Page 53 of Breaking All The Rules

Regina set her pen down and folded her hands on top of the notepad, giving me a few minutes to calm myself down.

“In addition to her complaint, Kate also provided me with copies of this,” Regina said calmly as she slid another piece of paper over to me. I pinched my nose and closed my eyes when I saw that it was the dirty chat message between Eva and me.

“How did she get these?” I asked, frustrated.

“I don’t know. She wasn’t willing to tell me when I asked. But rest assured that I will have our IT department look into this. In the meantime, I strongly suggest that you change your passwords and lock your office when you’re not in it.”

“Will do.” I scrubbed my hand down my face.

“Am I fired?” Eva asked suddenly, looking up at Regina with tears in her eyes.

“No, you’re not fired.” She shook her head and then sighed. “While this breaks numerous rules in our handbook, the repercussions of firing you for having a relationship with your boss would not be good for the company right now. I will have to speak with the board of directors, and there may be disciplinary action. However, I won’t know what that is until I meet with them.”

“So, everyone is going to know that we’ve been sleeping together. At work. Outside of work.” Her voice trailed off as she turned to look at the wall.

I reached over to grab her hand before she jerked it away from me. I couldn’t blame her for being upset over this. I was just as furious and embarrassed about it, but I never meant for her to have her reputation on the line as a result.

“Can either of you remember any times when you left your office unattended or your computer unlocked? If we can narrow down the window, it will help us to gather all of the facts before this goes any further.”

“I think I know exactly when it happened,” Eva muttered, turning back to look at Regina.

“Okay,” Regina said as she urged her to continue.

“Afterthathappened,” she replied, nodding to the paper on the desk with our chat. “I went to the bathroom to freshen up. I hadn’t bothered to lock my computer or close my door since I was going to be quick. When I got back to my office, Kate was standing next to my printer. She claimed that sometimes the network messed up and that her report was sent to my printer. I didn’t think anything about it until now.”

I tried to think back to that day and whether or not I had seen Kate in her office, but I was drawing a blank. Perhaps it happened when I had made a quick trip to the bathroom myself.

“Thank you for the information. I will look into this and let you know what we find,” Regina said as she wrote the information down.

“Do you need anything else from us or are we good to wrap this up and keep a shred of our dignity intact?” I asked sarcastically, already feeling beyond drained from this meeting.

“I think that’s all I need for now. Since we have an idea of when Kate had access to the chat message, I don’t see any reason that we need the details of any other situations that may have occurred during office hours. But in the meantime, try to keep your distance from one another while you’re on the clock.”

We nodded in agreement before standing up to leave. I wanted to grab Eva and take her somewhere private to talk about what had just happened, but that would immediately be going against what Regina just asked us not to do.

“What’s going to happen with Kate? Will she still be our assistant?” Eva asked as she stood by the door without opening it.

“No. Effective immediately, she’s been reassigned to another lawyer in the firm. I will start looking for a replacement as soon as possible.”

“I’m sure I’m not the most reliable or credible person right now, given everything that has happened. But I might knowsomeone interested and can start right away.” She glanced back at me nervously.

“I still think highly of you, Eva,” Regina assured her. “Who is it?”

“My sister, Lucy. She currently works as a receptionist at the hospital. However, she could really use a job with set hours so she could take care of her son, Jackson.”

I felt the vein in my head throb as I listened, wondering what in the hell she was doing. Why hadn’t she talked to me about this before bringing it up to Regina?

“Do you think that you and your sister could work together without letting your personal life get in the way?” I asked her, ignoring the look that I got from Regina.

“I work withyou,don’t I?” she said curtly before turning and walking away.

Twenty-Six

Eva

My hands were shaking as I made it back to my desk and sat down. I was trying to pick an emotion and stick with it, but it felt impossible when there was a constant battle between anger and humiliation pulsing through me simultaneously. I unlocked my computer and opened my email, trying to force myself to focus and forget about everything that had just happened.

A few seconds later, a chat box popped up and flashed in the lower corner of the screen. I glanced across the hall to see if Ethan was looking at me, but he seemed rather focused on whatever he was reading on his computer. I moved the mouse and clicked on it, relieved to see that it was from Regina and not Ethan.

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