Page 30 of Single Mom’s Secret Diary (The Forbidden Reverse Harem Collection)

Ryder

I put down the phone none too gently and rub my face. It has been a long morning of back-to-back phone calls. And I need a break.

Standing and stretching, I don’t have to question where my feet are taking me. I know exactly where I want to be. With Avery.

Marching down to her office has my heart beating fast already. It never fails. Avery excites me. Everything about her. Just being in her presence is thrilling, exciting, and relaxing in varying degrees.

But when I turn the corner and see her door closed, my shoulders fall.

Stepping closer shows a slew of papers covering her door. Tension reblooms. My shoulders and back tense. I’m ready for a fight because I know whatever I find there is going to ruin my happy plans for lunch.

Taking a deep breath, I breach that point of no return. The words scrawled across Avery’s door send pure, hot rage through me.

Office whore. Slut. Cum dumpster. Slam pig. After hours ho.

There are more, but my vision goes red. I’m moving before I can think about it, tearing down every scrap of paper. I barely have the wherewithal not to tear it all to shreds.

What happens with them is more important than that.

I do my best to rein in the manic energy coursing through me as I burst into Ezra’s office, who looks up, ready to tell me off until he gets a good look at me and what’s in my hand.

“What’s that?” He points. Concern narrows his eyes.

I spread the papers out, hastily uncrumpling them. He reads, and the anger boiling inside me is mirrored on his face. “Plastered all over Avery’s office door.”

Ezra stands very slowly, hands planted on the edge of his desk. “Who did this?”

“I don’t know. I’ll hit up IT to access the cameras. This cannot stand.” I’ve never been a particularly violent man, but the urge to put my fist through something is overwhelming.

“Has Avery seen it?”

That sends a cold wash over me, deepening my initial anger into something much more dangerous. “I don’t think so.”

Ezra meets my gaze, and I’m glad I’m not alone with my reactions. “Good. Let’s keep it that way.”

I nod, gathering the papers again with a little less rough handling, and ease my way out of his office.

My purpose hasn’t dulled, but I need to put on the appropriate air in this office.

I don’t want to tip anyone off, don’t want the gossip to get ahead of me before I figure out who has the gall to attack Avery this way.

It takes minutes to make my way down to the IT office. It’s a small crew, three employees running the whole shebang. They’re housed right beside our customer service people and HR—or Pam, as it were.

I should stop in with her as well. After we search for who’s vandalizing office doors.

Jared nods at me, so I go to him, the papers still bunched in my fist.

“What’s up, man? We don’t usually see you down here.” He glances at the papers, brows rising in curiosity.

“I need you to access the cameras upstairs. The footage from this morning. Please.” I hate that I only just thought to tack that please onto the end. I’ve always prided myself in being cordial. Polite. To the point of flirting.

I sigh, but he’s already typing and clicking on his computer. Setting the papers on the empty spot near his desk, the top unfurls, and his glance makes him jerk. His focus homes in, and I’m grateful.

After a minute, he’s frowning and clicking more frantically. He waves Jeremey over.

“What’s going on?” I lean in to see the screen. A few windows are up, the video feeds around the office part of the building.

They bend over the keyboard together, each trying something.

I work to hold my patience, running a hand through my hair as I wait.

Jeremey shakes his head. “It’s not there.”

My hand hits the papers a bit harder than I mean to. “What’s not there?”

Jared grimaces at me. “The footage of the upstairs hallways is gone. For an entire hour.”

Of course, it is.

“Just for those two hallways?” I ask. How could someone without access to the cameras or computers make the recording stop? Unless they have someone else doing it for them.

I examine the three IT people. None of them are fidgety or squirming. No one is acting out of the ordinary.

“Yeah. Just the upstairs hallways.”

“What about the stairs or elevator cameras for that time?” Jeremey suggests.

Jared points at him and goes back to clicking around on his computer. It takes another five minutes for him to wave me closer to look.

Right when the cameras go out on the second floor, Laurel enters the stairwell with a file folder under her arm. She’s got a little black remote in her hand before she steps out to the upstairs offices. Twenty minutes later, she’s in the elevator—no remote or folder on her.

It could be a coincidence. She could have been dropping something off… but to whom? Laurel works directly under Wyatt. She doesn’t need to seek out Ezra or myself for anything…

My intuition says she’s the culprit. Given the things she’s said to Avery to create trouble, and the accusation made against Avery, too, who else had anything to gain from getting her out of the way?

