“Arthur and I were the only ones who knew the names of the applicants. And I only know because he discussed it with me briefly, in passing. This suggests that there was a breach—or someone was given access to Arthur’s office or files that shouldn’t have.”
His tone said very clearly who he blamed for that.
Meghana nodded stiffly, accepting the strike. “We’ve already considered that possibility and have our security team looking into the situation.”
“Are you? That’s interesting. Because I should have been informed of this slanderous hit piecebeforeyou gave yourself the go-ahead to deliver a canned response to the press.” His voice turned cold. “When I find out who violated their NDA to go crawling to a reporter, they’re going to be fired—and sued—regardless of their position with the company.”
“Security is reviewing the footage from Mr. Hartwell’s office and the legal department has already signed off on dealing with this as a violation of the company’s NDA. As soon as we have this vetted through the proper channels, you’ll be consulted on every step of the outcome.”
“Let me make one thing perfectly clear.” The chair creaked as Nicholas leaned forward again. “As long as I’m doing my job and the numbers look good on paper, the perception of the slack-jawed public doesn’t really matter to me. We’re not brokering auto shops and church bake sales here. I could notgive less of a flying fuck what John Q. Public thinks about how I conduct myselfwith my wifewhen I’m making the company billions. They don’t hand out your paychecks. We do. I suggest,” he finished, with a slight growl, “you remember that.”
For the first time since Jay had met the woman, Meghana looked surprised. “I’m sorry, did you say—wife?”
Nicholas reached down and grabbed Jay’s left hand, holding it up like a trophy. Meghana’s brown eyes drifted from Jay’s hand to Jay herself and then over her shoulder, to Nicholas. Jay cringed at the thought of what his expression must look like right now.
But a small part of her thrilled at his fierceness.
“We got married this week. Clearly, the informant didn’t know that. They got Jay’s name wrong.”
“I sent you an email.” Nicholas was still holding her hand and she made no attempt to free herself, although she did shoot an uneasy glance at Meghana. “This morning.”
“I didn’t see it,” Meghana said. “It’s been a busy morning.”
“Too busy to check your emails. That is concerning.” He stroked the inside of Jay’s palm with his thumb. “Especially if you have the time to schedule superfluous meetings that could have been proactively handled by reading them.”
That was enough. Jay spread her fingers, gently breaking Nicholas’s grip, aware even as she folded her hands in her lap that she was free only because he had allowed her to be. “I told you in my email that we wanted this to be above board—and we do,” she added, hearing his quiet scoff. “We were hoping to keep this quiet for at least a little while but now it’s affecting the work environment, you’re right. But a lot of that is because of the paper being circulated. Someone made a suggestive comment to me before I’d even settled down at my desk.”
“I’m sorry,” Meghana said, after a pause. “That’s unacceptable.”
“Yes, it is. Listen to your VP. She knows what she’s doing. And unlike me, she’s going to be a lot more understanding about you reading the gossip rags instead of doing your job.”
He let go of the chair and pivoted towards the door. “I expect to have an email before the end of the day telling me how you plan to deal with this in detail. Assuming we’re both still here.”
Way to drop that bombshell without diffusing it, Jay thought, her frustration blending with concern and—yes, a little schadenfreude, too. Nobody had ever defended her like that, not so viciously. She thought she might like it. Too much.
“I’m sorry,” she said, as much as for Meghana’s sake as herself, before hurrying after Nick. “Nicholas, wait,” she called out, and his steps slowed, allowing her to catch up to him in the hall outside the HR office. Employees from the Acquisitions department were beginning to trickle in and they were getting a few sidelong looks. “I need to talk to you.”
“In my office.”
His office? Jay eyed the people who were making a very poor attempt at disguising their interest. If she went into a room alone with him, there would be talk. But on the other hand, there already was.
She had a flash of following him in there before, terrified that he would use her as his little office whore but bound to follow anyway. He pressed a button on his desk and the windows automatically became opaque. Jay startled.
“I didn’t know they could do that.”
“Well, they can.” He leaned back against his desk, hands braced on the surface. “What do you want, blue jay?”
The affectionate nickname softened the impatience in his voice. “You can’t give up your job for me.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s yourjob. You’re good at it. You enjoy it. I’ve seen your face at those all-hands meetings, Nicholas. It lights you up.”
One of his eyebrows had lifted challengingly, but as she spoke, she recognized the stubborn set to his jaw as he pushed off from the desk. “It’s not my job that ‘lights me up.’ It’s you. You’ve given up so much for me. What if I want to be the martyr for once?”
“Because you can’t fix the past by . . . by martyring yourself on it.” Jay shook her head desperately. “Is this about what you said by the pool? Your idea of a big sacrifice? I don’t want that.”
“Do you want the job?”
