Chapter 67
ALEX
Iwatch her leave and wonder what the hell just happened.
My chest constricts, and I slump into my chair.
I should go after her, call security, do something. Could this explain her reluctance to let me speak to HR about us, or is it merely a coincidence? Does Mother know who she really is, or has she been played too?
I’d call, but she has guests staying this week. I don’t need St Clair’s dirty laundry being aired in public. There’ll be plenty of time to fill her in later.
I gather the sheets and place them back in the file, locking it in my top drawer.
I drop my head, resting it against the back of the chair, closing my eyes.
A numbness descends.
Was I a means to an end? Did someone send her to spy on me?
Memories of us together flash before my eyes, her laughing, her teasing and the two of us wrapped in each other’s arms.
She gave me her virginity.
What am I missing?
Something doesn’t feel right.
Brooke didn’t deny having the drawings. Tell me that they’d been planted, or that she was being set up. Instead, she claimed they were hers… Why? After all the months she’s worked here, does she not realise how implausible that is?
Then there’s Mother. Does she know what’s going on?
I think back to all the mysterious phone calls Brooke accepts on her second phone, calls she ends abruptly whenever I’m around… Is she in trouble? Does someone have something on her? Is she being blackmailed, forced to do this?
It’s wishful thinking to hope there’s another explanation and that I haven’t simply allowed myself to be played.
Questions swirl through my head.
I grab my phone and dial Elise’s number again. It goes straight through to voicemail. Of all the times to be out of range.
My desk phone rings.
“Alex,” I say.
“Alex, you’re there,” Dom says.
Fuck!
My eyes go to the clocks on my wall.
“Sorry, Dom. On my way,” I say. “See you shortly.”
Come on, Alex. Time to get your shit together and concentrate.
I stop as I reach the door.
Fuck, I never asked her how her doctor’s appointment went.