Page 15 of Mister Lane

“Move your hand.”

What?” she asked, suddenly feigning innocence as she slid her hand back over until the paper covered the badge again.

“Move your fucking hand!” I officially lost any remaining patience I had been attempting to hold on to. Any shred of professionalism I held was completely gone as I yelled, stompingaround the desk. “Back away from the desk,” I ordered her, having had enough of her bullshit.

“Mr. Lane…” she began to protest.

“Miss Tate,” I began in a dangerously low tone that she would be wise to listen to. “I gave you an order. Move away from the desk. Right. Fucking. Now!”

“Mr. Lane, I don't know what-”

“Miss Tate, you have two seconds to move away from that desk, or you're fired, right here, right now,” I snarled.

Veronica narrowed her eyes and placed the hand not covering the desk on her hip as she continued to stand her ground, refusing to move. “You may be the CEO, but you are not above the law. You cannot threaten me! I will go to HR and file a complaint!”

I scoffed as my hand holding Emily’s purse tightened on the fabric and the other flexed at my side. I was contemplating violence in my head, wondering if I could get away with murder, when my thoughts were thankfully interrupted.

“You do that, Miss Tate.” My brother's voice came from the elevator as he stepped off. Somehow, I’d missed the sound of the elevator arriving while being so focused on the viper in front of me. “In the meantime, you can sit there and wait until the police arrive, since I'm sure that you have something to do with the disappearance of Emily.”

“What?” I growled, my head whipping back around to stare down Veronica Tate, who’d begun to flush at Brayden’s arrival, her cheeks turning bright red. “What is he talking about?” I demanded. “What did you do to her?”

“I don't know what he's talking about,” she said, but she began backing away, her eyes darting around the space nervously. As she moved away from the desk, I slid the paper from where I’d seen the badge. I picked it up to see my goodgirl’s smiling face, my chest aching at the sight of her. I held it out to my brother.

“Sunshine,” he breathed.

“She didn't leave this floor.” I glanced down the hallway, wondering if she could possibly have been hiding in one of the many meeting rooms or in a filing room. There were several places that weren’t used on this floor that a person could hide. It would take an entire team of people to hunt her down.

“Oh, I'm sure she did,” he said and stared at Veronica pointedly.

“What do you mean?” I asked, turning back to face him.

“I called security when I headed up here,” he replied. “They should be calling me back any minute now. I started having my suspicions that Emily didn't use her own badge to leave the floor. Somehow she left, and only one other person here was likely to help her. So I asked them to check where Miss Tate's badge has been used today. The real question, though, is did Emily leave willingly?”

We both watched as Veronica flinched. All the color drained from her face, and she turned a sickly pale.

“I-I… you didn't…”

“Shut it right now, unless you want to tell us exactly where Emily Fontaine is!” Brayden snapped.

Veronica clamped her mouth shut, her lips pressed tightly together. I stepped forward, ready to strangle the answer out of the bitch, but my brother grabbed me by the arm.

“You can't touch her,” he warned.

“Why the fuck not?” I demanded. “She knows where our girl is. I’m going to get the answer from her one way or another.”

“You’ll give her exactly what she wants,” he replied. “Don't give her the satisfaction of having a reason to sue us.”

With narrowed eyes, I watched as she lifted her chin and knew he was right. That was exactly what she would do if Istrangled her for answers. It would be satisfying to wrap my hands around her throat and squeeze the life out of her, though. My mind went back to my previous thought. “Do you think I could get away with murder?”

Her gasp was loud, and her hand flew up to her neck as if she could already feel my phantom hand there. I smirked as Brayden chuckled and she stumbled back another step until her back hit the wall.

“No, and security should be calling any second now with information on where Sunshine is.” I nodded, even though I was still certain that with our connections, we could find a way to make a body disappear. No body, no crime.

“Why the fuck do you want that mousy little bitch?” Veronica demanded in a shrill scream that had me wincing. “I've been right here in front of you this whole time! You could have had me! I've been doing everything for you this whole time. Look at me!” she screamed and pointed at herself, stabbing her chest with one of her painted red nails. “Look at me! I'm perfect! I have the perfect pedigree. I'm beautiful! My daddy is rich! I've been taking care of everything for you. I've been handling both of your lives. I would've been perfect for you-”

“You couldn't handle shit,” I interrupted. “You disgust me.”

Brayden stared her down with pure venom and hate. “You're nothing but a gold-digging whore. And not even the good kind,” he spat out.