Chapter 25
Chapter
Twenty-Five
Thomas pressed his fingers to his temples for a second.
He had all the hassles—and consequent headaches—of managing several multi-million-dollar companies, as well as the stress of directing the investigation that would lead to finding the thirteen people he’d need to kill. Personally kill, not delegate.
He needed to take serious action. And make some changes. Now.
Yagi and Ginny stepped into his office, eyeing each other suspiciously. “You wanted to see us?” Yagi said, his surprise obvious. The two barely tolerated each other.
Ginny went straight to his desk, half-sitting on the desktop and crossing her legs. “Did you need something?” she purred.
“I need you to sit down,” he said, then gestured to the chairs across from him. “Both of you. I wanted to discuss something.”
They took their seats, shooting each other one last irritated glance before settling in. “Is there a problem?” Yagi asked.
“Not exactly.” He took a deep breath. “It’s about Kate O’Hara.”
Ginny bared her teeth in a snarl before catching herself. “What about her?” she asked instead, even though her tone could have bitten through steel.
Yagi’s eyebrow quirked. “You’ve decided how to—handle that particular problem?” he asked mildly, as if he weren’t referring to murder. “And are you taking my advice?”
“Again, not exactly.” He paused a beat. “I’ve decided Kate would be a good executive assistant. So I’m going to offer her that job.”
They both stared at him for a long second. Then they both exploded.
“I strongly advise against this—” Yagi started, only to have Ginny interrupt him.
“But that’s my job!” she protested. “I’m your assistant!”
“We still don’t know why she’s able to work with the contracts without being affected,” Yagi said more loudly, leaning forward in his chair. “For all we know, she’s working for Cyril.”
“You don’t even need another secretary!” Ginny wailed.
Thomas ignored the headache that was beating at his brain like a baseball bat. “Hear me out,” he said, cutting across their increasingly loud complaints. “Ginny, you’ve been like a sister to me, but let’s be honest. The assistant gig has been a challenge for you.”
He’d tried to come up with as gentle a wording as he could, but she still flinched. Mostly at the “sister” part.
“I think Kate could handle this. And it’s not like she’d be doing everything. She’d oversee my administrative needs, that’s all.”
“Wait. She’d be my boss?” Ginny asked, obviously appalled.
Thomas sighed. “Don’t worry. You’d be shifted to special projects.” Like getting paid to play games on that damned phone of hers. Not that she wasn’t already. “Now, Yagi…”
“You’re just doing this because you want to fuck her,” Ginny snapped.
That stopped Thomas cold. Even Yagi’s normally impassive expression was shocked, and he craned his head to stare at her.
Thomas stood, rage coursing him through him. “I beg your pardon?”
Ginny’s cheeks were blotchy and red with anger. “I saw you kissing her! Don’t even deny it!”
Now Yagi turned to stare at Thomas with disgust. Thomas ignored him.
“Ginny, a few things,” he said, his voice icy. “First. Who I fuck is absolutely none of your business.”
Her chin went up, and tears filled her eyes.
“Second,” he said, “I’m not going to deny that I’m attracted to Kate. And yes, I did kiss her. But that’s as far as it went, and we both agreed it was a bad idea.”
Sort of. He knew it logically, anyway. He’d just put a pin in that for the time being.
“Third, I’m not making her my mistress. I’m making her my executive assistant. There’s a difference.”
“Oh, really? Because I seem to remember you fucking your last secretary!”
Now Thomas’s hands balled into fists, and his Southern drawl pushed to the fore, drawing out like a razor.
“That secretary was your sister, and she was going to be my wife, as you’ll recall,” he said.
“If we’re not going to even pretend this is about business, by all means, let’s just get it out there.
I don’t know if you’re more pissed that I kissed Kate, or that I won’t touch you.
I don’t care. Frankly, the only reason I keep you on is a promise to Elizabeth that I’d take care of you.
I hired you out of sentiment and a sense of responsibility.
But you’ve fucked up simple stuff from day one, and I’ve been working around your incompetence since Elizabeth died. ”
Ginny went ghost white.
“I’m still going to pay you, and you can still live in the condo.
You can do whatever the hell else you want.
Keep screwing the town car driver and the window washer and whatever other guys you’ve got on the hook, with my blessing.
But you don’t have to keep showing up here, because you don’t do anything useful.
” His tone was sharp. “I have been putting up with your shit for too long, and I can’t afford to anymore, this year especially.
So if you don’t shut up and stay out of my way, or do something useful for a change, not only will I kick you out of your condo at The Havens and cut off that cushy paycheck you’ve been cashing, I will make sure that you can’t get a job as a cashier at a goddamned grocery store, anywhere in the country.
I’m at the end of my rope, and you’re at the end of the line. We clear, Ginny?”
Her eyes were round, and tears started coursing down her cheeks. She sniffled loudly, looking at him like he’d slapped her.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” He felt like shit, but it had to be done. He turned to Yagi.
