Page 54 of The Bet
“I was in the area.” He pushed his foot forward, trying to wedge it inside the door, but she held it firm, so that it only opened a fraction. There was something unhinged in the way he was looking at her. Blood coursed through her body, making her giddy from the sudden adrenaline hit. She was scared, knowing that he was a disgusting and dirty old man, and that he was here.
“What do you want?” Behind the door, with her shoulder hidden out of his sight, she slipped her hand into her handbag, to the inside pocket, and reached for her small pepper spray canister.
“Cassia’s not too happy that you left so suddenly and without an explanation.”
“Maybe I should call her up and tell her?”
“She says we owed you some money,” he said, ignoring her veiled threat, “and she wants you to have it.”
She smelled horseshit—this idea that he had suddenly developed scruples enough to come and pay her face to face. “Why didn’t you pay it directly into my account?”
He wanted something. She didn’t believe he’d come just to give her money.
“I wanted to see how you were, and make sure you were okay.”
She didn’t believe the bullshit.
“I’m fine, but I’d like you to leave.” Where was Cara when she needed her? If her friend had been here now, she wouldn’t have held back about telling this dirt bag exactly what she thought of him, but he was so much bigger than her, and even though she had taken self-defense classes at college, and had her Pepper spray in her hand, she didn’t want to risk anything.
Gideon Shoemoney was the type of Wall Street Master who probably thought he could get away with doing whatever he wanted to her and that she would never say a word. It hit her then that it was exactly what she had done. She hadn’t told a soul, apart from Cara. She had kept quiet about it, wanting nothing more than a peaceful life, not even telling her parents.
It would make her father even more depressed, and another rich and unscrupulous man had already destroyed him before.
Shoemoney held out the wad of money. The twenty dollar bills seemed to be more than the two hundred and fifty dollars she was owed.
“Here’s five hundred.”
Her brows pinched together. “Why the extra?” She smelled more horseshit.
“Just a little something.”
“For what?” She refused to take it. Whatever his motivation, she didn’t want his money.
“Take it,” he ordered.
Slipping the pepper spray into the back pocket of her jeans, she quickly counted and took what he owed her, and returned the extra to him. “This is extra. I don’t want it.”
“It’s yours.”
“What for?” If he was worried she was going to tell anyone, she wasn’t. Despite all these new allegations by women, against all the big bad bosses, despite everything that was starting to come out into the public arena, she couldn’t find it in herself to put her hand up and confess that she too had been the victim of sexual assault, that this had happened to her, too. “Leave.”
“Take the money.” He ground the words out slowly.
“I don’t want it. Are you afraid?” she asked, suddenly gaining strength, gaining comfort from the thought that women were beginning to speak up, and that she wasn’t alone. “Are you scared of the women’s march? Are you scared that we’re outing pigs like you?”
“What are you talking about?” It was clear from his face he had no idea. “Look,” he said, stepping away. “I heard that you’re working for the Stones now.” He coughed again. “I don’t want you to think we deliberately refused to pay you, especially with the way you left. People might talk.”
And then she understood. He was worried she might tell the Stones what he’d done.
“You’re hoping to buy my silence?”Was this compensation? Hush money?And how did he know she was working for Tobias?
He was worried. For all his tough exterior, his loud arrogance, this man didn’t want anyone, least of all Tobias Stone, to know exactly what type of a creep he was. And he was worried that she might let it slip. He coughed again and shuffled back a step. “I don’t want someone like Tobias Stone to think badly of me.”
“You creep.” She threw the money at him and tried to shut the door, but he jammed his foot in the way. “I only want to talk to you. I want to explain what happened that day—”
But she didn’t want to give him the time of day. In a flash she reached for her pepper spray and pointed it directly at him.
He laughed. “You wouldn’t dare.”
