Page 236 of Toxic Temptation
They’re late.
Every single one of them is fucking late, and I’m about to lose what’s left of my mind.
When I sent the summons from Jeremy’s laptop, I called this board meeting for six o’clock. It’s now eight, and I’ve been wearing a hole in the hospital corridor floor for two hours.
Mandy sits at her desk, pretending to work while shooting me nervous glances every thirty seconds. Her sickly pink lipstick makes her look like roadkill. I’m inclined to help her achieve that look permanently.
“Where the hell is everyone?” I finally snap, stalking over to her desk.
She flinches, her fingers freezing over her keyboard. “I... well...”
“You told me they were coming.”
She refuses to look at me. “I do what I’m told.”
“You lied to me,” I say as the truth processes.
She shrugs, still not meeting my gaze. “Don’t take it personally.”
The last vestige of humanity inside me snaps clean in half.
I lunge across her desk and slam her laptop shut, nearly taking her fingers off with it. “Just how deep are you in on it? Do you have any idea what kind of sick, twisted operation you’re helping cover up? You could go to prison for this. You’re complicit in?—”
“Get out of my face, you crazy bitch.”
The files on her desk go flying before I even realize I’ve grabbed them. Papers scatter everywhere, and Mandy scrambles backward in her chair like I’m rabid.
Hell, maybe I am.
“I’m going to kick your ass,” I warn, rounding her desk with my fist already raised. “I’m going to?—”
“Vesper.”
Kovan’s voice nips my rage in the bud. I freeze, my arm still cocked back, as the reality of just what I was about to do comes crashing over me in humiliating waves.
Mandy bolts from her chair and runs for the elevators, jabbing the call button repeatedly. “She’s insane!” she shouts over her shoulder. “The crazy bitch tried to hit me!”
The elevator doors close on her terrified face, and I’m left standing there with my fist still raised, feeling like the worst version of myself.
I turn slowly to face Kovan.
“Were you really going to punch her?” he asks.
“I honestly don’t know.” I clear my throat. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to talk to you.”
“I called a board meeting,” I hurry to explain, though he didn’t ask. “I used Jeremy’s computer to send an emergency meeting request to everyone. They should be here by now?—”
“No one’s coming, Vesper.”
I pause. “You knew.”
His silence is answer enough.
“Fine. Fuck it. I don’t care,” I insist. “I’ll find another way. Not every board member knows what’s happening. They deserve the truth. I’ll go find them one by one and make them listen?—”
“You can’t tell them anything.”
