Ethan sneered. “Now you’re pouring it on a bit too thick.”
She shrugged. “All right, so I might not pick up a racket sport, but I will have plenty of time to read. If I’m going to be the foremost authority on price-fixing scams, then I’ve got a lot to learn. And, besides, there’s always my book to keep me busy.”
“What book?”
“The book I’ve just been contracted to write for a major publishing company,” she explained. “The announcement should go live at any moment. I spoke with a reporter from the Wall Street Journal for forty-five minutes this morning and he promised to post the story by three.”
Ethan’s hold on his temper was slipping. For the first time since she’d entered his office, she could see the seething anger in his eyes. His hands clenched at his sides as he stood up and struggled to remain—or to appear—calm. He stood behind his chair, putting more distance between them. Eva looked away for a moment, afraid that he might be able to read the excitement in her own eyes. When she felt it had passed, she turned back to him. “It would be coarse to mention numbers but it’s a six-figure deal. It’s what I believe the industry calls a very nice deal. I’m certainly happy about it. I suppose you’re wondering what the book will be about,” she said, rattling happily away, as if the man in front of her weren’t about to burst a vein in his forehead. “It’s not just about the price-fixing scheme as the editor had originally proposed. I couldn’t very well write in detail about something I don’t know anything about. It’s going to be about the rarified world of auctions, a sort of tell-all, I suppose, about our unique corporate culture and the pressure it exerts over junior employees hoping to make a big splash. I’m very excited about it. I’ve already started jotting down ideas.”
His fingers curled around the black supple leather. “How much was the deal for?”
“Six figures.”
“Fuck figures,” he said angrily, his face a disturbing shade of red. “Tell me how much the deal was for!”
“Four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. It’s an unusually good deal for a first-time author but, like my editor said, few people have stories as interesting as mine.” Eva saw the look he gave her. He was about to snap. All he needed was another little push. “It’s a staggering amount of money and at first I had this knee-jerk reaction that I didn’t deserve it but then I remembered the genius of my scheme and thought—”
“The genius of your scheme?” he said quietly, too quietly. “You fucking airhead bitch.” He turned away and looked out the window at Manhattan. “You couldn’t have come up with a scheme like that if you spent your whole life thinking about it. I was setting you up for almost two years and you didn’t suspect a thing. Two fucking years you sat out there in the bullpen with your Suzy Sunshine smile and your first-day-at-work business suits and didn’t have a clue that I’d cloned your email.” He turned around, spitting anger. If looks could indeed kill. “And this dimwit, this office drone, this stellar example of business acumen, is getting credit for my brilliance.”
“Not just getting credit,” she said with a smile, egging him on, “but power, respect and, most important, cold, hard cash.”
“You fucking bitch, you didn’t come into my office to thank me.” He approached her threateningly, but Eva remained calm in her seat. He wouldn’t hurt her. She knew he wouldn’t. It would serve no purpose and only lead to more questions. What was the woman who had betrayed his company doing in his office? But he got in her face so close that Eva could smell the coffee on his breath. “You came in here to gloat, maybe even to get a rise out of me. You women are so fucking petty and predictable. Listen to me carefully: I don’t care how much money and glory you say you’re going to get, you’re still doing time for a crime you didn’t have the brains to commit. You’re a fucking patsy and I don’t give a flying fuck what happens to you. Now get the hell out of my office.”
Eva did not have to be told twice and she marched through the door, down the hallway and into the elevator as quickly as her legs could take her. Then she sunk to the floor, overwhelmed and stunned and vaguely terrified that Jeffers had somehow missed the whole thing. When the doors pinged open thirty seconds later, she was still on the floor, her heart pounding as she ordered herself to take deep, calming breaths.
Suddenly, Cole was at her side, feeling her body gently as if checking for broken bones. “Are you okay? Does something hurt? What happened?”
Annoyed with the melodrama, she shook herself loose, stood up and then immediately threw herself into his arms. “Tell me, tell me, tell me Jeffers heard everything,” she ordered, as she rested her head against his chest.
