7. Fiona
Chapter Seven
FIONA
"You can leave now."
I realize I'm still frozen in my seat, staring at Cormac Sullivan like a complete idiot. But I can't help it.
He's gorgeous. Straight-off-the-runway kind of gorgeous. And those eyes... I might as well just strip out of my dress and stand naked in front of him from how I feel every time he looks at me.
Now I'm thinking about being naked in front of Cormac Sullivan.
And now I'm thinking about Cormac Sullivan naked.
Great. Now I'm thinking about the two of us naked. Together.
Oh, this isn't good.
I should have been more prepared for how breathtaking he is to look at. I mean, I knew that ugliness didn't necessarily run in the family. I've seen pictures of the older two brothers, but I figured that at some point the attractive genes would have run out.
I guess not.
It would be so much easier to spy on him and feed information back to Lorcan if he were at least balding with a beer gut. But, of course, that would be too easy.
Apparently, I haven't suffered enough, and now I have to spend the next god-knows-how-long glued to the side of this Adonis and hope that I don't give away the fact that not only do I want to climb him like a tree, but that I'm also a double agent.
Yeah. I don't have high hopes for myself either.
Cormac clears his throat, and I blink, forgetting once again that I'm still staring at him like an idiot while I internally list all the ways I want to sexually violate my new boss.
"Did you not hear me? I said you can leave."
His voice is like ice that sends a shiver straight down my spine.
Interesting. So, it seems his attractiveness doesn't extend to his personality.
This is good. I can work with an asshole. At least, that's what I'm going to keep telling myself.
My cheeks burn as I quickly get to my feet and smooth my hands over my skirt.
Cormac must think I'm a complete lunatic who has never been alone in the presence of a man before.
If I don't hurry up and get my shit together, he might just retract the job offer, and I will officially be a dead woman.
"Sorry." I hurry out of the office before I can give Cormac a reason to regret the offer.
I'm still buzzing from the fact that I actually managed to not only survive the interview with Cormac without accidentally blurting out how attractive I found him, but also land myself the job.
By the time I'm stepping back out on the sidewalk, I almost forget to change out of my heels into my sneakers.
The last thing I need is to mix snow with stilettos.
I'm in such a good mood that I barely even notice the cold.
How can I when the sun is making a rare appearance in January and offering me some much-needed vitamin D?
I bet Cormac could offer me some 'vitamin D'...
"I hate myself." I shove my heels back into my bag and start heading down the street toward the nearest Starbucks.
Part of me still can't believe it actually happened. I got the job. Me, Fiona Callahan, somehow managed to impress the CEO of Sullivan Investments.
And I'm supposed to be spying on him.
A shiver runs down my spine at the thought, but not from fear. It's almost...excitement?
Call me crazy, but for the first time in a long time, I feel alive.
If I can somehow pull this off without Cormac finding out, my debt to Lorcan will be paid, and I can finally move forward with my life after what feels like years of being stuck in quicksand.
I had so many plans and ambitions that I spent years nurturing.
Get the degree, land an internship in forensic coding, get hired by the FBI.
I had my whole career laid out before me, with every milestone broken down into achievable goals since my freshman year of high school.
That was until I met him.
Freddy.
I hate the way my stomach knots at the memory of him.
He was dangerous, reckless, and infuriatingly charming—all the right traits to pull me in even when I knew better.
I should have stayed away. I should have taken note of every red flag he waved right in my face, but I didn't. And I can't help but wonder if I had walked away like I was supposed to, maybe Carly would still be here.
After all, it's because of me that the two of them became involved, which makes me just as responsible for what happened as they are.
My chest tightens as I picture Carly's face, identical to my own in every way.
Losing my older sister was like losing the air in my lungs. She was everything to me, especially after our parents died. But that only made the betrayal hurt so much more when I found out she had been seeing Freddy behind my back.
It was a pain unlike any other.
Why would my sister choose to hurt me like that? It didn't make sense.
But those were questions I never got to ask because I was too consumed by anger, and now it's too late.
Carly is dead, and we will never have the chance to repair what Freddy broke.
Without him, none of this would have ever happened. He took away the one person who mattered to me the most, and I can't shake the guilt of bringing him into our lives, no matter how much I try.
I close my eyes for a split second and breathe in the crisp January air as I try to will the memories of Carly and Freddy to back off.
A breakdown here, in the middle of the sidewalk on a busy Tuesday morning, is not on my to-do list. I can't afford it. Not when I have to prepare myself for the first day at my new job.
