Page 47 of Together at Ruby's

Tate frowned. “Good luck?”

“Yeah,” Danielle said, her voice turning hard. “She’s poison. I want to know who gave you my name.”

Tate hesitated, not wanting to cause trouble for Nikki, but not wanting Danielle to hang up either. “A friend of mine is looking into Aurora’s background. Your name came up.”

“Great,” Danielle said. “Well, I will say this. If she’s bothering you, then you’re in trouble—that woman ruined my entire career before it even got started.”

31

As she finished getting ready for work, Liza’s phone rang.It’s either Tate or about Nikki,she thought, feeling uneasy. She and Tate would go back to the hospital later that evening to sit with Nikki, so she hoped that wasn’t it. But if it was Tate, it couldn’t be a good sign if she was calling from work already.Things must not have gone well with Chad, she thought.I hope she’s okay. “Hello,” Liza said as she answered the phone.

“Hey,” Tate said, sounding frustrated.

Liza frowned. “How did it go?”

“Ugly,” Tate said. “I think Aurora Price has been doing more damage than I realized. He said I was underachieving and cutting corners.”

“He said what?” Liza said, her temper rising.

Tate sighed through the phone. “Yes, according to him, I still have a lot to learn.” Stunned by her girlfriend’s words, Liza did not know what to say. She was so angry she was ready to smack something.I am going to tear that woman’s hair out, she thought.She can’t do this to Tate. She’s worked too hard and for too long to be torn down now.Before she could come up with a comment, Tate continued. “But that’s not why I’m calling. I heard back from Danielle Salvador.”

“Oh,” Liza said. “I need the details of that.”

“Yes, it was an interesting conversation, and I feel bad for her,” Tate said. “Aurora Price really did a number on her.”

“Like what?” Liza asked.

“Danielle told me she was an intern at the firm in Chicago where Aurora worked. After only two weeks, Aurora started coming on to her much like she’s coming on to me.

“With an intern?” Lies asked. “That’s even more disgusting.”

“Yes, I agree,” Tate said. “But Aurora clearly likes playing with people. Unfortunately, it got so bad the intern felt she had to sleep with her in order to keep her job.”

“Oh God,” Liza said.

“It gets worse,” Tate said. “Although Danielle wisely hid a video camera to capture their interlude, it backfired on her.”

Liza tried to imagine what could possibly have gone wrong. “Even that wasn’t enough proof?”

“Not exactly,” Tate said. “Apparently, the outcome was that the firm asked Aurora to leave quietly but not because she was sexually harassing Daniel Salvador.”

With a shake of her head, Liza guessed the reason, and it made her even angrier. “Because she had slept with an intern,” she said. “Which did nothing to stop the actual problem.”

“Right,” Tate said. “She just found a new firm in a new city and started up again. Only we don’t have any interns right now.”

“And now she is targeting you,” Liza stated. “What do we do now? Take this back to Chad?”

“I don’t think he’d listen to me at the moment,” Tate answered. “But the videotaping got me back to thinking about how we want to record a conversation with her. I need to confront her and make her say something that will incriminate her.”

“You said that would be almost impossible at work,” Liza replied. “Why would it work now?”

Hearing her girlfriend let out a deep breath, Liza knew she was beyond frustrated. “I don’t. So, what do you think I should do?” Tate asked. “Take her somewhere public? I don’t think she’ll say anything stupid with people around.”

“Unless you took her out somewhere you had a little privacy… like a bar,” Liza said as an idea formed in her head. “Tate, ask Aurora out for a drink after work tonight.”

“A drink?” Tate asked sounding confused. “Isn’t that sending the worst message?”

“It will be okay,” Liza said. “Just bring Aurora Price to Ruby’s.”

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