“Oh, yeah, he heard Ethan call him a dumbass.”
Eva laughed as they stepped off the elevator and brushed past a couple waiting to get on. “Now tell me he’s on his way up to Ethan’s office to arrest him.”
“The wheels of justice don’t move that swiftly,” Cole said, holding the door open for her. “He still has to get a warrant. But the investigator I hired was able to prove that many of those emails could not have come from your computer. Some were sent from IP addresses out of the country, one when you were sitting in a courtroom on Centre Street doing your civic duty as a juror. You’re in the clear.”
As grateful as Eva was to hear the words, she wouldn’t believe them until they came out of Jeffers’s mouth, and when they did a few minutes later, they were offered brusquely, almost impatiently. If anything, Jeffers seemed annoyed that she’d wasted his time, as if she were some sort of red herring that had deliberately tossed itself into his path to undermine his closure rate.
Rather than apologize for the inconvenience, the gentleman from the Justice Department instructed her to remain available. “We still have questions for you, Ms. Butler, and you’ll of course be called on to testify. But for now, you’re free to go.”
Resisting the urge to stick out her tongue, Eva grabbed Cole’s hand and pulled him away from the building and the car he had waiting. “I want to take you to lunch to thank you,” she said.
Finding her eagerness irresistible, he grinned. “All right.”
“And then I want to take you home and make love for the rest of the afternoon.”
“That’s a plan I can get behind,” he said, tugging her into his arms and kissing her softly.
She sighed and sank into the sweetness. “It’s good to be free,” she said as soon as she could speak.
“Yes, it is.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Eva insisted on going to work the next day.
“You don’t have to do this,” Cole said as she stepped into the shower at seven-thirty in the morning. “You’ve had a rough couple of days. Nobody would think less of you if you took a vacation.” He had meant to propose his two-week getaway plan last night but didn’t get the chance when Eva fell asleep in the car. They had been on their way home from an extravagant dinner his mother had insisted on treating them to. The entire council of war had come to toast Eva’s freedom with fine champagne.
Standing under the spray of water, she shook her head. “I don’t need a vacation.”
“Then take the weekend, at least,” he said, doing some quick calculating. If they left now, they’d be in the Bahamas in four hours. Not quite the holiday he’d planned but long enough to put some color in her cheeks. “It’s already Friday. There’s no point in going in on a Friday. Wait until Monday.”
Eva poured some shampoo into her hand and lathered her hair. Although it was early, she was in a rush. She still had to drop by her apartment and pick up some work-appropriate clothes. Cole had only packed casual stuff when he threw the contents of her closet in a bag. “If I wait until Monday people will think I’m scared.”
Cole thought this was utter nonsense. “Nobody is judging you.”
She sighed, washed the soapy bubbles out of her hair and told him the truth. “If I wait until Monday, I’ll think I’m scared.”
There was nothing he could say to that. Eva ha
d to fight her own demons. “Okay, you win but at least have lunch with me.”
She put some lavender body cleanser on a loofah and ran it along her legs as she made a face. “I don’t know. I probably have a stack of work on my—” She broke off as Cole grabbed her shoulders. His boxers, which he was still wearing, were now soaking wet. Impatient with her stubbornness, he felt like shaking some sense into her, but he didn’t. He simply said please.
“All right, but we’re going somewhere quick and convenient,” she said, unable to resist the light in his eye. For some reason she didn’t quite understand, he felt a need to give comfort, whether she wanted it or not. “No two-hour, expense-account lunches at Per Se.”
When he’d stepped into the shower, Cole’s only intention was to talk her into lunch, but now that she was in his arms all slick and wet other ideas occurred to him. He lowered his mouth, heedless of the spraying water, and groaned when he felt her respond immediately.
“Now I’m going to be late for work,” she murmured as he pushed her against the tile wall.
Cole’s only response was to take the loofah out of her hand and toss it on the floor.
