9. I Can Handle The Truth
9
I CAN HANDLE THE TRUTH
ANSEL
M ichael’s words wouldn’t leave my head.
How much is enough? When is it going to be enough?
I didn’t have an answer. Maybe because, for as long as I could remember, my career had been about always working toward more . The next deal, the next title, the next goalpost I had to reach before I could breathe. But if I was honest with myself, I hadn’t been breathing for a long time.
And now, something else was gnawing at me.
Vanessa.
I hadn’t wanted to believe it at first. Mistakes happen. Numbers get miscalculated. Data gets lost in translation. It was part of the job. But the more I thought about it, the clearer it became—these weren’t mere human errors.
Vanessa was feeding me incorrect data—subtle enough to slip past a quick glance, but off just enough to make me look incompetent if I presented it as-is.
If Neha had been with me, there would have been no chance of a discrepancy in the data. However, since she left, I’d gotten into the habit of double-checking everything. If I had moved too fast to catch the inconsistencies, I could have tanked entire client meetings.
I had my suspicions about Vanessa, which needed to be investigated. I obviously couldn’t discuss this with anyone at work. I’d have to do this on my own…or maybe not.
I wasn’t sure when I decided to go back to Sun & Chai, but I found myself pushing open the door, the scent of espresso and subtle spices hitting me instantly.
Neha was behind the counter, pulling a shot of espresso, her brows slightly furrowed in concentration. She looked relaxed, more at ease than I’d ever seen her in the years she worked for me. She was happier here—without me, I thought on a pang.
Her eyes flicked up, landing on me, and she let out a long, exaggerated sigh.
“Oh, for God’s sake, Ansel, is this your new hobby now? Haunting this café?”
I smiled. At least she was talking to me, so that was a win. “Haunting would indicate I was a ghost. I much prefer the term stalking .”
Her eyes narrowed, but I could see some amusement in her eyes. We’d always bantered at work—that was one of the things that had made working together fun, we made each other laugh.
She tilted her head like she was seriously considering it. “Stalking is illegal.”
“Not the way I’m doing it,” I assured her.
“So, why are you here? For coffee or another round of arrogant and insincere apologies?”
I rested my elbows on the counter. “I do want coffee. I also want to apologize for how I behaved,” I paused. “ And I also want to talk about something important with you.”
Neha arched an eyebrow. “Explain.”
“I need your help.”
She inhaled sharply.
“Please,” I whispered.
“Fine,” she muttered. “Sit. I’ll make you your triple espresso with oat milk.”
As she made my coffee, I heard her mutter, “Treats me like shit and now wants my help. Asshole.”
That didn’t sound good but then she served me in a ceramic cup and not a to-go one, so I took that as a victory.
“You want a cupcake with that? We have lactose-free ones.”
She was still taking care of me. Maybe there was hope!
“Yes, please.”
She put a cute pink and blue vanilla and strawberry cupcake on a plate in front of me with a napkin that had the Sun & Chai logo on it.
“How’s school?” I asked as I took a bite of what turned out to be a delicious cupcake.
“Good.”
Right! So, we were back to snappy one-word answers.
“Capstone going okay?”
She rolled her eyes. “Get to the point. You said you needed my help? You sure you need the help of just an assistant ?”
I heard the hurt in her words, the pain I’d caused, no matter how she was trying to hide it underneath sarcasm. “You were always so much more than an assistant,” I admitted. “I was insecure about myself, about not being as good as I thought I was without you.”
She looked surprised at my confession.
“And, you know what, Neha, I am not as good as I thought I was without you.”
She picked up my coffee cup and sniffed. “No, I didn’t add any booze to this.”
I let out a warm chuckle. “Trust me, Neha, since you left, I’ve spent so much time in self-reflection that I’m bleeding with regret for my actions and behavior.”
She waved a hand as if she didn’t care about my journey into self. “Let’s get on with it before people come in. Penny has a dentist appointment so I’m alone.”
I nodded and then decided to get to the point as she’d demanded. “I think Vanessa’s trying to get me fired.”
That got her attention. She crossed her arms, her lips set mutinously. “That bitch!”
Even now, after all that I said and did, she was still on my side. How did I let this fantastic woman go? I needed to get my head examined.
