by Jamie Knight
Over time, we seem to have fallen into a routine that involves lots of sex in the morning, a shower, cooking together, then work. Of course there are times we break all the rules, like last night when we worked all night, slept in the morning, then spent the rest of the day eating leftovers and watching a rerun marathon of How I Met Your Mother. Although before season two was over, we were going at each other like teenage children on the couch.
I blush, looking at our desk, because the memory of Liam stretching out my legs while he pounded me into it is still fresh in my mind. He said he wanted to see me bent over it and we ended up doing much more than that in positions that shouldn't even be legal.
Am I on my way to love?
It is a thought that has been persistent in me for a while now.
Because he feels like my home every time we are together. Even with him sleeping on the other side of the wall.
I am about to sit and start working when the office phone rings. I try to ignore it, but then decide it might be important, so I rush to it and take the call.
I regret that snoopy decision seconds later.
Before I say anything, Michael's voice from IT comes through. He sounds so excited as he goes off.
"Sir, the breach seems to be coming from both Anna Mallon’s and Tim Buck's computers. It seems the marketing department needs a little cleansing, but that is not my place to advise. Just let me know what kind of action you need us to take.”
He stops, obviously waiting for Liam to answer, but I am frozen.
"Mr. Thorne?”
I bang down the receiver before I even realize what I am doing and back away from the phone. My legs are shaking so badly that I collapse into the nearest chair, not caring whether it is mine or not. There is one thought running over and over in my mind.
It was too good to be true.
I don’t know why Michael thinks I’ve breached security measures, but I haven’t. Still, if I were in Liam's shoes, I would not believe the word of a simple employee just because I am sleeping with her, if IT had told me she was endangering my company.
I am not Liam's wife, not even his girlfriend. There is no commitment or relationship between us beyond mutual pleasure. Or at least none that we have discussed.
There has been a breach in the company that was being investigated and he never breathed a word of it to me. In this very office, he has asked for my opinion on any and everything about his business, including big decisions. He must have never told me about this, though, because I was a suspect right from the start.
When the phone rings again, it jolts me into action, and I can literally feel the adrenaline filling me up. Immediately, I disconnect the phone and leave it hanging so that it can't ring again and wake Liam up. I consider grabbing my laptop but decide against it.
Michael had said that it was my computer that was involved, so maybe there is a way to vindicate me through it. I leave it behind and grab my phone instead, my pens, my notebook, and my iPad.
The only things that show I was ever in the office are my laptop and a few papers on the printer. The thought to call a cab and get out of here is automatic, so I follow it and call one up immediately.
I try to hurry up on the hallway, but it is not an easy feat, considering I am on my tippy toes. Still, I manage to make it to the guest room I was given to grab my bag of clothes.
It’s funny that I complained to myself about only bringing a few items, but now I am grateful about that very fact. I tip toe again out of the room, down the hallway, down the stairs, and out of the house.
It was never meant to be, I realize.
I might have been on my way to loving Liam Thorne, but I can see how foolish that would have been now. I simply saw a potential between us that wasn't there when I was nothing but an outlet for his desires until the quarantine period was over. The crush he had on me was purely sexual, and never held any possibility for anything more.
It feels like hours pass as I wait in front of the house for the cab to arrive, but realistically, only half an hour goes by. When it finally pulls up in front of me, I all but jump inside it.
I should be angry for the lack of trust, but I am sad and scared instead. Sad because I am more naive than I thought, and scared because I don't know if I will be arrested for something I did not do.
Why does it hurt this way?
Why does it feel like someone just curved out my heart and left me with an empty hole?
Because you love him Anna, my inner thoughts answer. You weren't on your way to love because you are already in love.
I want to analyze that thought even more, but I decide to push it away so that I can concentrate on what to do.
When we get to my house, I hurriedly pay the driver with the bills I had in my bag the day I went to Liam's house and ask him to keep the meter running. I am naive, but I do know that staying in my house will get me arrested quickly while I wait for them to dig around my computer.
Besides, Thorne Tech does not deal kindly with saboteurs. In the three years I have been with the company, I have seen Liam hire the best lawyers to get an internal saboteur the maximum sentence.
He has a way of looking calm yet dangerous when dealing with such matters and I would hate to have such vehemence aimed towards me. Based on previous observation, Liam, IT, and Thorne Tech's security will investigate on their own first before they report anything. Quickly, I jolt down a note for him to find and place it on the coffee table.
I am nearly running around the house as I locate my diary, clothes and money jar. It is not a lot, but there is enough money to get me where I need to go. When I rush back outside, I almost sag with relief when I find the cab still waiting. Clambering inside, I give him directions to my cousin's place.
Ava, my friend from work, is who they will go to first.
So, her place is out, of course.
Hopefully my cousin will be understanding.
It’s a gamble, but Liam is not about to find me before he finds the truth.
