’s office.
“I didn’t do it,” I say, storming into Charles’s office.
He’s been gone for two days, and it looks like he went to war in that time.
“What?” Charles asks.
“I didn’t leak the information to Bauer. I’d never do that.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
I take a step forward. “If that’s what you really think of me, you don’t know me at all because I would never do that to you, Charles. I wouldn’t do it to this company either. I just want you to know that. And . . .”
But I don’t get a chance to finish. Charles holds up his hand to stop me.
“God, I know you didn’t do it, Raven. I would never think that. But I must be honest with you—the board of directors thinks it is your fault. They’ve somehow figured out a connection between you and Asher. They think Bauer placed you here as a mole.”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” I snap.
“For what it’s worth, I told them it wasn’t you. But they’re skeptical. The email sent to Bauer was traced back to your computer.”
“That’s impossible because I didn’t send it.”
“We checked your computer. It definitely came from the company computer.”
“But it wasn’t me, Charles. I swear.”
“I know. You don’t have to prove anything to me. But this doesn’t make you look good. Who would do something like this to us?”