Anger flares again, and Jared flinches away from my gaze. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “Anyone else on those recordings during that time?”

“No, sir.”

“Good work.” I grab the papers again. “Can you send those clips to my email?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you, Jared.” I nod to the other IT guys and march out of the office and back to Ezra, who waves me in the moment he sees me. Closing the door behind me, I approach slowly and take a deep breath. “Laurel. I’m pretty sure it’s Laurel.”

Ezra’s features turn stony, like the things he’s noticed about her behavior are clicking into place, too. “Pretty sure?”

“No direct proof, but enough that she’s the only logical conclusion.

And there’s the thing with Kennedy. They went to school together.

It can’t be a coincidence that she’s the one who came to us with an anonymous accusation of espionage.

” If only we could prove that, it would make the rest of this process so much easier.

I come around to his computer. Ezra simply leans back as I pull up my email. Jared was quick. Both clips are waiting in my inbox. I play them for Ezra, and I swear that I can hear him growling by the end of it.

He stands, smoothing out his shirt before pulling his jacket on. “Let’s go down to the lab. We need to talk with Wyatt before we proceed.”

I nod and follow him out the door. We ride down in the elevator, and the calm in Ezra’s movements is a lot scarier than I imagined, but I’ve also never seen Ezra mad before. The quiet stillness radiates danger. I hope I don’t have to hold him back, especially since I’m not inclined to.

Downstairs, we make a straight line to the lab, which is empty, but Wyatt’s office door is open.

For all his failings in reading people, Wyatt stands when Ezra steps in. I close the door behind us.

“What happened? Is Avery okay?” The small tremor in his voice gives my heart a squeeze. We’re all under her spell, aren’t we? Smitten. Addicted. Completely devastated by her. In love.

“She’s fine.” Ezra waves me forward, reaching for the papers still in my hand. “Pull up the email.”

I hand the evidence over and pull up the video for Wyatt, too. He isn’t able to hide his anger when he looks through what Laurel wrote about Avery. What she plastered on Avery’s office door.

Wyatt’s red in the face, eyes glinting with murder. “How dare she?”

He reaches down, clicking his mouse and pressing a couple of buttons. Then two images of Laurel pop out of his printer. He gathers it all up and marches toward the door, flinging it wide open so that it bangs loudly.

Laurel scampers in with her clipboard clutched to her chest. Those blue eyes are wide as she takes in the three of us and Wyatt’s obvious sour mood. “Something I can help you three with?”

Her movements are slow as she approaches, taking in the papers Wyatt is gripping.

“Yes.” Wyatt slaps down the papers scrawled with slanderous words on the lab table between them.

Her eyes rove over them, but there’s no recognition on her face—just a blank stare. “What are those?”

“I found those plastered all over Avery’s office door.” I’m looking for anything to give her away.

She looks again, as if she didn’t already know what they all said. “I can’t say I’m surprised.”

The sad tone of her voice has the slightest tremor to it. One of victory? Of self-satisfaction?

“Do you know who did it?” Ezra frowns. He’s looking for the same clues, gently pushing for her to admit it, giving her the chance.

“No, of course not. Why would I?” Laurel’s hand flutters to her chest in mock offense. I’ve seen her offended before, and this is not it.

Wyatt slaps down the two pictures of her from surveillance, and he leans forward, catching her gaze. Finally, the boundaries around her facade crack before she glances at the pictures.

“It was you,” Wyatt says coldly.

She points at the damning pictures of herself. “That’s not proof.”

“You don’t go upstairs. You don’t have anyone to report to up there. You report to me .” Anger leaks into his voice now, and she steps back as if she’s trying to protect herself.

Laurel remains stony and composed. She’s too fucking good at this.

Wyatt shakes his head. “You’re fired. Get out of my lab.”

Another step back has her shaking her head as if she’s been slapped. Then, she regains those two steps, slapping her clipboard down over the papers. “You can’t. You don’t have cause.”

“I can . And I did .”

Ezra’s on his phone, talking low enough that I can’t hear. When he hangs up, he tells Laurel calmly, “We’ll have your things packed up and sent to you. Please remove your ID badge and vacate the premises.”

Her eyes cut to him, then to me, like I’m going to save her from this. Not a chance. But she doesn’t move.

Two men step into the lab, and she finally moves. Security is here to escort her out.

With a huff, she takes off her badge and stomps out ahead of them before they can lay hands on her.