Chapter Eight – Liam
It seems like a wonderful day when I wake up, but then again, every day has been wonderful since Anna arrived. She came into my life just when I needed a change and she turned out to be exactly what I needed.
Not the company.
Not the wealth.
Just her.
I had planned on asking her to be my girlfriend yesterday, but when we started making love, I forgot all about it. Our sex is always mind-blowing and leaves me little room for my brain cells to be active about anything else. Today is definitely the day I ask her to exclusively be with me so that we can see what we can make of this connection between us.
I take my shower wishing I had woken up earlier, but still looking forward to eating breakfast with her. We seem to have fallen into a routine of sorts and I would be lying if I said I don't appreciate the normalcy.
Sex aside, I like helping out while she is cooking in the kitchen, I like discussing decisions and life in general in the dining room, I like seeing her on the other side of the desk, and I especially love waking up next to her.
How can I not, when Anna is the best thing that ever happened to me?
The house is really silent when I get out of the bathroom, so I figure that she must be in the office. I am really famished, but I may as well say good morning before the day starts officially. However, when I get to the office, there is no sign of Anna apart from her laptop and some of the papers she was working on yesterday in the printer.
Perhaps she is downstairs.
Deciding I may as well, I sit down to check my work email. When I do, I find that the most recent ones are from Michael, asking me about why I hung up so fast and how I’d like to proceed. Surprised, I go to find the office phone and find it placed on the side of the dialer, instead of sitting on top of it.
There is a persistent bad feeling in my chest when I call Michael and, in a few seconds, I understand why that is. The phone rings twice before he picks it up on the third r
ing.
"Hello.”
"It’s Thorne, Michael. Do you have anything for me?”
“I guess you’re finally ready to hear about it,” he says.
Then he launches into one of his excited babbles as he tells me of the methods they used and how they went about finding out who our saboteurs are. Ultimately though, it all points to Tim Buck, the head of marketing, and Anna Mallon, “an employee from marketing.”
He keeps talking, but my heart all but sinks. I can hear his talk on the other end, but I cannot think past the name Anna Mallon. Anna has been in the company for a while now and she has never shown any suspicious behaviour. She has been in my life and has never...
"Wait a minute, Michael,” I interrupt him as an idea pops into my mind. “Apart from her IP address being used, are there any suspicious emails, calls or apps she has used in the past two months?”
He is silent for a while before telling me that he will need to check. I hang up as the sense of dread pools in my stomach.
Anna's computer and papers are the only thing on the office. Tim said I had hung up on him earlier, and the house is eerily quiet.
"Anna "
I am running before I realize what I’m doing.
There is no sign of her in the kitchen, the dining room, thriving room... nor is she downstairs at all. I take the stairs two at a time to run to the room she had upstairs and almost collapse on the bed itself. The bag she kept there has been taken.
Anna Mallon has just disappeared.
Running back, I hit the panic room in record time to access the front door and front gate camera and there she is, in my video replay after I rewound the tape some. She is in my T shirt and some black leggings when she leaves, and she’s on a call with someone. She waited at the front gate for thirty minutes before a cab came and she ran into it.
It isn't the thought of her leaving that has me gripping the sides of the chair. It is the expression on her face in the camera. She looks scared and hurt as she waits for the cab like she is running from something dangerous.
Her knuckles are white from clutching the bag so hard and there are tears she keeps wiping away from time to time until she pulls her sweater around her and jumps into the cab.
I am usually good at reading faces.
That face is betrayed and hurt— not really the face of someone who has been caught. Of course, I know I’m biased, but I really don’t think she did anything wrong. Yet I’m not sure why she’s running away, in that case.
I hurriedly call her phone, but it seems to have been disconnected. I even open Skype and try to call her there before realizing she left her computer. The computer she uses for everything?
I can’t help but wonder if she had another, secret one.
I am about to close the computer and grab my car keys when I get another call, this time on my computer, over Skype... from none other than Tim Buck. When I pick it up on the video chat function, I am greeted by his sweaty face and beady eyes. He looks nervous, but what is more unnerving is how pleased he seems to be with himself.
"I have a deal for you, Mr. Thorne.”
Tim Buck has a deal I might be interested in?
That’s highly unlikely.
But of course I have to take the bait and find out what he’s talking about.
"I am all ears.”
That makes his smile even wider.
“I get to peacefully resign from work and I also get a glowing recommendation from you yourself, and I go without causing any trouble.”
Usually, I would play it cool and pretend I don't know what I am talking about. But I don't have any patience left in me when I have a certain runaway brunette to find.
"Why would I do that, Mr. Buck?”
He gives me a smarmy smile before talking.
"Because I have a video of your beloved Anna and you getting all sexy on screen. If you don't believe me, check your email.”
