Page 80 of My Office Rival

“I want nothing more.” He closed his eyes briefly as he chewed a bite. His hair was mussed and his stubble growing out. I loved it. He was undone, relaxed.

“Today is going to suck.” That was the real reason I didn’t want to go to work. We were going to look for evidence of wrongdoing and then tell the partners.

“I might be out of a job by this afternoon.” My voice shook.

Jason rounded the counter and tugged me back into his chest. “I’m here. You won’t be doing any of this alone.”

“I know.” I swallowed. “But Gerald is going to freak out.”

“Then make it my fault.” His heartbeat was steady and strong against my back. “I’ll tell my firm first. Then you can go to Gerald with the issue. If anyone has to make a report to the feds, it will be us.”

My heart squeezed. “You’d do that?” He’d take the fall to his partners, blow this deal up. All I’d have to report is opposing counsel and their client backing out.

His chin came down to rest on my head. I’d never felt so protected, soloved.Oh, no.

“For you, anything,” he murmured.

Oh no. No. I squeezed my eyes shut and tipped my head back against his chest.I’m in love with him. At the exact moment that everything was going to hell.

I hurrieddown the hall to his office and pushed open the door. All his text had read was that he’d found something.

“You won’t believe what I found.” His voice was urgent, sharp. “Look at this.” He pushed a paper toward me.

I scanned it. “Wire details? Why do you even have this?”

“It was in a folder of materials they provided that we didn’t get a chance to review. Say what you want about the mob, but they areapparently adept at keeping a paper trail.”

“Yeah, and also disorganized enough to provide it by mistake,” I mused as I read the details. “These wires were rejected.” I looked up at Jason. “Banks only do that when there’s an error in the details or suspected fraud.”

Jason crossed his arms. “Yep. Now check out the next page. They paid these same amounts in cash a day after the wires were rejected.”

“In cash? This is a wire for $500,000. That’s a whole briefcase full of money.”

“Exactly.” His eyes glinted triumphantly. “With this, and if we can find the financials, I think we’ll have enough. I bet I know where to find those too.”

“Well, that sounds ominous.”

“Gene’s office,” he responded.

I let my head drop back against the chair. “Okay, so the worst possible place.”

“Letthe record reflect that I think this is a bad idea. We should dump this in the partners’ laps and move on with our lives.”

Jason and I were standing inside Gene Delafonte’s office, which had been unlocked and had not required any breaking, just entering. My palms were sweaty and my heart raced. I wanted to run, but instead I took stock of all the paper he had. Floor to ceiling bookshelves with files on them, each stuffed to the gills. Ugh.

“This is the most expedient way to get the information,” Jason reminded me.

“As long as I don’t get horribly maimed by some of Gene’s henchmen,” I grumbled, but started pulling files down and flipping pages. Jason did the same. Adrenaline sharpened my focus, my movements jerky, my brain racing to figure out what we needed.

But just a few minutes later, I realized how futile this search might be.

“This guy has more paper than I ever expected from someone inthe twenty-first century, but literally none of it is helpful.” I dropped my file to the floor. “Have you found anything?”

“Nothing,” he muttered, biting his lip as he scanned a page.

I sighed and pulled the next file.

And then I saw it. “Holy shit. Jason, look.” I flipped the page, and he gaped. In Gene’s neat handwriting were the details of thousands of offshore payments, to entities across Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, into Swiss bank accounts.

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