Page 27 of The Revenge Plan

“Sorry! You should probably tell him, though. Keep things on the up and up in your weirdo marriage.”

Ever since I told her the truth about our marriage, Alicia had been making fun little digs about it. I thought about what she said for a second and decided against it. He might not find out, but it was only a matter of time. The thought of begging him not to do anything to us, came to mind, Maybe offer something in return. What, I had no idea. But why was I working myself up? Alicia was right, just because he ran the company, didn’t mean he was involved in every aspect of it. There was no feasible reason why the CEO of one of the biggest luxury brand companies in the world would visit a middling charity.

???

The KMVH team that came the next day included Caiden. I was on my way out of the break room with a freshly brewed cup of coffee when I saw Rachel at the head of a group of suits. She was talking and gesturing animatedly as she made her way to where I was standing. Beside her was Caiden, listening intently to whatever she was saying. He looked chic and smart in a black pinstriped suit. Not a thread out of place. I felt rooted to the ground for a moment until I realized they would see me at any moment.

I rushed back into the room in time to watch them through the crack of the door as they passed by. After they were safely away, I darted back to my office and sat in my chair. My mind went blank about what to do next. It was clear Rachel was giving a tour. They could very well pass by here. What to do? Alicia wasn’t in. She had probably gone to receive the guests. She might have given me some pointers. Or, to be honest, laughed at me. I tried to calm down. I tried to pretend to work, like everything was normal, but I couldn’t. At the moment, they were at the other side of the office. The offices had glass walls with frosted panels, so I could make out where they were in between the lines.

Alicia had joined them. Rachel said something to Alicia, and she pointed at the office. Her office. My office. I felt my earlier coffee rush back into my mouth. I took deep breaths as I watched them make their way to my office. This was not good. Not good at all. It was too late to get out now. If I tried to run for the bathroom, they would see me. My gaze darted around the office. I could hide under the desk. There was a pot plant in the corner. I glanced back at them again. They were closer now. I went to the pot plant. The plant was too small for me to fit in. I looked up again. They were closer. I could even hear what they were saying now. I dove under the table.

“… And Alicia, our fund-raising assistant is the one who…” I could hear Rachel’s voice speaking as though she was at the door.

“Yes, I know Alicia,” Caiden said. “She was my wife’s maid-of-honor.” Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“Oh!” Rachel’s usual calm voice sounded like that of an excited teenager, “Of course. They work together. Where is she by the way?”

There was no way of getting out of this. It wouldn’t surprise me if they all waited for me until I came. I saw a pen under the desk and picked it up and got up from under the desk. Caiden was standing with his arms in his pocket. If he looked shocked to see me, his face didn’t betray it.

“There you are!” Rachel exclaimed.

“I was getting my pen,” I said, feeling like a schoolgirl caught smoking pot.

“Hailey, you didn’t tell us your husband was going to come?” Rachel sounded a little irritated, as if it was my fault that Caiden came.

Caiden on the other hand had fire in his eyes.

15

Ax burst into my office, opening the door wide open as he swung in. He had a laptop in his hand. “You’ve got to see this,” he said. He came to my desk and put the laptop down. He tapped a button, and the paused video on it resumed. On it, a woman, a seamstress, I assumed was hand sewing Nappa leather material. Beside her, someone else was stitching the same material. They were in a factory, and it looked like everything they were doing was handmade. The video appeared to have been taken in secret. The angle was wrong, and it kept shaking.

“What am I seeing?”

“They stole from us.”

“What do you mean,” I asked even as I looked closer. That’s when I saw the big L intersecting with an F on the bags. It was the Lyndell logo. Except they were making Vali designs, a division of KMVH.

“Everyone at Vali is pissed.”

“I can’t believe they’re that blatant. The theft is so obvious.”

“It doesn’t matter. What it means is we have a leak.”

“How did you get hold of this?”

“One of our people. You need to talk to him, Caiden. He may be your father-in-law, but he can’t get away with this.”

My mind was running at a hundred. Who had leaked the designs? And if they did, how much information did they have on us? It was bad. Lyndell was a bigger brand than Vali’s, our clothing division, and them making the same pieces as us meant they would be the ones to get the recognition. And the sales. The only positive about this is that they were desperate enough to steal designs. Meaning they had nothing new. But I wasn’t about to let them get away with it.

“Do you have any suspects?”

Ax shook his head. One suspect bounced in my head, but who knew how long they had this information. We might not have been married when the designs were leaked. But then again, I had caught her snooping.

“Let’s not tell him.”

Ax looked surprised.

“It’s better if we set honey-pots.”

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