Page 53 of Barbed Wire and Burglary
He was straddling a chair in the kitchenette in A.J.’s apartment. Though the sheriff had cleared the crime scene tape from his rental house this morning, he was holding off returning there until after Aurora and A.J.’s flight landed. The three of them had much to discuss upon their arrival.
His phone buzzed with an incoming text. He woodenly reached for his phone. The messagewas from Elise.
Call me!
He groaned aloud, in no mood to deal with her again. While he waffled on whether to respond to her message, his phone vibrated with an incoming call.
It was Elise. Again.
Why am I not surprised?
He debated letting it roll to voicemail, but there was no point. Experience told him she wouldn’t give up until she got in touch with him. If he continued to avoid her, she’d show up at his door.
Gritting his teeth, he accepted her call.
“Please tell me,” she grated in his ear, “why our home office cameras show Aurora and her boy toy prancing around my desk. Oh, and necking in the elevator, according to our scandalized neighbor on the level below us!”
He forced a chuckle, though he didn’t feel like laughing. “Are you serious?”
“Oh, don’t play dumb,” she sneered. “I wondered where your sudden interest in wining and dining me was coming from. I should’ve known you were only using me, stalling my return to New York, and for what? So your sister could go on a snooping rampage?” Her voice rose to a hard, shrill note he’d never heard before.
“It’s our company,” he retorted, unable to keep his anger from spilling over into his voice. “We can come and go from our facilities whenever we want.” And they could do it without explaining themselves to the only non-owner on their payroll, thank you very much!
“It’s the company I manage,” she howled in fury.
Manage? Since when?“Not anymore,” he snarled. “You’re fired!”
“You can’t do that!”
“I just did, effective immediately.” He’d inform his sister the moment he got off the phone. She would know how toremotely change the password on the security panel that controlled the access into Diamondback. “I’ll make sure any belongings from your desk are returned to you, along with your final paycheck.”
Her tone abruptly changed, along with her volume. “You actually got my hopes up again about us,” she whimpered. “How could you?”
Her attempt to stir his pity fell on deaf ears. He’d watched her in action enough times to know that the only person she cared about was herself. “What part about getting fired don’t you understand? This conversation is over.”
“It’ll be over when I say it’s over.” Her voice grew tart again. “First, I’d like you to explain why I received notification of Aurora logging into your uncle’s files?”
Whoa!Why would a lowly personal assistant receive notification about files she didn’t have access to herself? Unless, of course, shedidhave access to them, which would be a problem. Who in the world had given her such access?
The only way to find out was to keep her talking. “Don’t know. Don’t care,” he said coldly. “Probably checking her email. Perks of being an owner.”
“No, it’s not,” his ex returned icily. “She accessed sensitive personal information, which is a violation of my rights. I’m going to sue you and your heartless family for everything you’re worth.”
“Such as…” he taunted.
“We’re done here. I’m hanging up,” she warned.
“Guess I’ll see you in court then.” Thanks to his crooked uncle, he was going to spend the next few years of his life there, anyway.
To his surprise, she continued talking. “You toyed with my feelings, Aaron. I’ll never forgive you for that.”
Oh, boohoo!Like she’d done anything but mess with his head the entire time they were dating! “Just curious.” He knew it wasn’t something a gentleman would ask, but he wasn’t feeling like much of a gentleman at the moment. “How does it feel to be on the receiving end for once?”
She hung up on him.
The next several hours passed in a blur of interviews with the local police, Lonestar Security, the FBI, a pair of board members from the JSA, and a handful of paparazzi who’d gotten wind of the story. Since it was an ongoing investigation, the only thing Aaron could say to the press was, “No comment.”
Later that evening, he did something he hadn’t been able to do for two straight years.
