Chapter Five
Devon walked into his office, and tossed his briefcase on the oversized chair across from his table. He called the security office. “Hey. Devon here.”
“Yes, sir, how can we help?”
Sitting on his chair, he inhaled. The less information he gave, the better. “Hi, Phil, I need a list of the phone numbers dialed from my assistant’s desk the past two months,” he said casually, and reached for a football he kept in his second drawer. Taking it out, he tapped his fingers on it.
“Is there anything you’re looking for, sir? This kind of information usually takes time.”
Bouncing the ball from hand to hand, he frowned. “Time? I can glance at my iPhone now and find out everyone I called. Why can’t you use your fancy computer and do me a solid?”
“Because whenever we’re watching employees, even with orders from their bosses, we need the CEO’s approval. That’s a new rule.”
Of course it was. Imani wanted to be in full control, understandably so. He entertained the idea of telling her about his suspicions involving Elena and Matthew. Too soon. “This isn’t surveillance. I think she’s been making way too many personal calls and need evidence. Nothing too complicated, unless you make it so,” Devon said, clenching his fingers on the ball.
“Okay, sir. I’ll email you a list as soon as I have access—”
“Right now.”
“Right now.”
“Good. Thanks, Phil,” he said, his voice a tad smoother.
“Anytime.”
If he could prove she contacted Matthew a lot, that was a start. Why would she contact his half-brother, when her job didn’t demand such things? After all, she had dialed his cell phone number from hers. Maybe she’d slipped out at work and done the same.
The image of his half-brother’s hands on her brought a hardcore acid to his stomach. Ridiculous, he knew. After all, if anything he was the one who shouldn’t be touching her. If Matthew were having an affair with her, he’d be toast and not be the CEO. Devon curled his fingers into a fist.
He lifted his head to the see-through wall, and there she was, walking to his office, wearing a dove grey skirt and a silk pale pink blouse. His heart drummed, and a senseless stir swept through his body. No. Get a grip, man. The girl had texted his brother. He had seen them talk at the park with a familiarity that didn’t fool him for a second. Why did all rationalization fly out the window the second his gaze collided with hers?
“Devon,” she said, worrying her bottom red lip.
Standing up, he stretched to his full height. This time, she wasn’t going to run away from him. She had at the restaurant, and also at the park. Even if he had to drag her to his private bathroom, where thank goodness, walls kept him from view, they would have this conversation. If she thought slapping him in the face the other day put an end to their chat, she had another thing coming. “Elena. How do you know my brother and why did you call him from your cell phone?”
Her long sigh filled the room. She put her hands on her waist, her fingers drumming over her skirt. He peered behind her, to make sure the other assistants were working and no one paid attention to them. A shiver of relief went through him. Good.
“And don’t feed me any lies. If you don’t tell me the truth now, I’ll go to Imani and the board and tell them you two are having an affair.”
She stepped forward, hands perched at her waist. “We are not.”
“That’s hard to believe. Why else would you call him on his cell phone? Or talk to him intimately at the park?” he asked the questions that had been eating at him since Sunday. All his life, when it came to women, he didn’t consider himself particularly possessive. Superficial relationships suited him fine, for he didn’t have to worry about their end. Then why did it bother him beyond belief that Matthew was the one bedding Elena—and not him?
“Intimately? We exchanged a few words in broad daylight. Wasn’t that the purpose of the employee retreat? So everyone would mingle?” she said, irony dripping from her voice.
“Like you mingled with me?”
She shook her head. “I can take our mingling to the board too.”
His stomach clenched. A wave of disappointment swept through him, and he could punch himself for even allowing such a sentiment. She had been snooping on him, for fuck’s sake. Why would he expect her to act any differently? “It took long enough. You’re threatening me?”
She ran her hands through her hair, and he noticed the pulse on her neck. “No. I mean, yes. Listen—”
“If you do that I can tell them you are a corporate spy.”
She lifted her chin, but he didn’t miss the glint of fear in her eyes. “You don’t have any proof.”
“Nope, but I can plant that seed. Once they look into the kind of connection you have with my half-brother, we’re all going down, and I don’t mean just professionally. Corporate espionage is a crime.”
