Hard Limit (St. Louis Mavericks 2)

“What are you talking about?” I asked in confusion, frowning at her.

Her eyes met mine. “I’m on it, okay? I promise. But you don’t want to be here right now.”

“Vanessa, what’s going on? You need to tell me, and then I’ll decide if I want to be here.”

Dread swirled through my chest as she hesitated.

“The video,” she finally said.

“What video?”

“Sheridan. The video.”

I narrowed my eyes and then froze. “Oh my God.”

“Let me handle it, okay? Everything is going to be okay.”

“How?” I managed, my voice a little shaky.

“I don’t know, but we’ll find out. Just go home and—”

“Where?” I cried. “Everywhere? Did he release it online?”

“We don’t know yet.”

“Oh, God.” We. Who did that mean?

“Please, just—”

“I’m not going home!” I hissed, tears welling in my eyes.

I turned toward my office.

“Sheridan, you don’t need to see it!” Vanessa said, hurrying after me. “Really. Just go home and get a massage or something. I’ll handle things here at the office.”

I walked into my office and turned on my computer, Vanessa on my heels.

“Why are you doing this to yourself?” she asked. “Come on, it’s not worth getting upset over. I’ll—”

“It’s not worth getting upset over?” I met her gaze as pain and humiliation shot through me. “Have you seen the damn video? Of me and Hugh—” I stopped abruptly. I knew every second of that fucking video and it haunted me.

“It was eleven years ago, hon.” Vanessa perched on the side of my desk. “No one is going to think much of it.”

“Hugh videotaped me without my permission!” I said, clenching my fists. “And he’s held this fucking video over my head for years. This is the whole reason I haven’t been able to divorce him, because he won’t give up that video and I’ve been afraid he’d—”

My hands shook and my vision blurred as I sank down into my office chair.

“Right, but if it’s out there now, you can’t change it, so let me do damage control while you go home and relax. Freaking out here at the office isn’t going to help anything.”

“Burying my head in the sand won’t either.”

“You trusted me with your whole company. Why don’t you trust me to handle this?”

“It’s not about trust.” I swiped at my eyes. “What if it was you in that video? How would you feel knowing the whole world is going to see you like that?”

“We don’t know the extent of it yet. Let me dig into this, okay?”

“I’m not going home.” I clicked on my keyboard and my biggest nightmare was looking me in the face. Right on the home page of the company’s intranet.

“What the fuck…” I stared at the still photo in horror. Even without clicking on the video, I knew what viewers would see and just the thought of it turned my stomach. Thank God I hadn’t eaten anything yet today or I would have heaved up my breakfast. Fury raced through my veins for the second time, bringing tears to my eyes, but I was stronger than this. I’d been just shy of my seventeenth birthday when that video had been taken, and Hugh was the asshole for taking advantage of me that way. I’d let him, of course, but back then I’d been sure he would be the only guy who’d ever love me.

“Is this just on the intranet, or is it posted publicly?” I asked. “Did Hugh hack us somehow?”

“So far, we haven’t found it posted publicly, but we’re calling in some IT support to help us investigate more thoroughly, and to get it off the intranet. This just blew up a little bit ago.”

I nodded numbly.

“I called a meeting with the executive staff,” Vanessa said after a moment. “I really think you need to go home.”

“No.” I swiped at my eyes and stood up, absently turning off the computer. “This is still my company and I should explain.”

“Sheridan.” Vanessa crossed her arms and gave me an imploring look. “You’re the one who taught me to separate my head from my heart when it comes to business. You’re all heart right now. It’s not going to help anything. Let me handle this.”

She was right. I hated it, but she was right. I would have said the same thing if the tables were turned.

“Okay,” I conceded. “I’ll go home.”

I cried a lot more when I got back to my apartment, but when I was finally cried out, I called Marian and updated her. Then I packed a bag, threw it in the back of my Mercedes, and headed for my mother’s. She lived in an upscale suburb of St. Louis, in a gated community where we both felt safe. The house was in her name and paid for, and the front gate understood that Hugh was never, ever allowed in.

I pulled into her driveway and took a breath. It had been a brutal day and now that I was away from my apartment, the office, and the city itself, I already felt a little calmer. I got my bag out of the back and wheeled it up to the front porch. I had a key, but I liked to knock, just in case, and Mom answered the door in surprise.