Page 31 of Catching a Con Man

“Well, Ade did. And much as he told me this decision was ultimately mine, I trust my brother’s judgement above all else. He’s not a stupid man, much as my father might disagree at the moment. But then again, my father has never been able to be wrong. Once he’s decided on something, Addison Crane Senior is going to see it through.”

“So your dad hates me, then?”

Cameron stood, dithering before he could reach the door. “I wouldn’t…yeah, actually. It’s why I came to work here for Ade. Dad’s not very understanding of those things that are a little different.”

“And you are?” I asked.

“Ade is. And I want to be a little bit more like him. I can see Beckett going Dad’s way, and I don’t love it.” Cameron opened the door and pointed at the computer. “Your contract is open on the desktop. Check it over, it’s not set in stone. And for God’s sake, set yourself a password. It physically pained me to set that up without making it more secure.”

“Right on it, Boss.”

“Any issues with salary…see Ade.” Cam left and shut the door, but not before giving me a knowing look. Was he saying that Ade was trying to fleece me out of money because I was poor and homeless? Surely he wouldn’t do that to me, though. Not after all we’d gone through.

I took a couple of deep breaths and clicked on my profile. Sure enough, there was a file labelledContract of Employmenton the screen, right in the centre.

I swallowed past the bile rising in my throat. This all felt too weird. Poverty, the gala, Switzerland. Had life always been leading up to this or had a series of freaky coincidences thrown me here? The office felt too big, too sparse, too… I had to get out. I couldn’t. Would Ade remember where I lived if I just ran?

I got up without clicking on the file and opened the door. The piece of paper stuck to it fluttered, and I got a glimpse of something gold underneath. I ripped the paper off the door, and there was my name etched in gold leaf, along with the job title. They’d etched my name into the glass before I had even come in to interview for the job.

My breaths were coming heavier and harder, and I knew I had to get out.Sorry Ade,I thought. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t be this. I was never made to be…whatever this was.

I sprinted past Ade’s cloudy glass windows, hoping the privacy was two-way, and jammed my finger on the lift button until I heard aping.I stared at my own feet to ground myself, to convince myself I was anywhere buthere. And then the doors opened, and I was rushing in and-

“Woah there,” a familiar voice was saying as one strong hand gripped at my shoulder, and my heart sank. I looked up into Ade’s warm brown eyes and was torn between the urge to sink into him or run screaming.

Instead, I just sagged.

“What’s up?” Ade asked. He gently led me away from the lift and into his office. In the hand that wasn’t gripping me, he was holding a cardboard drinks-holder with three plastic cups, but he manoeuvred me into his office without spilling a drop. He sat me down on the sofa with my back to the Cardiff view and held out a coffee for me. “Everything OK?”

I breathed in the smell of good coffee and did my best to centre myself before I spoke. “It’s all…it’s too much, Ade.”

“What is? Is it me? Have I done something stupid? Was it something we did in Switzerland or…” Ade tailed off, then cleared his throat. “Tell me what’s doing this to you, and I can fix it. Iwillfix it.”

“Even if it means me rejecting your job offer and running out of here?” I asked. I heard Ade’s sharp intake of breath and kept my eyes firmly on my coffee.

“And why would you do that?”

“Because I don’t deserve it.”

“And why don’t you deserve it?” Ade asked. “Tell me honestly, what makes you feel so undeserving of this opportunity?”

“I don’t know…it feels like I was the right place at the wrong time. Doing the wrong thing. And somehow, despite that, I’m being rewarded for it.”

Ade laughed softly and came to sit down next to me. “Do you think I deserve it?”

“You fit in here,” I said. “You were moulded for this life, and I…I just wasn’t.”

“Then do exactly what you did when you first met me and fake it.” Ade turned my chin with one finger and forced me to look right into those earnest brown eyes. “Tyler Bevan thinks he deserves the world, but society has played him a terrible trick and denied him what he deserves. Tyler Quinn is a billionaire who knows the world owes him everything he could ever ask for. Who are you right now? Because I’m seeing neither of those people. You don’tdeservea job here more than any of the already-rich men knocking on my door do when they try to interview for a job. But so long as you believe you deserve just as much as them, you’ll do just as well here. Better, even. We need fresh blood.”

“And you’re not employing me just because we had sex?” I asked, feeling stupid as soon as I asked.

Ade laughed. “And if I was? I’m not employing you as my secretary, so we can sayfuck thatto that little cliche. And you’re not even technically under me, so…”

“The question wasn’t whether I could sleep with you, it was whether I was only given a job because I did,” I argued.

“Yes. Is that what you want to hear?” Ade asked. His smile hadn’t slipped. “You’ve gotten this job because I slept with you. You’ve got this job because I like you, because Holden seemed to see something in you too. And because you came to me with a genuinely brilliant idea and you’ve actually got qualifications and ideals to back it up. All of the above can be true.”

It felt like the blush was rising from my toes to my forehead. “Thanks, Ade.”

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