Chapter 45
Sadie
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked Jeremiah, trying to keep my voice down, aware of the stares in our direction after the scene he had caused.
Though he kept his voice down, the coolness of his encounter with Tanya was thick in the air.
His blue eyes were chilled as he stared off in the distance, his jaw clenched.
I stood from my desk to go after my friend who stood impatiently at the elevator, nervously tucking her short, dark hair behind her ear. I took one step toward her when Jeremiah grabbed my arm and stopped me. I pulled free from him, my anger seething into him.
“Don’t,” he said, with a firm shake of his head.
“Like hell I’m not,” I said, walking away.
“She’s not who you think she is,” he murmured after me.
I stopped and turned toward him slowly, giving him a questioning look. I could see his expression had softened to sympathy as he looked at me. I looked back at the elevators just in time to see Tanya step into them and disappear. She was gone.
Jeremiah gestured to his office and stepped inside. I hesitated, wondering if I should still go after my friend, but the words vibrated through me.
She’s not who you think she is.
I followed Jeremiah into his office where he had already settled in at his desk. He was rummaging through the bottom drawer.
“Close the door,” he said distractedly.
I did as he said and sat across from him, as he began piling papers on his desk.
“What is going on?” I asked insistently.
I needed to know why he had just fired one of my only friends in the office without any explanation to me.
I couldn’t understand why he was getting a lawyer involved or why he would need a restraining order.
And did he say something about Anderson?
My head began to spin as I waited for Jeremiah to speak.
“Remember that private investigator I hired?” he asked.
“The one from last week. Yeah, I remember.” I rolled my eyes. Obviously, I remembered. It was only a few days ago and had led to one of our biggest fights yet. And our best makeup sex, but that’s beside the point.
“I met with him this morning.”
“And?” I raised a brow.
Jeremiah hesitated before sliding over a glossy photo, tapping his finger against the image. I leaned in and looked at the photo, wondering what the hell this had to do with him just embarrassing Tanya like that. Then I saw her. With Anderson. I sucked in a quiet breath.
“What the hell is this?” I whispered.
“They were working together.”
“There is no way.” I shook my head.
“Anderson hired her before I took the CEO position here. He wanted her to dig up dirt on me. To be his office spy.”
“But Tanya has worked here for years…” I said in disbelief.
“But she has no loyalty to me,” said Jeremiah.
“Or me, for that matter…” I muttered, as he slid another picture toward me.
It was from a different meeting between Anderson and Tanya.
I would recognize her sleek bob cut anywhere and Anderson wasn’t hard to miss with his tall, slim figure and black eyes.
She was wearing the same outfit she had worn when we went to grab tea and coffee last week.
I shook my head in quiet disbelief as I pushed the photo away.
These were just photos from the past few days.
How often had she met with him in the months prior?
How many of our conversations were actually genuine, and not just a way to find out information?
Was she even really my friend or was Anderson’s paycheck that good as to blind her to the fact we had known each other for years?
I felt like I was going to throw up. I placed my hand on my stomach and sucked in a shaky breath. Jeremiah looked at me worriedly and stood from his desk. He reached out his hand.
“Come,” he said gently.
I looked up at him curiously, trying not to get wrapped up in the soft expression he wore as he looked over me.
He was ridiculously handsome, even when he had just pissed me off.
But now I knew why he did it, and it made him even better.
I placed my hand in his, the familiar feeling of his palm against mine setting my heartbeat faster.
“Let’s get you some fresh air,” he said, stroking his thumb over my knuckles.
He led me to his door, gently giving my hand a squeeze before letting go. I could feel his touch linger on my skin as he opened the door. Even though Tanya was gone, we still had the eyes of the entire office on us. All thanks to Tanya. The betrayal stung.
All I wanted was for Jeremiah to wrap his arms around me, but we had to keep up appearances. That stung almost as much as Tanya’s betrayal. I wondered if we could ever just be free to be who we were behind the closed door of his penthouse.
We walked side by side to the elevators in silence.
Inside the doors, I expected Jeremiah to hit the button for the lobby, but instead he hit the button for the top floor.
Soon the doors opened to a well-lit hallway that led to a large glass door leading to the rooftop.
He took my hand again, away from the watchful eyes of everyone downstairs, and led me outside to a stunning view of the city.
“Wow,” I whispered. “I’ve never been up here.”
He smiled weakly, nodding to a nearby bench that sat next to a small garden filled with yellow, pink, and white flowers.
I breathed in their floral scent as I sat next to Jeremiah.
He undid the button of his light gray jacket and sat back comfortably before draping his arm around me.
I settled into the solidness of his body.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured.
I looked up at him confused. “For what?”
“The private investigator. Tanya. Anderson. Getting you wrapped up in all of this.”
