Page 67 of The Boss

“Nate, there are some questions I’m going to ask you, and I want you to think before you answer them.”

I turned away from my computer. “What the hell are you yammering on about?”

“Did you just fire the young female employee you recently admitted to having a sexual relationship with?”

Fuck. When he put it like that, I could understand why he was acting so weird about it.

I thought through my answer while Finley waited, knowing he meant it when he said he wanted me to take my time before I answered. This wasn’t two friends talking. We were business partners, and I had to approach his question the same way he was coming at things.

“The relationship – if it can be called that – between Miss Webb and myself ended with the discovery of information that also led to her termination.”

Finley closed his eyes. “Am I understanding correctly that you continued seeing Miss WebbafterI told you to stay away from her? After I toldherto stay away from you?”

For the first time in a long time, I was…embarrassed. Ashamed. I couldn’t meet his eyes. “I did. We did.”

“Dammit, Nate.” He sighed. “Please tell me that you at least have proof of her stealing something or embezzling or something concrete and absolutely actionable.”

“I still need to go through her work history,” I lied.

Finley wasn’t fooled for a minute. “No, you don’t. You know as well as I do that she’s never gotten so much as a reprimand. She’s never been late. Never asked to leave early. Since she came to work for us, she’s only taken one day off.”

My stomach twisted with every word he said. He was right, and we both knew it. Her work record was exemplary. It still didn’t make up for what I’d found.

“You don’t understand,” I said. “The reason I fired her isn’t in her work file.”

He rubbed his forehead, his eyes still closed. “If she goes to HR, you’ll be in some serious shit.”

“I was at her place Friday night–”

“I don’t want to hear–”

“You need to hear it,” I interrupted and then kept going, “I found a newspaper clipping of the two of us from before she started working for us. She’d written notes on it.”

Finally, he raised his head. “Are you telling me that you fired her because she had an article about Manhattan Records at her place?”

“She lied about why she was here,” I said, knowing how defensive I sounded. “She found this article, studied it, came here and seduced me–”

Finley’s laugh cut off the rest of what I planned to say. It was a deep, rich laugh, and normally, I would’ve had to laugh with him because it was impossiblenotto laugh. But there wasn’t anythingnormalabout this moment.

“I’ve known you for a decade,” he said, “and I’ve never seen a woman seduceyou. There’s no way that meek little thing was the first.”

I scowled at him. “It doesn’t change the fact that she’s been lying to us and she came here to get something from us.”

“What?” he asked. “What did she ask for?”

“Well…nothing, yet. I fired her before she could.”

Finley’s eyes finally met mine. “I really hope you know what you’re doing, Nate. Because if you’re off about this at all, she could have a wrongful termination suit and a sexual harassment suit.” He stood. “We could lose everything.”

Forty-Three

Ashlee

I considered going straightto my desk, but a few stray tears had slipped out unintentionally as I’d left Nate’s office, so I ducked into the restroom that was thankfully between the two. I didn’t stay long in there, just enough to wipe my eyes and blow my nose. I didn’t need to look good, only presentable, and only long enough to get my things together.

I doubted that anyone had heard about my dismissal since it’d happened less than five minutes ago, which meant I needed to leave as quickly and quietly as possible or I’d be right in the middle of it when things exploded. And they would explode. Of that I had no doubt. People had been talking about me too much too recently for me to hope no one would notice what was going on.

At least I wouldn’t have to be here to hear all of the shit people would be saying about me until something more exciting came along.

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