"Get it together, Fiona." I push the memories back down, forcing them into a box so that they can't steal the breath from me when I least expect it.
I focus on the practical stuff, the things that I cancontrol, like getting an enormous coffee because I'm seriously sleep-deprived and the high of being in the presence of a hot man is starting to wear off.
I keep my head down as I walk in the direction of the nearest Starbucks, blocking out the sounds of horns blaring and people yelling as I mentally work through my checklist of things I need to do that I made at two a.m. last night when I couldn't sleep, again.
The most important item is deciding what to wear for my first day.
It needs to be something professional and flattering. Maybe something that shows off my figure, but not so revealing that I look like I belong in a porno.
That may be a fine line, but if in doubt, I'm sure Zoe will have something I can wear.
Then again, would it be so bad to show a little leg if it meant getting Cormac on my side?
It's common knowledge that men think with their dicks, so why not use that to my advantage? After all, if the interview is any indication, I have no doubt Cormac will be watching me like a hawk. Every interaction we share will be a test, and I have to make sure to pass without raising suspicion.
Lorcan may be counting on me, but more than that, I can't afford to mess up for myself, for Carly, and for the path I want to carve out from the wreckage of the past few years.
I shake my head.
I cannot think about Cormac like that. Or rather, I shouldn'tthink about him like that.
But I can't help it.
There's just something about him that draws me in.
He's intimidating and infuriating at the same time.
As I dodge my way through the crowded sidewalk, I keep replaying the interview over in my head. The way he scrutinized me from across the desk, the sharpness in his tone—it sent a thrill coursing through me that I can't seem to shake off.
I tighten my grip on my bag and go through the list again, if only to stop myself from thinking of Cormac.
I have a role to play. Get the information for Lorcan and get out.
That's it. I cannot get caught up in workplace fantasies, no matter how hot it is just to think of Cormac bending me over his desk and showing me who's boss.
I sigh. I really need to get laid.
By the time I find a table in Starbucks, my face is about frozen from the cold. Thankfully, the morning rush of commuters has thinned out, leaving a low hum of background chatter made up of college students and stay-at-home wives.
I order the biggest coffee they offer and wrap my hands around it in an attempt to bring back some feeling into them.
After I regain the feeling in my fingers, I pull my laptop out of my bag and open up a new browser, quickly typing Sullivan Investments into the search bar.
If I'm going to do this right, I need to understand the company from the inside out.
The headlines are easy enough to find, with countless articles praising the Sullivan legacy like they're saints instead of businessmen with blood on their hands.
Interestingly enough, the few pictures that I manage to find of the brothers don't include Cormac at all, which makes me wonder why he's suddenly the face of the company.
There is definitely a story. But for now, I spend the next hour scrolling through pages of financial jargon and puff pieces that never seem to go into much detail about the company or Cormac, which doesn't bode well for me.
It's clear the Sullivans don't give much away, and yet Lorcan somehow believes that a few bats of my eyelashes will have Cormac spilling the family secrets. If that's even what Lorcan wants me for. Maybe he just wanted to hire me as a human GPS tracker with access to Cormac's calendar.
Either way, I can't afford to ask too many questions. I'll simply do my part, and when it's over, I'll be free.
I manage to make it through a few more articles before my email pings with my official offer of employment from Cormac himself, as well as my contract. For some unknown reason, my stomach starts fluttering with nervous excitement as I click open the attachment.
"Holy crap!" I gasp at the salary.
A few heads turn in my direction, but I'm in such shock that I don't have the capacity to feel embarrassed.
This can't be right.
I scroll through twice just to make sure I'm reading it correctly, but there it is, in black and white.
Six figures. For me.
This salary is enough to pay off my student debt as well as cover my rent for the next few years if I wanted.
This has to be some kind of joke. There's no way I'm going to be paid that much money just to fetch Cormac his morning coffee and answer a few emails.
There has to be a catch.
My phone buzzes beside me with a message from an unknown number.
UNKNOWN NUMBER: She's at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital.
Lorcan.
A bitter laugh catches in my throat because, for one brief second, I had been so blinded by the money that I had forgotten the whole reason I have this job.
Suddenly, the six-figure salary has me feeling like a fraud. But no amount of guilt is going to change the fact that I owe Lorcan Sullivan a debt.
So, I guess I better start getting used to finding the silver linings.
Otherwise, instead of paying that debt with information, I'll be paying it with my life.