“What is she doing?” Neha asked.
“She’s been sending me bad data. At first, I thought it was just a mistake, but now I’m not so sure. It’s happened too many times.”
I chewed on the last piece of cupcake.
“That bitch,” Neha repeated.
“Any thoughts on how I should handle this?”
She considered for a moment before answering. “You could confront her, but she'll just come up with excuses. Or you could gather proof that she’s doing this intentionally and take it to HR.”
I frowned. “How do I prove something like this?”
Neha paused, thinking it over as she tapped her fingers on the counter. “Talk to Jimmy Jones. He’s a straight shooter, and he also thinks Vanessa is a snake.”
Jimmy was a senior analyst on Vanessa’s team. “You think he’ll talk to me?”
She gave out a humorless laugh. “Probably not.”
I blew out a breath.
She grinned and added, “But he’ll talk to me.”
“He will?”
She shrugged. “While you were climbing ladders, I was making friends and expanding my network so I could make sure you could keep climbing that ladder.”
Regret was like acid, a constant in my stomach, swirling, making me sick of myself. “I was such an asshole, Neha.”
“You were.”
“I promise to never be that asshole again.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Oh, you’re just gonna transform into a whole new person?”
I lowered my gaze and shook my head. “No, I’m going to try and evolve into being the best version of myself.”
Warmth flickered in her eyes. She reached for her phone. “ Fine ! I’ll call him.”
“Thank you, Neha.”
She gave me a flat, unimpressed stare and stuck her earbuds in.
She talked to Jimmy for a good twenty minutes, and while she did, I watched her.
God, she was beautiful.
It was a damn good thing she didn’t work for me anymore, because I wanted to touch her—wanted to do things the employee handbook didn’t explicitly forbid. Sure, it said “ no fraternization in the workplace ,” but it never warned against imagining all the ways I could fuck her on my desk.
I should’ve handled my attraction to her better. But then there was a whole list of things I should’ve done better when it came to Neha.
She had such an expressive face. High cheekbones, pouty mouth, and the sexiest eyes known to mankind—all wrapped up in a package so stunning it could stop traffic.
She smiled at the start of the conversation, but as she listened, her expression shifted—from casual to focused to ice-cold fury. By the time she hung up, it was clear that whatever Jimmy had said had pissed her off.
She set her phone on the counter with enough force to make me wince. Hopefully, she didn’t just crack her screen.
“Vanessa’s been changing Jimmy’s numbers before sending them to you.”
I tensed. “So, I’m not crazy.”
“Not about this!”
I smiled despite the clusterfuck I was in. “Noted.”
She huffed, her gaze lifting in irritation. “Jimmy’s been running the right models, but when Vanessa passes the data to you, she alters key figures. Either to make you look incompetent or—worst-case scenario—to sabotage deals, he doesn’t know.”
I let out a slow breath. “Jesus. Why hasn’t he said anything to anyone?”
“Because he just found out when I made him check the last three data sets that were sent to you from Vanessa’s team.”
I rubbed my temple and shook my head. “Now what’s he going to do?”
“Nothing.”
I raised a questioning brow. “Nothing?”
Neha gave me a measured look. “I asked him not to, told him you’re going to deal with this. He agreed. He doesn’t want to get caught up in the crossfire between two senior executives.”
I let out a weary sigh. “I don’t blame him. And it’s not like we have concrete proof of any real damage. So far, I’ve either caught the mistakes or avoided using the data she sent, which means nothing major has happened.”
“Nothing major has happened, yet ,” she reminded me.
My mind raced. I needed to review everything she had sent me, find patterns, and see if there was already a paper trail of inconsistencies.
“You need to go through everything she sends you. Find patterns. See if there is already a paper trail of inconsistencies,” Neha rattled off.
Like minds, I thought, pleased with her.
“Will do.”
We were silent for a moment and then Neha banged a fist on the counter. “She’s such a horrible human being. Women work so hard to get ahead, and she’s just shitting all over feminism.” Her eyes went sharp. “We need to take her down.”
My heart soared. Did she say we ?
“We will,” I promised her.
“Good! We need a plan,” she mused.
We certainly did!
A rare sense of lightness settled in my chest. We were a team again, and it felt damn good.