My fiancée gaped at Liza, but the girl continued quickly, “I knew she’d found out about your mum and got the journalist to contact her. And I felt horrible about it, Maia. I feltsick. Becky kept telling me you were this terrible person, but you’re like the best boss I’ve ever had.”
What the fuck?
It was Becky!
“Liza, it’s okay,” Maia insisted.
“No, it’s not. When I … last night she told me about your dad and about the article that would appear in the paper today.” Liza’s gaze moved to me, but she couldn’t quite meet my eyes before she returned her attention to Maia. “Let’s just say, I know what your aunt must have gone through, and I had someone in my life who did what your dad did, but he got away with it. It would have killed me if he’d gone to prison for protecting me.”
Fuck me.
Suddenly, I realized what her look had been. She was uncomfortable divulging this info in front of me, and honestly, I felt like shit for not being able to escape and give her and Maia privacy.
“Oh, Liza.” Maia reached out to squeeze her arm.
“It finally cemented the truth—that Becky was the horrible person in this scenario, so I told Christina.”
Clearly, I’d missed a big revelation today.
“Thank you, Liza. Thank you for being brave enough to do that.”
“It wasn’t brave. Brave would have been standing up to Becky months ago.” She shrugged, cheeks flushed.
“I’m still grateful.” Maia nibbled her lush lower lip and then asked, “Do … do you know why she hates me? I know it shouldn’t bother me, but it would be nice to know her motivations.”
Liza shook her head. “She never said. She did mention she was friends with your ex-fiancé’s new or old girlfriend or whatever and that he said you were a bitch. But that’s it.But …Ithink she was jealous of you, Maia. Like a not-normal kind of jealousy.”
“Jealous?” Maia huffed. “Why?”
“Because you’re gorgeous and smart and all the higher-ups love you here. She used to say stuff that was, like, factually incorrect, as if she was trying to convince herself. Like ‘Oh, Maia’s not even that pretty if you take away her hair and makeup.’”
I grunted at that fucking bullshit and Liza smiled.
Maia absentmindedly reached out to squeeze my arm.
“And she’d say like ‘Oh, you could do Maia’s job better, Liza, but she’s got Christina wrapped around her finger’ and …” She grimaced. “Some not nice things about why your fiancé was probably with you. It all reeks of?—”
“Crazy jealousy,” I agreed. “Told you, My.”
Maia shook her head, dazed. “That’s nuts to me. Nuts! That can’t be the reason why she tried to destroy my career.”
Liza shrugged and hit the button to open the doors again. “It’s the only thing I can think of. Anyway, just wanted you to know. So … we’re all good, boss?”
In answer, Maia drew Liza into a hug and the young woman blushed and laughed.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“It’s a yes.” Maia released her and stepped back into me. I placed my hand on her hip as she waved at Liza. “Keep things going for me today. See you tomorrow.”
As the doors closed and the lift descended, Maia rested her head on my arm. “As you might have guessed from that conversation, Becky was the one who found my mum and urged Craig Bennet to reach out to her and encouraged him to publish the story about my dad. She did it from her work computer, so when Liza told Christina, Christina and Hilaryhad the tech department log into Becky’s emails. Becky just got fired for sabotaging the campaign. And now I’m emotionally exhausted.”
Bloody hell. Silver lining was that Maia didn’t have to put up with that rat anymore. “I know, babe. I’m right here, though.”
“I know.” She turned to press a kiss to my bare arm before looking up at me, gaze bright with worry. “And I’m going to need you when I face my family.”
The truth was I couldn’t imagine her dad or aunt being mad at Maia about this, but I was ready to protect her from anything, even them. “I’m not going anywhere, Maia soon-to-be McMillan. Not ever again.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
