Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 83786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
I tried to listen to the radio, but that didn’t help. I couldn’t follow an audiobook because I was too busy wondering why exactly I’d gotten so worked up. I honestly couldn’t pinpoint the moment that my heart had begun to race or my breathing had gotten shallow. I just knew that at some point between the office and my building, something in the air had shifted. My mom always told me that biology was a funny thing—sometimes your body knew things that you didn’t. She and my dad had told me and my brother Gray so many times over the years that we should never ignore a gut feeling that it was practically ingrained.
I let out a long breath of air when I finally pulled into the rental company’s parking lot at the airport. Returning the car went pretty seamlessly and I strode like a woman on a mission inside to check in.
My shoulders relaxed into their normal position as soon as I’d gotten past the security checkpoint, and I almost laughed at myself as I headed toward the coffee shop near my gate. Now that I was behind that security, my anxiety mellowed to a light hum—and I was used to that level. I was always a little anxious, but I figured that just came with being smart. It was hard to be happy-go-lucky when you remembered nearly everything you’d ever read and knew the world was pretty much going to hell in a handbasket.
Shoving my purse higher on my shoulder, I reached for the phone ringing in the kangaroo pocket of the hoodie I’d thrown over my stained shirt.
“Paige, I’ve been calling you for days,” I answered, my voice filled with a mixture of relief and exasperation.
“What the hell is going on out there, Harper?” Paige snapped, making me stumble over my own feet. “I just got a call from Refordable’s CEO, and he said you walked out.”
“Well, yeah,” I replied, moving toward the wall like it would afford me some semblance of privacy.
“Are you out of your mind?”
“I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. Something stinks at that company. They were trying to get me to—”
“I don’t give a single fuck,” Paige cut me off. “Go back in there and apologize. Grovel. Do whatever you have to do.”
“You’re kidding, right?” I asked dubiously.
I hadn’t applied for the position I was in—I’d been headhunted. The job offers had come as soon as I’d graduated from college—and there had been a lot of them. I’d chosen the company I worked for because I liked their mission statement. I liked the camaraderie and the atmosphere they’d curated. I liked Paige, even though she was an overbearing snob sometimes. Never, not once, had Paige or anyone else spoken to me like she was now—it was startling.
“No, I’m not kidding. Do I sound like I’m kidding? Get your ass back in there.”
“I’m not going to lie for them,” I hissed into the phone, glancing around me at the people going about their day.
“Oh, please,” Paige scoffed. “You can make the numbers look however we need them to look—that’s why we frigging hired you.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked dubiously. I had never cooked the books for anyone, and they sure as hell had never asked me to.
“Get back to Refordable,” Paige ordered. “And make this right.”
“I’m not going to help them commit fraud,” I ground out, stunned. “That’s what they were asking me to do—that’s what you’re asking me to do.”
“I cannot believe that now you’re deciding to act like Pollyanna,” Paige replied with an irritated sigh.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You really think you have some moral high ground here, Harper White? Do you know how deep our background checks go? I know exactly where you came from.”
I felt the blood draining from my cheeks as they called the first round of boarding for my flight.
That fucking cunt. How dare she?
“Get back to Refordable and fix this, or you’re fired. How about that? Is that clear enough for you, or should I send it to you in binary?” she said snidely.
I didn’t even bother to reply. My fingertips were numb as I lowered the phone from my ear and turned it off completely.
If she thought that talking shit and threatening to fire me would get her what she wanted, she hadn’t gone as deep in my background as she thought. In a long line of stubborn women, I was the shining example of those who’d gone before me.
Paige Brewer could go fuck herself.
I walked numbly to the coffee shop across from my gate, my mind racing.
“What can I get ya?” the barista asked, jolting me out of my stupor.
“You hiring?” I asked jokingly.
The older man smiled. “You can apply online.”
“Okay, can I just get a flat white, please?”