Chapter Twenty-Nine
Smiling, Savannah dove into the morning routine.
She’d never been this happy. Never could have predicted her grumpy, rude boss could be such a sweet, doting, generous lover.
All he needed was a little love. Like we all do.
Like I do. The past week had flown by in a haze of joy.
She loved her work, and she loved her hot, sexy boss. Life couldn’t get any better.
Stratos could still be demanding, impatient, terse, and abrupt with other people—although he’d lightened up a bit—but it made her feel special that only she saw his softer, tender side.
There remained some uncertainty, mostly with respect to her job, but they still had a year and a half before Verilla had the baby, and by then, things could be different.
Maybe she will stay home with the baby, and it will be easier to keep me on than recruit someone new.
Maybe Corona will come to realize I’m a nice person.
They were still in the infatuated, cloud-nine, honeymoon stage, and perhaps their relationship wouldn’t last. When her GAL Friday contract ran out, they might not be together as a couple anymore.
However, the strength of her feelings made it hard to believe they wouldn’t endure. She felt giddy-happy. Stupid-happy.
She was dying to share the news with Brad, even if she did hear, “I told you so.” He’d recognized before she did, that she and Stratos had a thing going on. Since Stratos had asked him for help with the pizza, she had no qualms talking to him now, except she hadn’t seen him.
He hadn’t been at lunch all week. After a couple of days, she’d messaged him and received a two-word reply. I’m sorry. No doubt he was snowed under with work. She could empathize.
An incoming communique dinged, and she opened the hologram to see Frysta’s assistant. “Your presence is required in the conference room,” she said.
“Mine? Why?”
“Now.” With no further details, the woman disconnected.
Savannah could guess why. It’s about me and Stratos.
Upon arrival at work this morning, he’d been summoned to the dragon’s den, presumably to get an update on the theft situation. But, why call me in? She had nothing to contribute to the investigation; she had no information. She wasn’t even supposed to know there was a probe.
So, this had to be personal.
No doubt Frysta and Corona believed they had enough evidence to convict her of sleeping with the boss. She and Stratos refrained from any more office games, but they traveled to and from work together, and Personnel had probably been notified when she surrendered her apartment.
Her stomach clenched with nerves as she rushed to the executive suite.
Making Frysta wait would compound whatever crime she was about to be accused of.
She tried to stay positive, reminding herself that she was only guessing the summons involved their relationship.
And if the worst happened, and she got fired, Stratos would help her get another job.
She’d rather work with him, but as long as she could remain on Oberia, everything would be fine.
“Go on in,” said Frysta’s assistant.
Squaring her shoulders, Savannah entered the conference room, her gaze going straight to Stratos, whose stony expression sent her stomach plummeting. Frysta held command at the head of the table, Corona and Stratos sat to her right, and two men she didn’t recognize were on the left.
Frysta didn’t invite her to sit nor introduce the two men, so she remained standing, feeling like she’d been called to the principal’s office.
“Is there something you wish to tell us, Ms. Mays?” Frysta’s voice and stare were icy-cold.
Her gaze shot to Stratos. What am I supposed to say? Yes, I’m seeing you? His face gave no hints.
“He can’t help you,” Frysta said.
“What is this about?” she asked. No way would she blurt out a confession until she knew what she’d be confessing to. Maybe this wasn’t about their relationship.
“I’ll ask the questions!”
“Then ask me a question I can answer,” she replied with a trace of sharpness. Her knees shook, but she refused to show how intimidated she was.
“How long did you think you and Brad Benson could get away with stealing our designs?”
“What?” Her jaw dropped. “No! What are you talking about?” Aghast, she sought Stratos’ gaze again. Other than a muscle ticking in his cheek, he showed no reaction, no emotion. He can’t think that…he can’t… “I would never—and neither would Brad. That’s crazy!”
But where is Brad? Where has he been all week? Why wasn’t he here? Maybe he’s been here already, or she’s going to call him in next? Separating suspects was a common interrogation technique, wasn’t it? Oh, my god, I’m a suspect! How could she prove her innocence? How did one prove a negative?
“Why would you think such a thing?”
“We intercepted a transmission from Mr. Benson to the Prellim cartel, sending them an OberTech design plan, a decoy design used as bait to catch him in the act,” said one of the unfamiliar men.
“This is Rogan of Rogan Cyber Investigations,” Frysta said. “He and his colleague, Urlyc, have had you and Mr. Benson under surveillance.”
She waited for Stratos to leap to her defense, but he remained silent and stony. He can’t believe this! He can’t!
“Then where is Brad? Why isn’t he here?” she asked.
