After a little small talk she learned the guys got together to play basketball every Friday morning before they started their day. It may have seemed like a little harmless male bonding, but the significance wasn’t lost on Caroline. No women were included in these games, and women weren’t getting ahead in the firm, either. Caroline guessed if she’d gone out with Mark, slept with him, things would have been different for her, but she wasn’t going to pay that price to get ahead. She didn’t think she’d have to.
Especially when all the men had to do was shoot some hoops.
Disgusted, Caroline looked around and wondered what the hell she had to do to catch a break.
It turned out she had to make her own break and she did.
Mel came flying from the corridor near the executive offices looking like someone had set her pants on fire. “Jesus Christ. What did you do to Keith? He’s in Mark’s office screaming his head off!”
“This is going to be ugly.” Caroline figured she should just pack the contents of her desk. It was over.
“And your guy was here. Actually, I don’t think their meeting has ended.”
“What?” Josh had been there? She knew he wanted to have another meeting, but she didn’t realize it would be so soon. Was he in the building? She was tempted to find him just so she could get a hug. She could really use it.
“Mr. Big, Blond and Beautiful? He had a meeting with Mark and Gary. No one looked happy when they went into the meeting room. You didn’t tell me he was a client. How are things going with him? I need deets.”
“Awesome. He’s a doll.” Caroline paused and looked down the hall. “Could you hear anything with Mark and Keith? Should I be boxing up my stuff?”
“Not sure. Mark wasn’t happy that he was putting out two fires at once, especially since you seem to be at the center of both. I did hear Keith say things like ‘obnoxious bitch’ and ‘undermined my authority’.”
“Why is it they always resort to calling us bitches?
He
was a bitch.”
Mel laughed. “Was he? Seriously?”
“Completely. You should have heard the way he talked to everyone, and he’s the one who caused the problems.”
“Caroline?” The voice was deep and angry. Looking up she saw Mark, standing about ten feet away. His hands were planted firmly on his hips and he looked pissed. Really, really pissed. “Conference room. Now.”
Mark turned and walked away. He didn’t wait for her. Didn’t say another thing. His stride was long and purposeful and by the time she reached the conference room, Mark was already seated at the large table with Keith, Gary, and two of the partners. Damn.
“Close the door.” Mark was at the head of the table and was leaning forward, his hands folded on the dark wood. When the door clicked shut, Caroline felt trapped.
“Sit down.” Mark motioned to the chair next to him and it was clear that he was running this meeting. He was the boss. This was really bad.
“You have some explaining to do. First with regard to this morning. You completely undermined the confidence and authority of one of our senior engineers. Second, you second-guessed a colleague on a site assessment, forcing us and the client to begin expensive and unnecessary testing.”
“It’s not unnecessary.”
“Look, that’s a matter of opinion...”
“The right opinion. How can they proceed with the purchase and the development of the land if they don’t know what they’re buying?”
Gary jumped in. “They don’t have time. They need the assessment done so they can present to their investors and lock down the sale. There’s a window they have to get through if they’re going to have their permits filed before zoning changes.”
“I know all this,” Caroline shot back. “But their permits won’t be worth anything if there’s a problem with the site. If the EPA has to come in, forget it.”
No one around the table had anything to say. For the second time that day, she’d contradicted a superior and she fully expected fallout. It didn’t matter if she was right. Sad, but not unexpected.
“The client asked us to get this done quickly. We had to work within a specific time frame.” Gary was still trying to justify the report to Campbell Holdings. Unbelievable.
“But at what cost?” she asked.
“You still shouldn’t be going behind the firm’s back and making recommendations to your
boyfriend.
It’s unethical.” Mark was still pretty calm; it was almost scary. But the way he said “boyfriend” with a sneer in his voice, made Caroline take notice. He was jealous.
“How is being honest unethical, Mark? I would think not doing a complete assessment is more unethical when the firm could profit from that kind of failure.”
That shut everyone up. Caroline had called them on their bullshit again. She was on a roll. Thank God she had a different job lined up. Mark took a deep breath and calmed himself. He must have figured he wasn’t winning this argument.