Yagi was shaking his head slowly. “I hate to say it, but her reference to Elizabeth does bring up a point. You do have… shall we say, a track record.”
Thomas gritted his teeth so hard he could hear the grinding of his molars.
“I fell in love with Elizabeth when she was still my secretary.” He paused for a minute, remembering.
Elizabeth had been everything he wasn't – composed, collected, the epitome of Southern grace and charm.
She'd been his biggest cheerleader, the one who believed in him.
Her connections had made it possible for him to make a lot of his early deals.
Once the money rolled in, he'd been able to handle it on his own, but she'd still been there, the woman behind the man. “But I think it’s safe to say that Kate is nothing like her.”
Ginny frowned. Yagi’s face was back to its usually impassive mask, although Thomas sensed the guy would’ve rolled his eyes if he weren’t so disciplined.
“I may have a burning desire for vengeance against Cyril. Or, I don’t know, unanswered emotional debris about Elizabeth that I’m supressing.
But in the meantime, filing? My calendar?
My correspondence? None of that ties to the mystical bullshit I have to deal with, or my desires, or whatever.
It still has to get done.” He let out an exasperated huff.
“Damn it, I’m tired of going through temps just to make sure the wheels stay on the bus, especially when they can’t know the other side of what I do.
With everything I’ve got going on, in the corporations, with the Cyril thing, I’m juggling a lot. Dropping too much. I need a pro.”
"And of course, with your money and resources," Yagi observed dryly, "Kate is the only one you could possibly hire."
“Kate’s resourceful, and unbelievably competent.”
The fact that she puts a little giddy-up in your step has absolutely nothing to do with it.
As if Yagi read his mind, he glared at Thomas.
"But we haven’t addressed the real problem of Kate O’Hara.
Demon script doesn't tempt her, but she's unsigned.
The demons themselves aren't able to influence her mind, even if they are physically able to overpower her.
.. and she's able to have conversations with them.
They seem to want to communicate with her in many cases. "
"That could be handy, don’t you think?" Thomas pointed out.
"That could be dangerous," Yagi corrected. "At least tell me you'll have Kate sign a contract."
Thomas thought of the employment contract he’d had her sign, to ensure the demons in the basement didn’t try to eat her. "She already did."
Yagi’s right eyebrow went up. “In blood?”
"No." Thomas's voice lashed out like a whip. “Absolutely not.”
"If you're going to insist that the girl work for you, there's only one way to ensure her loyalty," Yagi said. "Sign her soul."
"And then what? Be like Cyril? Start my own supernatural Ponzi scheme?"
"She'll get it back when you get yours back."
"No," Thomas said. "I’m not risking anybody else’s soul. That's final."
"You'd be stronger. You're going to need all the strength you can get."
"You don't even know how strong her soul is."
Yagi eyebrow went up. "If she can ignore demon script," he pointed out, "she's no weakling."
He had a point there. Thomas mulled it over. “How about we word her employment contract the same way we worded the demons’ contracts? Put in supernatural language that prevents her from acting against me or my interests, without locking her soul in?”
Yagi rubbed his jaw. “It won’t be as effective. Demons brought to this plane are physically incapable of breaking the terms of their contract. That’s why loopholes are so dangerous. Humans don’t have the same constraints.”
“You’re the mystic. I’m sure you can add something.”
Yagi was scowling and cursing, but he nodded. “I still say she’s dangerous, but I just work for you,” he said sourly. “You don’t have to take my advice. If you die, I still get paid.”
“Your concern is touching,” Thomas said, nodding as Yagi stalked out the door.
Ginny was still sitting in the chair. Her makeup was wrecked with tears, and she was looking at him with a mixture of anger, betrayal, and shock. She sniffled loudly again, in case he missed it the first time.
He exhaled slowly. He was still angry, especially since she brought Elizabeth into this. But he still felt like he’d kicked a puppy. “It’s my fault for letting you go on this long. You’re a good kid,” and he nearly choked on that one, “but you’re just not cut out for this job.”
She bit her lip. Then she let out a sob like a baby, getting up and throwing herself into his arms.
He caught her reflexively, then grimaced as she rubbed her face—and makeup—against his suit.
“You’re not going to sleep with her, though, right?” she said, her voice muffled against his chest.
“I wasn’t planning on it,” he said, even as his body twitched at the thought. “This is business, Ginny. Not personal.”
She pulled back. “Promise?”
He started to speak, then found himself tripping on the words. Her eyes narrowed.
“I knew it,” she said, and she stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind her.
He looked down at his makeup-stained suit, then went back to his private washroom and grabbed a change of clothes from the closet there.
Promise not to sleep with Kate.
It made sense. It was just business. Kate was resilient, resourceful, intelligent. She might be irreverent and unconventional, but he hadn’t gotten this far this fast by playing it safe. She’d fit in just fine.
So why can’t you promise?
He sighed. “Hiring her is probably a bad idea,” he said out loud.
But he was going to do it anyway.