"I didn't say a thing to anyone. You better check your facts before you come in my office with both barrels blazing." My hips were already aligned with the desk behind me, so I stepped back, leaning on it to seem more casual. But really it was the way my legs shook from adrenaline that required a little more support.
After such a huge outburst yesterday my body still hadn't calmed down. I'd taken the medications my doctor offered me for tense moments but they barely took the edge off. The thing that truly helped was to go to a meeting or to sit with Veda for a while. Right now I had neither option available.
"You expect me to believe you said nothing to them after the way you exploded on me yesterday?" He took another step closer and I watched his fingers curl into fists. It put me in a defensive posture, but I stayed seated because if I moved toward him I knew I might lose control.
This man standing in front of me had done everything in his power to try to remove me from this position. He never cared that my entire world fell apart or that I had to bury my own child. And now that I was finally putting my life back together he was the one trying to stand in my way instead of supporting me.
"Clayton, I need you to calm down now, please." That was when I stood and straightened my tie, though my eyes flicked toward the open door where I had a plain view of Veda’s empty desk from where I stood.
Clayton's eyes followed where I was looking and he scoffed, then chuckled. When he locked eyes on me again, it was with such malice in his expression I could physically feel it in my gut. His head cocked to the side for a second. He pursed his lips and then he sighed heavily and took another step closer. This time, he walked right into my bubble where I could feel his hot breath over my face and cringed.
"You don't belong in this office and you don't belong behind that desk." He bared his teeth like a rabid dog when I didn't back away from him. Then he snarled, "Just like you never belonged in my family or in my life."
Before I could blink, his arm reared back and he let his fist fly. It crashed into my jaw so hard, it made me see stars and I fell backward into my desk, which thankfully caught me so I didn't end up on the floor. But Clayton was on me, swinging and pounding away at my chest and face, so that I had no choice but to defend myself.
I launched up off my desk at him faster than he could react. Years of pent-up fury over the way he'd treated me came out in one forceful lunge, and I pinned him against the wall with my arm pressed from shoulder to shoulder and one hand holding his wrist.
Only then did he stop throwing punches, but he didn’t stop throwing his hatred. He spat in my face and tried to pushed me off while I shouted, "Penny, call security, please!" Then he grabbed my lapel with his free hand and shook his head at me.
"You don't get it, do you, Asher? You're not the golden boy of Locke Global anymore. You haven't been since your wife died and you decided to wallow in self-pity."
"Shut up, Clayton."
"Oh, you think you're better than me because you have the title on the door and you can call security to drag me out. Well, guess what? You're in for a huge shock." He paused only long enough to take a breath before he continued. "You know nothing. You're so blind to everything going on around you, aren’t you?"
"I said, shut up!"
Clayton chuckled loudly and pushed me hard, but I didn’t back away. I kept him pinned on the glass wall near the door as he continued berating me.
"If you had just paid attention a little closer, you'd have seen how everything fell right into place, and now you're gonna pay for the way things went. I deserved that chair and that title. And now it'll be mine."
"What are you talking about?" I asked him, eyes flicking toward the hallway, hoping security got there before he overpowered me.
"I'm talking about how bad you're gonna spiral out. Do you know Veda Porter is just a plant?" he scoffed and then chuckled again, so loudly, I let my arm slide up to his neck where it pressed on his throat but didn’t cut off oxygen.
"What are you talking about?" Every bone in my body told me to ignore him and get rid of him, but I'd lost control of myself. Right now I just wanted to punch him in the face and it was taking every ounce of my self-control not to do that.
"I paid her, Asher…. A half-million dollars to seduce you and make you look like a pervert boss." My blood ran cold as I froze there, staring at him in disbelief, but he didn't shut up."Would've been a million too if she'd gotten me the proof… But she gave me something much better."
He smirked at me a nasty, sardonic look as I backed away in shock, giving him space to straighten his jacket and tie. "What?"
"Yeah, you heard me," he continued. "She's pregnant, Asher… With your baby. She’s a gold digger of the worst sort. She’s been lying to you this whole time."
The words felt like he had physically punched me. My chest got tight instantly, my mouth dry. My head swam with accusation and emotion, spinning around everything he'd said over the past few weeks and landing on the words he told me—that she was hiding things.
I expected something this cruel and heartless from Clayton, but from Veda? It couldn’t be possible, but then… She'd been acting strange, telling me she was fine, but was she? And I'd have sworn she was hiding something on multiple occasions.
"All I wanted was for her to make you look like a predator or something…." He laughed again and it was more sinister this time. "You went and got all sober for her—so sweet really." The sarcasm in his tone had my hands curling to fists. "And she took it the extra step and pretty boy fell in love." Now Clayton was backing me up toward my desk again.
Where the hell was security?
"And she's going to have your little baby. That just takes the cake, don't you think?" He reached into his pocket and opened his phone, flashing the screen at me. My eyes couldn’t make sense of what he was showing me, but he said, "Proof, brother… I paid her to do a job." The way he said the word "brother" felt like a knife.
"You!" I growled, and my chest was heaving.
"Yeah…. me." Clayton smiled like he was proud of himself while I stood there with my world shattering around me yet again. "Do you want to hear the recording I made of her verbally agreeing to seduce you and record it? Because if you don't believe me I can make sure your little weak mind gets the proof you need.
"Veda is nothing but a gold digging tramp and she fooled you." He stepped closer to me and I almost grabbed him. "I bet you slept with her on her first day, didn't you?" That grin, my god I was going to kill him. "Do I know how to pick your type or what?"