“It’s put us in a bad spot, Caroline.” She started to say something and he held up a hand to halt her. “You made Gary look incompetent and put the firm in a bad light.”
In her head she heard a little voice say,
“Well, duh.”
“Then this morning? With Keith? With the inspectors? What the hell were you thinking?”
Keith was still raging. She could see it— his face was all scrunched and he was clenching his fists so tight his knuckles were white. “You had no right to undermine my authority.”
“Dear Jesus,” she whispered, hoping her prayer would save her from this stupidity, but she wasn’t holding out much hope. “Are you saying it was okay for you to blame everyone for your mistake with the water system? That was acceptable?”
“I didn’t make a mistake. I made a good decision.”
The room was silent because everyone around the table knew Keith had made a whopper of a mistake. Caroline handled things wrong, but he made the mistake, and it was going to be a very expensive one.
“Keith, stop talking.” Mark was pissed at pretty much everyone, and now it was starting to show. “I don’t even know how we’re going to fix what you did.”
“What?”
“You really should go.”
Keith stood up and left the room. He didn’t wait for anything else to be said, and by Caroline’s estimate, there was a good chance he was going to be fired. At least she wouldn’t be the only one. Mark nodded at Gary, who got up and left, but not without shooting a dirty look at Caroline.
The two partners stood. She didn’t even know their names. There were at least a dozen and she’d never been introduced, and they left with a nod to Mark. Leaving her alone with a man who had expected her to put out for a promotion.
“You’ve been busy,” he said. “I didn’t think you were this ambitious.”
“I take pride in what I do. But what does that have to do with ambition?”
“You took out two well-established members of this company. Gary knows he should have made different recommendations, and Keith I can’t assign to anyone again. He’s done. Which clears the way for you.”
“That’s not why I did it.”
“No? It’s pretty ballsy.”
“Mark, I just wanted to do the right thing. In both cases. Keith’s situation became personal when he attacked everyone for incompetence when it was obvious he was the one who disregarded every recommendation about the hydraulic system.” She twisted her fingers. “And considering you think I’d be that underhanded, I guess it’s a good time to tell you I’m tendering my resignation.”
Mark closed the folder in front of him and folded his arms. If he was shocked it didn’t show. The man had the best poker face ever. “I didn’t take you for a quitter.”
“I’ll be going to a new firm. Promotion, raise, great perks. I wasn’t moving forward here, so I had to look for something else.”
“That was also ballsy. At least it will save me the trouble of firing you. But to be honest, I never thought you’d go someplace else.”
“No?”
“No, I thought you’d marry the millionaire you’ve been screwing and write your dirty books full time.”
Alarm bells sounded in her head and Caroline sat up straight in her chair. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t look so shocked. It’s my job to know what my people are up to. You use the company network from time to time with your personal device. Don’t you think we see things?”
“You check up on me? I use my own computer to check my e-mail.”
“Don’t get worked up about it. The boyfriend was a bit of a surprise. He came out of the blue.”
This was wrong on so many levels Caroline couldn’t count them. It was nothing short of bizarre, it scared her more than a little, and it had nothing to do with her job.
“We never talked about your writing. How long have you been at it?”
Did she have to answer these questions? Should he even be asking?
“You’re using a pen name, right? Wouldn’t want to embarrass your new firm.” He paused and a dirty smile crossed his face. “So, is your stuff pretty hot?”
“Is this something we need to talk about?” Caroline had to get out of there. He’d been spying on her. Apparently, calling him creepy was an understatement. “I’ll get the resignation letter to you this afternoon.”
“Don’t want to discuss it?”
“I think I should go. To answer your questions: I’m not yet published. I do use a pen name and no, I don’t care to discuss it, but I have nothing to be ashamed of. Is that all? Can I go?”
“You’re in a hurry? Don’t want to talk about your little fantasy?”
