Page 49 of Wildcard's Wager

Chill nods. “That’s what I said. I thought you were lying. How do we know she isn’t?”

“Because I interviewed her and she told me what happened,” Brigit says. “She turned in her notice because you didn’t believe her. Or protect her. She’s not the only one. There are others who claim Max harassed them.”

Chill swings to look at Brigit. “I never heard anyone else complain. Just her.”

“I told them not to bother going to you after what you said to me,” Bianca snaps back.

“Okay, hold on a minute,” I say, letting Max slide back to the floor. “Is this the man who accosted you?” I ask Bianca, pointing at Max.

She shakes her head. “They look similar, but that’s not him.”

“But, he said his name was Max?” Brigit asks. Bianca nods.

“Was he wearing this kutte or one like mine?” I ask.

“Umm, neither, he wore a 1% kutte,” Bianca replies, then her eyes go wide. “I’m an idiot. I’m sorry, I didn’t put that together until now. If he was a member of the Demon Dawgs, he would have been wearing your kutte.” She shifts closer and stares up into Max’s face. “You’re not him. I got a good look at him when he had me up against the wall with his hand up my skirt.”

“What?” shouts Chill and Viper.

“That’s why I asked you down here. Some asshole is physically harassing our staff. He told her his name was Max and that he’s a member of the Demon Dawgs. Don’t know if it is his real name or if he’s impersonating our Max.”

“He shouldn’t be hard to find if he looks like our Max,” Chill says. She turns to Bianca. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. Seems like I screwed up when I fired that Clark bitch.”

“She wasn’t any help,” Bianca says. “I went to her first. She told me to suck it up. Told me that the club members could do whatever they wanted because they owned the hotel. I think she told him I complained, because he threatened me afterwards.”

“This is no how we do things here,” I say. “We need to tighten security and figure out how this guy harassed women without someone seeing him. I don’t like it. The employees have to feel safe here.” I reiterate. “Do you think you’ll stay if we take care of Max?”

Bianca shrugs. “I enjoy working here, so yeah. But I won’t lie. I’m scared.”

“We’ll make sure you’re protected. I’ll contact Spark and tell him what’s going on. He’s pulling the feed to see if we can spot this fake Max. We’ll also be reviewing all the cameras to eliminate blind spots,” Chill says.

“I’ll follow up with the other employees who gave notice,” Brigit says. “Maybe if they know we’re rectifying the situation, they’ll stay. But I also want to make sure we aren’t overlooking another issue.”

“I can spread the word,” Bianca offers. “I know who most of the others are. But what about the ones who already left?”

I share a look with Trouble. He looks as surprised as I feel. “What do you mean? The ones who already left? I have eight people who turned in their two-week notice, but they’re still working.”

“Not them. The ones that stopped coming in,” Bianca says. She frowns when we just look at her. “I know of five girls who stopped coming in to work. He harassed them, too.”

“We’ll talk to them, too,” Brigit says, walking Bianca to the door. After she shuts it, she turns to look at me. “What’s going on?”

I glance at Trouble and shake my head. “I don’t fucking know.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: BRIGIT

“I take it you have computer records. Not everything is on hard copy, right?” I ask.

“We have records on the computer, but only Spark knows how to access them,” Trouble says. I look at him, and he shrugs. “What? We’re old school.”

I shake my head.

“There is a computer in the HR office,” Chill says. “I can take you there and we’ll get you access.”

I look around the room. “I thought this was the HR office?”

“No, this is your HR office because Wildcard wants you nearby,” Chill says with a smirk. “I’ll take you to the other office.”

Viper and Max follow us out the door, and we head down one floor. Chill unlocks a door and lets me precede her inside. Most of the office is clean and orderly, but the desk looks like someone’s dumped out all the drawers.

---