Page 39 of Daydreamer
“Felix,” I said in a shaky voice, deciding to ignore the atmosphere and that we weren’t alone and get to the point. “Will just?—”
“We know all about what’s happened with Will,” Felix said, cutting me off. I blew out a sigh of relief. Oh, thank God. Somehow, they’d seen what had happened. I wouldn’t have to go over it again. Felix would look after me. He’d sort it all out. Everything was going to be fine now. But then, if he knew, why wasn’t he coming to me? Why wasn’t I in his arms already? My back, shoulder and head were throbbing and I wasn’t feeling upto trying to understand what was going on. “He told usallabout it.”
Wait, Will literallyjustassaulted me. He couldn’t have confessed already. And to be honest, he didn’t seem in a very remorseful mood when he’d thrown me against the wall.
“I don’t understand,” I said in an unsteady voice.
“Howcould you, Lucy?” Felix snapped, and I blinked in confusion. My head was starting to swim now and I felt shivery with cold and shock. Feeling behind me for the chair, then all but collapsing into it, I winced when pain shot through my shoulder and head.
“W–w–what?”
“How could you betray us like this?”
I did a slow blink, trying to focus on Felix’s angry face and make out what he was on about. “I don’t know what you mean. Felix, Will just gra?—”
“Of course you bloody well know what I mean! I thought there was a weird vibe between you two in that board meeting, but I just put it down to Harry being another sucker who found you attractive. I had no idea that he was paying you off for information.”
“Harry York?”
“Don’t deny it, Luce,” Felix’s voice was still tight with fury but also heavy with disappointment. “Will told us everything. He filmed you guys yesterday at that coffee shop.” Felix stepped towards me then, but not to give me the hug that I needed. No, he just loomed over me and shoved his phone in my face. I watch a video of myself, Harry and his wife at the coffee shop. I was sketching a map of the Southern Territory for him in one of my notebooks, and then I ripped out the page and passed it to him. He looked at it reverently for a moment then carefully folded it to put it in his laptop bag. He’d told me he was going toframe it. Why was Felix angry about this? Had he found out I was an author now? I knew he’d be cross when he realised I hadn’t corrected him, but it wasn’t like I’d ever outright lied.
“Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that I?—”
“You’resorry?” he snapped. “Just a casual sorry? Lucy, you completely broke my trust.”
I frowned. “I think that’s going a bit far, Felix. I just?—”
“You’ve potentially cost me millions in lost revenue. Costusmillions. Hasn’t she, Vicky?”
Vicky was looking at me with her head tilted to the side. She no longer had a cold expression on her face. Now, looked more curious than anything, like she was trying to piece together a puzzle. “Felix, maybe?—?”
“Don’t make excuses for her,” Felix snapped, slashing his hand through the air and making me flinch in my chair.
“I’m not—” Vicky was looking more unsure than I’d ever seen her before now. “I think I need to speak to Lottie, and then?—”
“We don’t need Lottie here,” snapped Felix.
“How on earth could I have cost you millions?” I said, genuine confusion threading through my words. Felix’s eyebrows went up in disbelief.
“You’ve been passing information to Harry York. Information that his clients other than Ollie would be very interested in. It must have been going on for weeks. I wondered why there was another party trying to poach the Hyde Park project. You’ve been handing him the information straight from the company. Even all the way back when you were at my house party. I just thought it was cute and quirky that you hid away in my library, but that’s where the computer was, wasn’t it? Those notes you were making on my blotting paper were stolen information from there.”
“Why would I give Harry York your company information?”
“For money!” Felix shouted, and I flinched again. “You sold me down the river formoney. No wonder you can afford a whole flat in Putney. Telling me that bullshit story about low rent. You’ve been taking a cut from this grubby little deal for weeks and living the high life as a result. I checked with Tabitha. You paid for all those clothes yourself. That’s thousands of pounds worth of stuff you were supposed to put on the company credit card. But no, you didn’t need to use it, did you? You were already stealing more than enough money for that.”
“Felix,” my voice had a pathetic pleading quality to it now that made me feel sick to my stomach, but I needed to make him understand. “You’ve got to listen to me. Will is?—”
“Will might be a prick, but he’s nothing compared to what a low-life you are. At least he’s looking out for the company.”
“No, you don’t understand. Felix, he’s a total psycho. He?—”
“Just get out,” Felix snapped.
“I’m not leaving until you hear me out,” I tried to make my voice as firm as possible, but it still sounded ridiculously shaky.
Felix didn’t bother to respond. He just moved to his desk and pressed the intercom. “Yes, could you come in now, please? Miss Mayweather needs to be escorted to the exit. No stops on the way. We’ll send her stuff onto her after we’ve verified that it doesn’t contain any sensitive information.”
“Maybe we should listen to her,” Tabitha said in a small voice. When I looked over at her, she didn’t look hostile anymore. In fact, she looked thoroughly spooked. All the colour had drained from her face and her expression was more worried concern than the cold hatred from before.
