Office Pet

Oh, so not acceptable. That bitch’s stalking days were over. But I would not make a scene. I would talk to her in private.

I dialed her extension, and when she picked up, I barked, “Boardroom five now. You and I have to have a little chat.”

I hung up before she could reply. Enough was enough. With my coffee cup in hand, I headed straight to the boardroom and paced up and down in front of the windows.

The boardroom doors opened, and Sloane sauntered in. Her arms were crossed, and anger covered her face.

“So glad you came,” I said not bothering to hide my disdain.

“Usually I wouldn’t, but I had nothing better to do.” She did her best to appear disinterested by picking non-existent lint from her pristine suit.

“What’s your problem, Sloane?” I snapped. “Why are you doing this?”

Her cold eyes glared at me. “My problem is you. Some little hick has taken the position I want. We all know what you’re doing.”

I leaned into the large wooden table and glared at her. “You have no clue what I’m doing, and you have no right to try to destroy me.”

“Destroy you? You’re doing that all by yourself.” She laughed a little.

I kept the table between us, so I wouldn’t grab her by the throat. “Who did you hire to do your dirty work because I’m sure you didn’t lurk outside of my apartment building to take photos.”

Her forehead furrowed, and she looked at me as if I’d lost the plot. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t act all innocent. The photo taken outside of my apartment. The email last night and again this morning. The note stuck to my front door.”

“You’re crazier than I thought you were.” She looked even more confused.

I stopped in my tracks and lowered my voice a bit. “Are you trying to tell me the encrypted email address doesn’t belong to you?”

“You’ve lost your fucking mind.” She pressed her palms onto the boardroom table and laughed. “You’re accusing me of stalking you? I don’t like you, that’s obvious, but I have more important things to do with my time than stalk or send you emails. That’s not how I roll. If I want to hurt someone, I make sure they’re aware it’s me.”

Suddenly thrown off, I pressed my index finger to the side of my lips. “If you’re not emailing me and stalking me, then who is?”

She lifted her hand and waved it around. “Are you blind as well as insane? You’ve made a ton of enemies. Your behavior with Simon and Kane has raised more than a few eyebrows.”

I sighed and rolled my shoulders back. “For the hundredth time, nothing happened between Simon and me. He propositioned me. He threatened to drug me. Mr. McKenzie was there and helped me out of a horrible situation. We got talking, he offered me a mentorship, and you’re damn right I took it because I don’t have a daddy who gives me everything I want. I worked hard to get where I am, and I’m not going to let you or anyone else ruin it.”

She rolled her eyes. “Cry me a river. Enough with the poor me shtick. You’re as ruthless and as ambitious as everyone else. Don’t pretend otherwise. If we’re done here, I’m going back to work. If I wanted to get to you badly enough, I would do it, and I would let you know about it because I would relish every single moment of ruining your life. If you ever accuse me of anything like this again, I’ll make your pathetic life even worse than it is now.”

With a flick of her perfectly flat-ironed hair, she strode out of the boardroom. She was wrong, I was nothing like her. Nothing. But she was right about one thing, if she wanted to ruin me, she would make sure I knew about it.

I mentally ran through everyone else in the office. The only other person who could be responsible for this shit storm was someone who no longer worked at McKenzie’s and that someone was Simon.

When I got back to my desk, Linda was waiting for me. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine,” I said with a fake smile.

“You’re more upset now than you were last night.” She frowned and hovered around me as I sat and turned to my computer.

“You’re sweet to notice, Linda. It’s no big deal, honestly, just a few personal things that need to be sorted out.”

“Do I need to get HR involved between you and Sloane?”

“We’re good. Promise.”

“I hope so. The last thing I want is office drama.” She tapped her fingernails against my desk then walked away.

Exactly what I needed the day before an evaluation was Linda reprimanding me.

With a sigh, I turned back to my monitor and checked my email again. Another email from I SeeYou popped into my inbox.