Now that has me scrambling to open the email and sure enough, there is an attachment. The video has a split screen like there was a third person connected to the call watching the two of us, but there is no mistaking it. It is a video of the day Anna stripped for me.
"How did you get this?"
He shrugs, so casually looking so cocky at himself, that I hit record.
"She is my employee. It isn't that hard to think about getting into her computer when you have been making googly eyes at each other for years."
If this video does get out, he knows what will happen. There isn't a no fraternizing policy in the office so that wouldn’t be the problem, but this might get me in trouble with the investors. We wouldn’t want it to hit the press and be in the news.
That is not really a problem to me when my investors happen to be family and I own fifty two percent of the company. And I’d be willing to take the bad hit in publicity. Who cares?
The problem will be with Anna because she will be discredited and looked down upon. She might even be discriminated against in the office or bullied to the point of quitting. I know how these things work, from having seen too many affairs blow up in the office.
"You hacked her to get to me. Do you realize you have just about destroyed Anna's life?”
Tim doesn't deny it. Instead, he shrugs again so nonchalantly that I fist my fingers, wanting to punch him badly.
“It’s nothing personal. She just happened to hold your interest and was also the most likely to replace me." He is so confident he has me in a tight spot that he leans forward and asks, "Do we have a deal?”
I nod, knowing I mean no part of it.
"We have a deal, Tim Buck.”
I have each and every intention of going back on my word. My hands are shaking with anger as I call Michael and relay some of the details of my deal with Mr. Buck, leaving out the exact explicit content of the video or the specific employee involved. I love Anna— no way would I see her disgraced in that way.
I love her?
I love her.
Of course I am in love with Anna Mallon.
Why else would I be this panicked at losing her?
Why else would the thought of her hiding from me hurt me so badly?
Why else would I want us to be exclusively together?
"How does Anna Mallon fit into the equation, though?” Michael is still talking, trying to solve the mystery and tie up the loose ends. For once I wish he wasn’t so damn thorough and good at his job. “She is just an employee.”
I decide I’d better just tell him. I can trust him.
"She fits in because she is mine. She is the employee on the video."
There is a long stretch of silence on the other side, but I don't regret saying that for one moment.
"Send me the recording, then. It should be enough to get Anna vindicated. We might be able to retrieve the video since we have administrative permissions on his computer.”
“Thanks, Tim,” I say, now back to being glad he’s so good at his job.
When I get off the phone, I immediately call security to instruct them to retrieve Tim's computer and hand him to the authorities. The computer is company property, after all. There is the possibility of him having the video on another device, but that is a PR nightmare I am willing to deal with.
When I do get to Anna's place later, my heart sinks even further. The landlord lets me in with a spare key when I say it’s her boss and I have an important business matter, and I take in everything.
The place is deserted and there is no sign of her anywhere. She has, however, left a simple note beside a phone that has been switched off on the coffee table. On the note is the password to her computer, and words that rob me of my every strength.
I love you, Liam, but we both know it had to end sometime. Sorry to run, but I didn't do this.
I can only focus on three words of that note.
She loves me.
Anna Mallon loves me.
And now I won't stop until I have her where she belongs.
Back in my arms.<
br />
Chapter Nine – Anna
A week can seem like an entire year when you are nursing a broken heart. It can seem like eternity when you add hurt into the equation.
My cousin and her husband were gracious enough to take me in but they have been tiptoeing around me like they are afraid I will break. My mood is always low, and my appetite is even lower.
My days in the past week have been comprised of cleaning nearly every surface on my cousin Terry's house, scribbling away in my notebook, and remembering every single moment with Liam.
Terry and her husband Robb seem to be barely tolerating my behaviours and barely putting up with the cleaning. I am miserable, but thanks to the pandemic, I can't exactly drive home to Maryland, no matter how much I want to. Basically, I am going through the motions, feeling miserable but unable to have my mother's arms to comfort me.
I could never tell anyone what I’d done. There is a knock on the door to my assigned room before Terry's head pops in.
"You need to get on the phone, Anna. There is someone persistent about talking to you.”
The only person who knows where I am is my mother. She knows I am broken hearted, from what Terry has been telling her, although she doesn’t know why, and I thought she was giving me time to come to terms with my emotional state. There is only one reason I can think of to explain why she is being persistent.
"Is this an intervention?"
She gives me a sweet smile and says, "Just get downstairs.”
Terry is the sweetest person I know, but she can also be quite stubborn. If I remain in this bed, Terry is not above dragging me there herself and we both know it. Pushing myself off the window seat, I stomp down the stairs to the phone, making my displeasure known.
"It isn't a good time, Mom. I will call you later and..."
"Please don't hang up, Anna. Hear me out."
I am slamming down the receiver before he can say another word.
"That wasn't my mother on the phone. That was Liam Thorne," I say, turning my seething eyes towards Terry.