“That I love him.” There was no point in lying about that, even if I could get away with it.
“Then that’s all that matters.” He shrugged and acted like it was nothing. Who was this man? I had memories of him taking people’s asses and handing them back with a smile for much, much less. He’d been harder on his employees when he was younger, but still. My Dad made sure that everything was up to par and he didn’t accept anything less than perfection from his employees.
“Did you know about him?” I ask in a small voice.
“Yes. I did. I was the one who found him and hired him.”
“Who else knew?”
“Mrs. Andrews, Hal. A few more on the board. I’m not surprised he told you.” He shook his head back and forth and smiled at me.
“Well, I kind of forced it out of him.” He hadn’t really had a choice when I confronted him at the restaurant.
“That’s my girl.”
“Are you going to fire me?” I didn’t know if he could even do this, since we were family.
“Would you like me to fire you?” Okay, remember what I said about special treatment? Forget that.
“No!”
“Well, you did break the rules and you signed a Code of Conduct that stated you would be terminated if you violated it. So, what would you like me to do?” Have amnesia? Pretend he hadn’t seen anything? Set the building on fire? Build a time machine?
“I can see that mind of yours working. So, what’s the verdict, Rory girl?”
“I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to lose my job and I don’t want to lose him. I want to have it all. I want my flipping cake and I want to eat it.” Or have sex with it. Did that make Lucah the cake?
I wasn’t thinking about the important things at the moment.
“Then I guess that means that I have never seen any misconduct on your side or on his. Neither has Mrs. Andrews. And this is the last time we’ll talk about this particular issue, seeing as how he is no longer employed by this company, and technically wasn’t in the first place, since he was using an alias. If you were to start seeing him after his termination, then that wouldn’t violate any rules. So.”
“So,” I said, letting out a breath. “That’s it?”
He put his hands out.
“That’s it.”
That couldn’t be it. All that and no big deal? All the worrying and freaking out and all of it for nothing?
“I need to sit down,” I said, forgetting that I was, in fact, already sitting. Dad just laughed.
“I just remember the trials and tribulations I had to go through to get your mother. The hardships that you have to go through to be together make it worth it in the end. I only hope he can prove that he deserves you, Aurora.” He leaned forward and I hugged him again. There’s nothing like a hug from your Dad. I don’t care how old you are.
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Anytime. You’re my only girl and I’d move the earth for you. But if you date someone else in this office, I’ll fire you. Got it?” I couldn’t tell if he was joking until he winked and kissed my forehead before leaving me alone in my office with a hell of a lot of thoughts.
~*~*~
I was still swimming in those thoughts that afternoon as I looked over another presentation, when there was a commotion in the lobby that carried through the entire floor. I got out of my desk and went to my door to peek out.
And then I saw the cops strolling past my office and a flustered Mrs. Andrews following after. She gave me a look when she went by my door and I got up from my desk. Damn, they’d called in the big guns. The cops looked like they spent half their time working out and the other half thinking about working out.
Everyone else was popping their heads out of their offices to see what was going on, but no one seemed to know. I shot a questioning look at Mr. Dunlap across the hall and he just made a shrugging motion.
This probably had something to do with Lucah’s investigation. Well, I was curious to see what was going to go down, so I left my office and started walking down the hall as they stopped in front of Mr. Craig’s door and knocked. His door was the only one that wasn’t open.
The cops weren’t messing around as they knocked again and then busted the door open. Dad was trying to take control of the situation, but the cops passed him a warrant, so his hands were tied, but he calmly sent Mrs. Andrews into his office to contact the company lawyers. People were starting to edge closer to get a better view as the cops smashed the door in and dragged Mr. Craig out.