Although Eva wasn’t as nervous today as she’d been yesterday, she still felt considerable trepidation stepping into the lobby of the office building. Her name had been cleared on the evening news and in the late editions of the newspapers but a bad reputation was harder to shake than a good one and she knew that not everyone would be convinced of her innocence. Where there was smoke, there was fire, they’d say behind her back after smiling to her face.
I can handle it, she thought as she waited for an elevator with three other conservatively dressed professionals. They didn’t look familiar to her, which meant they weren’t Wyndham employees. The auction house shared the building with several other companies, including a very well-respected financial institution and a publishing house. Eva was relieved to realize that these people didn’t know who she was.
By the time the elevator finally came, there was a small crowd waiting and Eva barely squeezed in among the business suits and leather briefcases. It was an uncomfortable ride up to the twelfth floor, but she didn’t mind as it was also an anonymous one.
Her desk was empty. Of course it was. The Justice Department had confiscated her computer and all her files and left her with nothing but a half-finished cup of coffee and a few scattered Post-its. She stared at the blank space and wondered how long it would take to get her computer back. She didn’t even know whom to contact. Perhaps Kerry Newman in human resources knew the protocol for retrieving evidence from the DOJ. Eva was just about to pick up her phone to call Kerry when she heard the sound she’d been dreading most: Taverner’s voice. Oh, God.
“Hey, pal,” he said, his tone upbeat and cheerful, as if he hadn’t been slagging her in the press for four days, “you’re back already. Brilliant. I know you’ve got the inside track on why they led Ethan out of here yesterday in handcuffs, and I don’t want you to worry about oversharing because there’s no such thing.”
Eva thought she was prepared for this moment: David would apologize profusely on his hands and knees, or some equally obsequious pose, and she would tell him in a hard little voice that she just wanted to forget about it. But that scene only worked if he said he was sorry. Clearly, he wasn’t going to. Clearly, the conscienceless creep didn’t think that he’d done anything wrong. A wave of anger overtook her so quickly, it made her legs feel like water. She wanted to punch him in the face. She wanted to knee him in the groin.
Holding on to her temper, she tossed the half-drunk cup of coffee, with its week-old sour milk, in his face. It didn’t make her feel good, but it did make her feel better. She just wished she had something else to toss.
David sputtered and spit. When the coffee was out of his eyes, he said, “Ben! Hey, Ben, did you see that?”
Eva froze. She hadn’t realized her boss was in the vicinity.
“Yeah, I saw it,” Ben answered.
Even better. He’s standing right behind me. Eva spun around, ready to explain and apologize for her behavior.
“If you ask me, you got off easy,” Ben said laughing. He had just arrived and was carrying his gray shoulder bag and tall latte from Starbucks. “The coffee wasn’t even hot.”
“But, Ben, my clothes are ruined and—”
Eva didn’t want to listen to him whine. She took the cup from her boss’s surprised grip and poured it over David’s head. Ben nodded approvingly. “That’s the way you do it,” he said and walked away. “Eva, I need to see you in my office in thirty minutes.”
The small crowd that had gathered around Eva’s desk dispersed as Ben’s presence signaled it was time to get back to work. David continued to grumble, but the Wyndham staff, who had followed every detail of the scandal, weren’t prepared to align themselves publicly with David Taverner. It was obvious that there was going to be a shakeup at the firm, and although nobody knew how it would play out, it seemed possible to everyone that Eva, should she decide to stay, might land on top. She had served Wyndham’s faithfully for years, and although she’d been used by their top guy, had cleverly extricated herself from his web of lies.
Kerry in human resources promised to investigate the matter of her computer and suggested in the meantime that she set up shop at Joseph Harkley’s cubicle, as he was on vacation for the week. “You can access all the files on the computer so you should be good to go.”
