Outmatched

“What are you doing?” His tone had changed from casual superiority to irritated and suspicious.

I pressed play on my phone. Our conversation echoed around the underground lot.

Color flooded his face, and his hand came up as if to snatch the phone out of my hand.

I pulled it out of his reach, and, despite my fear, I grinned. “I’ve already emailed the recording to a safe location. It’s out of your hands.”

“You little bitch.” He stepped toward me. “You think you—”

“Problem here?” a voice called. I turned to see Xander getting out of his car, a white box in hand I knew was filled with doughnuts. He came to a stop beside me and Fairchild, a frown marring his brow.

As if he’d just realized where we were, Fairchild stepped back and tugged on his lapels. “You’ll regret that,” he promised, like a cartoonish villain.

“I don’t think so. Because if anything happens to anyone I care about, I’m going straight to the police with this recording. And in case that doesn’t scare you, I’ll take the recording to the media too. See, sometimes the world and all the powerful people in it care if someone is proven to be untrustworthy, dishonorable, a blackmailer, a misogynist, and generally a giant turd. In that scenario, life will get that little bit harder, even for a billionaire turd.

“Then again, sometimes the world doesn’t care, or they don’t care for very long. But I’m not sure you’re willing to risk finding out how the world would treat you.” I smiled sweetly. “And, according to the Tribune, you have enough troubles to deal with, without adding a charge of blackmail into the mix.”

His fury was palpable. “And what you’re doing isn’t blackmail?”

“Hmm, I guess it’s all in your perspective? Somehow, I think, since it’s you, I’ll sleep just fine.”

Casting me one last hateful look, Fairchild spun on his heel and marched toward his car.

Xander turned into me. “Okay, what did I just miss?”

“Me finally standing up for myself.” It had felt good. Even if my insides were rattling with nerves and I was very close to upchucking. At Xander’s frown, I blew out a shaky exhalation. “Do you think Jackson will fire me?”

“I think Jackson is more concerned with the fact that the guy financing his company is under investigation. But, hey, way to stick up for yourself. Very impressive.”

I had just stood up to Franklin Fairchild.

Holy shit.

Xander saw my expression pale and held up the white box he carried. “Doughnut?”

I winced at the thought of food.

“Let’s head up. We should tell Jackson and add another worry onto his shoulders.”

For a smart girl, sometimes I was way too distracted by my personal life to put two and two together. “Oh my God, is the company in trouble? With Fairchild being investigated, I mean?”

“Jackson asked me to bring doughnuts. He’s called a meeting first thing.” Concern washed over Xander’s expression. “I guess we’re about to find out the answer to your question.”

As soon as Xander and I walked into the room, Jackson came out of his private office, nodded at my colleague, and announced to the staff. “Meeting room, five minutes. I want everyone there.”

One by one, we made our way into the meeting room. It was big enough that we all got a seat at the table. There was a lot of intrigued murmuring.

Evan slipped into the seat next to me. “You know what’s going on?” he asked quietly.

I shook my head, probably looking like a ball of nerves because of my altercation with Fairchild. I couldn’t stop bouncing my right knee and my fingers tapped impatiently against the desk. “You?”

“Nope. God, I hope it isn’t staff cuts. We just bought a house.”

My stomach roiled. Staff cuts? Perhaps staff cuts were best-case scenario. If we no longer had financing, we were screwed six ways until Sunday.

Oh hell.

I tensed in my seat as Jackson strode into the room with Ben at his back. Ben was head of sales and marketing. He was the face of Horus Renewable Energy and privy to whatever Jackson knew.

They stood in front of the long meeting table, and Jackson broke into a grin. “I see a lot of worried faces. Don’t be worried. I know some of you are concerned about the allegations made against Mr. Fairchild in the Tribune. Don’t be. It’s not a concern for us. On that note, I have good news, but this news means that there will be some changes within the company.”

“Changes, as in job losses?” Evan asked.

Jackson shook his head. “The opposite. It won’t happen right away, but we’ll be expanding, which means more staff and a new office. And the reason is because we’re no longer heavily financed by Franklin Fairchild, which means he’s no longer on the board as CEO of the company. He’s no longer on the board, period.”