I ignored the last part because there was no one else I would rather be wrapped up with.
I hoped he didn’t regret anything that had happened between us because I didn’t.
It was hard as hell sometimes, but I didn’t regret climbing up all those flights of stairs to break into his apartment all those months ago.
“Why did Anderson hire Tanya in the first place?” I asked, chewing on the inside of my cheek.
“Because with dirt on me, he could take it to the board. The shareholders would question me and the kind of person they’re investing in. They could push me out…” he said with a shake of his head.
“But you could just explain to them that it’s not the scandal they think it is. That I was in this every bit as you,” I said.
“It wouldn’t matter,” he said with a small shake of his head. “It’s still a scandal to them. And scandals lose money. Lose clients. Lose good reputations.”
“All for what?” I asked, my voice rising slightly. “Because Anderson can’t lose his taste for revenge?”
“Not only that, but he was up for the job. But lost out to me.”
“And he thinks you did it to get back at him…”
“I didn’t,” said Jeremiah, his eyes searching mine.
“I believe you,” I said, placing my hand against his cheek.
He settled his face in my hand and closed his eyes. We sat there in a comfortable silence for a moment, the cool breeze blowing through his dark hair. Soon, he opened his eyes and they were liquid pools of blue. He turned and kissed my hand before holding it in his.
“Do you see why I want you to quit?” he asked.
I stayed silent and pursed my lips.
“This is too much stress on you. On the baby.”
“I’m fine,” I said adamantly.
“For now…until Anderson pulls his next move. In him coming after me, he’s coming after you. You’re just collateral damage, and I hate that. I hate that I put you in that position,” he said, his voice cracking slightly.
“You didn’t put me in any position. I chose to be in this as much as you.”
“I just think it would be better if you quit and focused on you and the baby. You can leave the stress of this job and Anderson’s plans for me, and let me handle things.”
“Are you sure this is about me and the baby?” I asked, raising a brow.
Jeremiah frowned slightly as he searched my face. “What are you talking about?”
“You told me I had no work ethic. No drive. Hell, you wanted me to move to another department because you had no use for me…”
“Sadie…” he started.
“Maybe that’s why you want me to quit.” I bit back the tears that formed behind my eyes.
He took my hands in his, turning his body to face me.
“That’s completely unrelated. I was an asshole. A demanding asshole with unreal expectations. It’s what I have for everyone, but especially people I’m trying to push away.”
“You were trying to push me away?” I asked, a tear falling down my cheek.
“I was scared. I did the only thing I knew how to do.”
He reached up and brushed the tear away with his thumb before leaning in and pressing his forehead to mine. “I don’t believe that about you. Not in the least. Do you understand?” he said firmly.
I thought back to everything that’s happened lately and the worry it had been putting on my heart.
I put my hand on my stomach, slightly bigger than it was last week.
Maybe he was right. None of this worry could be good for the baby, but I still didn’t know if the right decision was for me to leave a job I’d known for years.
A job I knew I was good at, though he questioned it at first.
But the debt that felt like it was drowning me was still in the back of my mind.
It would be impossible to pay it off if I wasn’t working.
I didn’t want to bring a baby in the world when I didn’t have my life together.
I wanted to provide for my family. As much as Jeremiah wanted me to focus on the baby, I had to work, whether it was at the accounting firm or somewhere else.
I nodded. “Okay,” I whispered finally.
“Okay?”
“I’ll quit,” I said. “But on one condition.”
He looked at me expectantly, his forehead still pressed to mine.
“I get to look for another job. I still have months before I have the baby, and I want to feel fulfilled. Working makes me feel that. Can you understand that?”
“But the baby…”
“Will be fine. What do you think working moms do? Lay in bed all day and wait nine months for the baby to come? I’m not made of glass, Jeremiah.”
“But you don’t need to work. I can take care of you.”
“This isn’t the 1950s,” I said sharply.
“I just don’t understand…”
“I like working. I find value in it. I don’t want to give it up. Surely, you can understand that.”
“I do.” He chuckled softly. “More than most.”
“Then write me an awesome letter of recommendation and let me find another job.”
“Are you sure about this?” he asked, pulling his face from mine and studying me, his hands on my arms.
“Yes. Plus, I would feel lonely up in your tower all day. I already do sometimes.”
His eyes grew sad at that. He ran a hand through his hair and looked out over the rooftops of the surrounding buildings. It felt like it was just us two up here, but it couldn’t be like that forever. He had to understand that. Had to understand I needed more.
“Okay,” he said softly.
I smiled at him, inching my way closer and crawling into his lap. He wrapped his arms around me and looked down at me with a smirk.
“You’ve always been a stubborn one,” he said with a laugh.
“As have you,” I said, leaning in and nipping his bottom lip.