There was a low burn in her belly after hearing him disparage her work like that. She’d basically just landed a job that was similar to his. She was more qualified and was probably going to out-earn him, yet all he saw was a female body. But there was more. It was that he taunted her. She should have known he’d try to use everything in his power against her. It was his style. Mark was unpredictable and he obviously had a second, very robust career as a stalker.
“Let me buy you lunch,” he said. “You can tell me everything. I’d like to help you if I can. I do know people.”
Was he kidding? Lunch? He knew people?
“Thanks, I’ll pass. I have work to do.”
She made it to the door of the conference room but his voice stopped her. “I can help you.”
“You said that,” she responded. Her hand was on the doorknob and she didn’t dare turn around because he might see how nervous she was. How scared. Why was she scared? Why? She heard a chair move and within seconds he was pressed behind her, trapping her against the conference room door.
“Don’t underestimate me, Caroline. I could be very good for you.”
Her breathing was short and shallow, and the confined feeling she had from the closeness of his body and the lack of air made her a little light-headed. He seemed to be enjoying the game. When she looked back over her shoulder, the turn of his mouth told her he felt fully in control.
“Mark, let me go.” She took a deep breath and thought about how she would get out of this if he didn’t back off. “Let go of me now.”
There was a second’s hesitation before he stepped back, and Caroline bolted from the conference room. She got back to her desk, grabbed her things, and knew she had to leave. She’d take a sick day. And she would be sick. Thinking about what he said made her want to vomit.
Just as she turned to go, Josh walked into view. Oh, no. His meeting. He’d had his meeting. But the minute he set eyes on her he knew something was wrong. His face changed. His posture. And he closed the gap between them in record time. The sight of the big man heading toward her turned every head.
He dropped his hands on her shoulders and looked her into the eyes. “What happened? You’re white as a sheet. Did he do something to you?”
Caroline nodded. Her breath was catching in her throat and all she could think about was how much Mark knew. But she couldn’t cry here, she couldn’t.
“I should fucking kill him,” Josh growled.
“No, just get me out of here.
Please
.”
He looped his arm around her and guided her through the cubicles to the reception area, where even Fern looked concerned. “Do I need to call anyone?”
Josh shook his head. “I’ve got her, but tell Strickland he’ll be hearing from me.”
Fern’s eyes widened and she watched as Josh guided Caroline onto the elevator. Thankful when the door finally shut, she collapsed into him.
She felt his arms around her and his hands moved rhythmically up and down her back, soothing her as best he could, but her sobs came out in big, breathy gulps. “Please calm down, honey. Please.”
Looking up at him, she blurted out what she’d discovered. “He’s stalking me.”
His face washed out.
“He must have installed something on my computer. He knows things. He knows things he shouldn’t.”
“Your computer? Fucking bastard.” They walked from the building into the plaza near the street and Josh knew exactly what to do. Quick and decisive, he pulled out his phone and made a call.
“Jason, it’s me. Caroline’s boss might have installed something on her computer that he’s using to spy on her.”
He looked at her and planted a light kiss on her forehead while his hand gently rubbed her back again. His soft touch, the depth of his voice; all of it calmed her. “We can be there in fifteen minutes.”
He ended the call and walked her right to the curb where Neil waited with his car.
Once inside, he took her hand and wove his fingers with hers. Gentle, sure, steady. Caroline was in a daze and all she could do was be grateful he was there to help her. She was such a wreck she didn’t know if she’d have even thought to call Jason.
“Jason said we should bring your computer to him and he can have his team analyze it. He’ll be able to figure out exactly what happened.”
“I had no idea. He could have been tracking me for months.”
“I really want to go back there and hurt him.”
“I know. But don’t leave me, okay?”
“Not a chance.”
***
Caroline paced around Jason’s office while he checked out her computer. Her poor thumbnail was going to be chewed down to the quick. “Is it bad?”
“It’s not legal,” he responded. “There’s a program exporting your data.” Jason closed the laptop and called his assistant, Harper, who was in the next office. “Get someone to take this down to Nolan in the security lab. Tell him to check everything running in the background. There’s an exploit program on here.”