Joseph’s cubicle was several rows away from David’s, which was a relief, and as she walked past him with her bag, she took a snapshot of his coffee-splattered face and sent it to Ruth. She had barely logged on to the computer when Ben called her into his office, and she sailed by his assistant without sparing her a glance. Devorah was as good as David at spreading tall tales, and Eva could just imagine what the woman had said about her during her absence.
“Ah, here she is,” said her boss as she stood on the threshold to his office.
Eva stepped into the room and was surprised to find herself confronted with the dark penetrating gaze of the elder Mr. Wyndham. She’d had no idea he’d arrived in New York. In fact, she hadn’t realized it was possible to get there from London so quickly, and unnerved by his presence, she decided to let him make the first move.
Ben, sensing the awkwardness of the moment, stepped in to smooth things over. “Eva, no doubt you remember Elliot. Edward will be taking over the New York office, and Elliot is going to stay here for a while as Wyndham’s gets its bearings.”
That’s a nice way of putting it, Eva thought with a tight smile plastered to her face. “Yes, of course. Mr. Wyndham.” She extended her hand.
The patriarch stood up to greet her and insisted she call him by his first name. “There’s no point in being formal now, considering all the trouble my family has put you through.”
Eva was thrown off by this. She expected to be taken to task by the elder Wyndham—in the politest of terms possible. Even though she hadn’t done anything wrong, she still felt complicitous. Where there was smoke there was fire. Perhaps this was what being a victim did to you.
“Please take a seat,” Ben said as he slipped behind the desk. “We wanted to talk to you about Wyndham’s future.”
“Such as it is,” added Elliot. “The auction house is in a devil of a mess. The corruption seems to begin and end with my son, which means that the criminal charges alone should not destroy us, although the fines levied against the company will be steep. Add to that the civil cases that will be brought against us by former sellers, and it’s unlikely that Wyndham’s will see itself clear to the next decade, let alone the next century.”
“Surely, you’re taking an unnecessarily pessimistic view of the situation,” Ben said quickly. “Wyndham’s is in better shape than that. We have very good credit with the banks.”
Eva didn’t know if Ben was speaking the truth or simply flattering an intimidating employer. “Will there be many lawsuits?” she asked. Eva had looked at this t
ragedy only from her perspective. Once she understood from Jeffers what she stood accused of, she thought of her own survival, not the company’s.
“Probably one class-action suit helmed by the top lawyers in the country. There’s a lot of money to be made here,” Elliot said sadly.
“But it won’t be at Wyndham’s expense exclusively. Davidge’s and Brooks’s will bear equal responsibility,” Ben said, highlighting once again the very thin silver lining.
“That’s good, I suppose,” she said.
Elliot was dismissive of this positive outlook. There were no bright spots in this god-awful mess his son had made. “Eva, I don’t know what your plans are, but I hope you’ll consider staying with Wyndham’s.”
Eva nodded. At the moment, she was thinking only one step ahead. Like today when she got up: Go to work. What she did in the future would depend, she supposed, on the opportunities that presented themselves and the way the price-fixing scandal played out. She didn’t necessarily want to leave, but at the same time she didn’t know if she could stay. If this morning was anything to go by, it might be too awkward and uncomfortable.
When she didn’t say something right away, Elliot rushed to apologize for his son. “His mother and I are still shell-shocked,” he said. “We always knew that Ethan wasn’t a fan of hard work and elbow grease, but we thought it was a product of lack of involvement rather than a character flaw. We see now that our elder son will always try to find the easy way out. Alas, he has a deplorable lack of ethics. I’m deeply sorry, my dear, that you got caught up in the middle of it. When I think of your going to jail in place of my son….” He was too angry to finish the thought and let it dangle.
Eva saw that the elder Wyndham was genuinely upset. His usually stick-straight back was slumped in the chair. “I intend to stay,” she said, not committing to anything. Her intentions could change at any time.
“Good. Good. As long as you don’t hold us all responsible,” he said. “We need people like you on board right now. You did fabulous work on the Hammond collection, and we’re confident you can bring in other accounts equally impressive. I assume we still have the Hammond account?”
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