Office Pet

I glanced at Kane who had the decency to look uncomfortable.

“Did she say she framed me?” I asked.

“She didn’t go that far, but it’s not hard to put two and two together.” Sloane turned her attention to Kane. “Am I done here? Happy now?”

Kane nodded and said, “You’re done.”

“Can I be sure you’re not going to fire me or have my father disinherit me?” She glared at him.

“Melissa,” Kane said, “can you see Sloane out? Reese and I have some things we need to talk through.”

“I’m still not sure I like you,” Sloane said sweeping out of the office.

“You don’t have to,” I retorted. “But thank you for coming to Kane and telling him what Linda said.”

Sloane shrugged. “For some reason, she thought I was her friend. I may be self-centered but I don’t like to see anyone manipulated. What Linda did was wrong.” Without saying anything further, she and Melissa left.

When Kane and I were alone, neither of us spoke for the longest time. I remained seated with my arms crossed, staring at the Manhattan skyline. Sloane’s words were hard for me to swallow. All along, it was Linda.

I found myself on my feet and heading towards the door. All this still didn’t change the fact that Kane thought it was me.

“Please sit,” Kane finally said, breaking the silence and trying to stop me.

“I’ll stand.” I stopped and turned towards him. “I’m guessing you realize I didn’t steal the missing millions.”

He gave me a solemn nod. “We realize. Linda wasn’t on our radar. She’s been with us for fifteen years. Was one of our first employees. What happened to you is my fault, Reese. I’ll never be able to apologize enough. You’re in the situation because of me.”

My lower lip wobbled, but I wouldn’t cry. I’d cried enough in the past few days to last me a lifetime.

“Why did she do it?” I asked. “Why did she single me out?”

“Years ago, after Sadie died—”

“Sadie?”

Pain filled his face, but he continued, “My fiancée. She was killed ten years ago. I should have told you about her from the get-go.”

“I agree, you should have.” His fiancée’s death was the reason for the haunted pain I sometimes saw in his eyes. That was why he didn’t want love.

“Linda and I went on a few dates soon after Sadie died. I thought maybe she could fill the void inside me, but there was no chemistry between us. She was kind and always had a smile for me. Brought me meals and checked in on me often, but I wasn’t ready to date,” he said with a small shrug. “Things between us never went further than a couple of dinners. She made no secret that she wanted more.”

“Where do I come into this? Why did she single me out?”

“I think it’s obvious.”

Exhaustion weighed heavy on my shoulders. “Maybe you need to spell it out for me.”

He blew out a long breath. “She wanted to pay me back for, I guess, rejecting her. She wanted to hurt you to hurt me. Turned out she’d been stealing from us for years but hid her tracks well. So well not even Ray saw her transgressions. She’s smart. Smarter than any of us gave her credit for.

“The first few years, she stole a couple of thousand every few months. Nothing that would be missed. Something that could be written off. But when you arrived and when she discovered you were my mentee, she knew it meant I wanted you and was ready to move on from Sadie. Jealousy and revenge made her set you up.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “And she admitted this?”

“Not all of it, but enough. She’s been arrested and will spend many years behind bars.”

“Why didn’t you have me arrested when you thought I was the one stealing from you.”

His lips twisted down as if he didn’t want to answer the question. “Maybe I was hoping to be proved wrong.”

The anger that had been simmering inside me boiled over. “Bull. Shit. You wanted to protect your pride. Don’t try to tell me you didn’t think it was me. The way you looked at me when you found me in your office showed me exactly what your opinion of me was.”

He held his hands out. “I’m sorry. I understand if you can never forgive me. What I accused you off is unforgivable. Seeing you in my home office… I saw red. I was in shock. I was wrong, and I’m sorry. You’ll never know how sorry I am.”

He came to me and fell to his knees. “I love you, Reese. I don’t want to lose you; please tell me I haven’t lost you. Please. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

His pleading and sorrow-filled eyes almost broke me. Almost broke down the shield I’d erected the second I walked into his office.