Page 73 of Power

“I … no. I …” I stammered, suddenly aware of how far I’d pushed.

“Then what exactly are you accusing me of?” He stepped closer still, the heat between us ratcheting up several degrees.

“I’m not accusing you of anything! I just want to know if …”If you know that your best friend is a total slimeball. If you’re in on it. If you’ve been covering for him.

“Let me make this perfectly clear. HR handles all complaints in my organization, and they have protocols and procedures. But if you’re asking about me specifically, about where I stand on this, I do not tolerate harassment of employees in any of my companies. If I was ever made aware anyone had done that, they would have been escorted out by their ear without severance.”

After studying him for several seconds, I realized, with immense relief, that I believed him. I could see it in the fire in his eyes and the anger in his posture. He would not be complicit in it, and he would not cover it up, which left one option: he had no idea that his best friend was a complete douchebag. It was the best option because it meant that Jace really was a good guy.

But that didn’t make this any easier. Good guy or not, Jace would still require a lot of convincing to believe his best friend was a predator. Especially when said predator knew Jace well enough to sow seeds of doubt.

Plus, I’d done some research on Grabby Hands and discovered he’d been a leader in Jace’s organization for years. And let’s be clear: a leader in a billion-dollar private equity firm made bank. His entire identity online was wrapped up in it—from the sports car that he drove to the models and actresses that he dated.

Grabby Hands had everything to lose.

And so did I.

“Scarlett.” Jace’s voice softened just enough to remind me of how he’d spoken to me in bed. “I understand you’re afraid, but I will not accept no for an answer. You will give me his name.”

“I won’t.” I straightened my spine, trying to ignore how his proximity made my skin tingle. “There is nothing that you can do to make me tell you.”

His jaw moved from side to side, a muscle ticcing in his cheek. Something in his expression shifted, and his lips flattened into a firm line that was both challenging and devastatingly sexy.

“Then you’ll force me to get that information from you some other way.”

Heart hammering against my ribs, I managed to ask, “Such as?”

With one last glare—and, dammit, how could angry look sexy?—he turned and left me alone in the conference room, the door clicking shut behind him with finality.

I sank into the nearest chair, the realization hitting me like a hangover: this was far from over.

In fact, this was just the beginning of a war.

37

SCARLETT

“Me?” I asked, my coffee cup freezing halfway to my lips.

“Yes,” an HR executive I’d never met before said with a professional smile that revealed absolutely nothing. “At one o’clock.”

I set my cup down carefully on my desk, buying myself precious seconds. “Today?”

“I know it’s short notice,” she continued, inspecting her immaculate manicure, “but this is an incredible opportunity. Can you make it work?”

“Of course,” I replied, mustering every ounce of corporate cool I could fake.

Meanwhile, a tiny version of me was doing jumping jacks on my shoulder, screaming,Of course I can’t make this work! I’ve never presented to the board of directors before! And you’re only giving me three hours to prepare what could be the career-defining presentation of my life? Why not just ask me to scale Mount Everest in flip-flops while you’re at it?

I mean, my God, even under normal circumstances, this would be the opportunity of a lifetime, but with everything going on with Grabby Hands, this was a chance to get in front of leaders and show them who I was: a capable, valuable asset to thisorganization. That way, if he tried to spread rumors, they’d have something else to base their opinion of me on other than the word of one lone man with octopus tendencies. This was a dream.

Right?

Except for the timeline. I’d prefer to spend threeweekspreparing for this kind of opportunity.

“What do they want me to present?”

“Truly, you can pick what you want.”