Page 10 of The Billionaire's Assistant

“Having him here is the best way to keep an eye on what he and his family are up to.”

“I know you want to—”

“He stays. End of discussion.”

“You want to protect him, don’t you?”

I sighed as I ran a hand through my hair. “So what if I do?”

Carter gave a resigned smile. “You like him.”

“I appreciate—”

“You like him. It’s okay to admit that.”

That was something I couldn’t admit. Ever since college, since I saw what happened to Emily, I made sure not to let feelings for anyone run too deep. “Since when are you all about sharing feelings?”

He chuckled. “Asking you to share your feelings doesn’t mean I have to share mine.”

“Go.” I pointed toward the door.

“Before I do, I wanted to run an idea by you.”

I frowned, not sure I was going to like this.

“What if we deliberately give Ben some false information, something that’s just the sort of thing his father would want to get his hands on?”

“To test him?”

“Yes.”

I glanced toward the door, even though it was closed now, and I couldn’t see Ben. It was a good plan and the right one if I was focused on what was best for the business. I normally wouldn’t have hesitated to test an employee’s loyalty like that, but I didn’t like doing it to Ben.

“Miles?”

“Fine. We’ll do it.”

Carter met my gaze. “I know you want him to be innocent.”

“I want to protect this company.”

“You’d prefer both.”

I would, and I hoped this was a gamble I wouldn’t lose.

* * *

I glanced at the time as I slipped on my Rolex. I was definitely going to be late. I should never have let Worth keep me out so late, and I really should have left when he and the young men who’d clustered around him started doing shots.

I had a meeting today with my top executives, one that was going to be tedious as hell since they’d want to focus on our drop in profits. It was a terrible day to be late.

I’d planned to call Ben during my drive so we could go over some points before the meeting, but my phone started ringing before my driver opened the car door for me. I slid inside, set my briefcase down, and glanced at the screen. It was my mother. She was rarely awake at this hour, what the hell was she doing calling me?

I knew if I didn’t take the call, I would only have to listen to her berate me for ignoring her along with whatever else she wanted to tell me.

“Good morning, Mother.”

She launched into a seemingly unending rant about all the ways my sister’s wedding planner was ruining everything and apparently my father wasn’t even concerned. I tuned out after the first few seconds. My sister and I had hardly spoken in years, and while I’d attend the wedding, I didn’t care about the details any more than my father did. When I was finally able to get her off the phone, I realized we were stuck in a snarl of traffic a few blocks from the building, and I was already a few minutes late. “I’ll get out here.”

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