Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 65489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 262(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 262(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
Through my turmoil, I heard Miles say, “I’m not going to do that. This has gone on long enough.”
I moved away from the door. I couldn’t stand to listen anymore. I needed to get out of there. I got dressed as fast as I could, trying to block out anything else he was saying.
29
MILES
“You’re wrong about all of this, and I won’t have you say anything derogatory about Ben again. I care about him. I’m dating him. That is not going to change. Your position in the company, however, very well could if this continues. We have a plan. It’s in place. If you have any further questions, talk to Carter.”
I stabbed my finger on the red button to end the call.
Frank was damn good at his job, but he was a fucking asshole. He always had been. He was stuck up and pretentious, and I was not going to put up with him challenging me like this. No matter how good he was. I’d find someone else.
I heard Ben moving around. He shouldn’t have gotten out of bed without help. Why didn’t he call for me?
When I stepped into the room, I saw him standing there, fully dressed, cradling his side with one arm as he stuffed things into a bag.
“I’ll return this the next time I come into the office,” he said gesturing toward the bag. “I needed something to gather up my things.”
“Ben, what are you doing?”
“Why didn’t you just tell me you knew? You didn’t have to play games with me. You didn’t have to seduce me. You didn’t have to do anything this elaborate. If you’d just told me you knew, I would’ve told you everything.”
Oh God. He’d overheard my conversation. I should have hung up on that son of a bitch as soon as I realized what he was after. Because now…. Everything I’d feared was coming true. “Ben, none of this was a game.”
“Testing me? Seeing if I would pass on information?”
“I needed to know. I gave you a chance to tell me. I asked you.”
“I couldn’t tell you. It would.…”
“Who hit you, Ben? Who did this to you?”
He didn’t try to deny what had happened, but he shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Just leave me alone. I want to go home.”
“Baby, I didn’t—”
“Don’t call me that!”
He was going to walk away and never come back. I had to tell him everything. I’d sworn I wouldn’t hurt him. “This isn’t a game.”
“You have me here so you can watch me.”
“No. I have you here because I want you here.”
“You said you had me under surveillance so you could be sure I wasn’t passing on your secrets. I haven’t, and I’m not going to no matter what you really think of me.”
“Someone hurt you because you wouldn’t betray my company, and I am going to see that they are punished for that.”
“No, just stay out of it. Let me handle things.”
I could never do that. Even if he ended up hating me, I wouldn’t let them harm him. “Ben, I’m not going to let you get hurt again.”
“All you’ve done is hurt me. You’ve been watching me, keeping me with you, I thought…” He shook his head. “I knew better, but I let myself hope….”
“Benjamin. Nothing that’s happened between the two of us was about this, and it wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t trust you.”
“After you tried to trick me? I heard you on the phone talking about how you were watching me.”
“I had one of my guards watching you.” His eyes widened, and I knew I’d said the wrong thing.
“You had me followed?”
“It was as much for your own safety as—”
“Well, it didn’t help. Where was this guard of yours when I was being beaten?”
“I’m furious that they weren’t there, that they didn’t see.”
“I should never have applied for this job. I should never have agreed to—”
“Did you have a choice?”
“No. I guess I should’ve passed off the information, then disappeared.”
“Absolutely not.” I grabbed his arm trying to force him to look at me, but he pulled away with a grimace, and I let him go. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Am I supposed to believe that? I can’t believe anything you say now.”
I was torn between horror at what I’d done to him and anger at the way he was questioning my honesty. It was exactly what everyone had done back in college. “You came to the company under false pretenses. What did you think was going to happen?”
“I never thought you would hire me.”
“I needed to know what you would do, and I needed to keep you there. From the moment I met you—”
“Don’t make this worse.”
“You infiltrated my company.”
“No. You chose to hire me because you wanted to play a game instead of calling me out on what I was doing. You wanted to use me, and you have in every possible way.”