“Mr. Benson caught a shuttle and fled six days ago,” Rogan said.
Shock reverberated through her. That’s why he wasn’t at lunch. His sudden disappearance didn’t look good, but it didn’t prove anything. Except…she recalled his reply to her text. I’m sorry. What if he’d been apologizing for more than missing lunch?
No! Brad wouldn’t do that!
Just because the investigator claimed to have intercepted a transmission didn’t make it true. Lying to coerce a confession was also a common interrogation technique.
“I’m not convinced Brad did anything. But, even if what you say is true, how does that implicate me?”
“We know for a fact you are coconspirators,” Corona spoke up.
“What facts?”
With a wave of his hand, Rogan brought up a hologram of her and Brad leaning over their special lunchroom table, talking. He advanced the holograms to reveal each and every occasion they had met in the cafeteria.
“We were having lunch! I went to the cafeteria to eat. As did hundreds of other people.”
“You barely touched your meals,” Rogan pointed out.
“Because your food sucks!” she snapped. She skipped as many meals as she ate. She’d lost eleven pounds since coming to Oberia.
“You didn’t sit with anyone except Brad.” The sly glance Corona shot in Stratos’ direction suggested a more salacious offense. He didn’t react.
It’s not true, what she’s implying! They were twisting everything around. “Brad and I were friends, not coconspirators! We’re Earth expats; we have stuff in common.”
“Yes, thievery,” Corona said.
“No!”
Another holo appeared, this one of Brad in her office. How long have they been watching me? “Was this about lunch, too?” Rogan asked.
“He arranged for me to get a kaffii machine,” she said.
“A bribe to get you to help him?” Urlyc suggested.
“No!” You moron. She would never steal from the company, but if she could be bribed into committing such a serious crime, she sure as fuck wouldn’t settle for a kaffii machine! “The machine was for Stratos, so I wouldn’t have to keep running to the cafeteria when he wanted a cup.”
“The proper procedure is to order equipment through Purchasing,” Corona said.
“Perhaps you should inform Purchasing of the procedure, then. Stratos has been trying to get one since Verilla was here.”
The hologram had no sooner dissipated when Rogan said, “You secured Mr. Benson a job in Research and Development!”
Stratos jerked in surprise. Didn’t I tell him that? She’d meant to!
“I didn’t secure anything. You are misconstruing what occurred—”
“You didn’t go around Stratos to recommend him to Kyra?”
“As I’m sure you’re aware”—clearly they’d done their homework—“Brad was in a rotational program. His rotation had ended, he applied to R&D, and he asked me to provide a character reference.”
“A character reference,” Frysta repeated sarcastically. “A thief.”
You haven’t proven that! She stifled the retort before it left her lips. She would not throw a friend under the bus, but neither could she continue to defend him without digging a deeper hole for herself. What if he did do it?
If Frysta, Corona, and the investigators had decided Brad had stolen company designs, she and he were friends, ergo, she was involved, too. Guilt by association. The fact Stratos had said nothing in her defense indicated he probably believed it, too.
She felt sick. She wasn’t just going to lose her job—she would lose Stratos.
“This is what we know,” Frysta said, “you and Mr. Benson work for the Prellims. You came here under different work exchange programs to steal proprietary plans. As soon as you were placed in R&D, you seduced my son to gain his trust and use your position—”
“That’s not true!”
“You’re not living in his penthouse? You’re not in a relationship?”
“We’re in a relationship, but I didn’t set out to seduce him! It…just happened.”
Déjà vu! How had she gotten herself into this situation again, when she swore she never would?
“Like it just happened at your last job?” Corona said. “This is a pattern with you.”
Savannah could feel the blood drain from her face as prickly guilt spread over her.
“From the beginning, you raised all sorts of red flags with me, so, unlike my brother, I did my due diligence. I learned you attempted to seduce your former boss. When he rebuffed your advances, you told his wife you two were having an affair.”
“That’s not true!” she cried.
“You didn’t have an affair with your former boss? He wasn’t married?”
Stratos wouldn’t look at her. Nothing could fix this.
Even the truth was bad. She twisted her hands.
Tears pricked at her eyelids, and she pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth to keep from crying.
“I had a consensual relationship with my former boss. I didn’t know he was married.
When his wife found out, to save his marriage, he lied and said I harassed him. ”
Please, look at me. I love you. You can’t believe this. You can’t!
“I think we have everything we need,” Frysta said.
“Go home, Savannah.” Stratos spoke to her for the first time.
“Please, listen…” she begged.
“Now. Go.”
She’d never seen his face so hard. She turned and walked stiffly out of the conference room, through the waiting area, and into the hall, whereupon she burst into tears.