The Wright Boss(89)

I shook my head. "I don't know. I don't think so. Wait, maybe this Matt guy who works in her department. He wanted the promotion that she got."

Jensen drummed his fingers on the desk. "He has motive, but would he have had access to these videos?"

"Fuck, I don't know."

"And do you?"

"Do I what?"

Jensen averted his gaze, and that was when I realized he had already come to a conclusion. He looked back at me then. "Do you know anyone who would benefit from Heidi getting fired?"

I opened my mouth as the conclusion Jensen had come to dawned on me. "Miranda."

"Yeah. That's where I landed, too."

"She was at the tournament," I told him. "Heidi saw her briefly. She was trying to pick up a golf buddy of mine to replace me, but we didn't see her the rest of the weekend. We skipped a dinner and everything to avoid her."

"Didn't seem to work," Jensen said, touching his screen.

"Fuck. What a conniving bitch!"

"I wouldn't put it past her."

"Oh, I'm going to call her and give her a piece of my mind."

"I'm certain that's what she wants from you-a reaction. It's best for us to dig a little deeper and see if we can nail her on something like this. Let's make sure it's really her and not this … Matt guy. Then, we'll decide where to go from there. A judge will not look kindly on threats if she's trying to get more money."

"I could wring her neck."

"I would also advise against that," Jensen said with amusement. "Though I know the feeling well." 

I leaned my head back and stared at the white ceiling. "What the fuck do I do, man? Heidi freaked out on me and forced me out of her apartment. I'm head over heels for that girl, and she won't even talk to me."

"As your brother, I'd tell you to fight for her. If you're willing to throw everything away for her, she must be worth it."

"She is. She is worth it."

"You know, Emery suspected something was going on with y'all back in December, but I thought she was crazy."

"Yeah. She was right. I tried to deny that anything was happening back then and tried to say we were just talking a lot. But that's a lie. I'd fallen for her, and I stopped talking to her when I realized I had feelings for her." I shrugged. "Didn't want to be a cheating douche bag."

"I think that was smart. All things considered."

"Yeah, but now, when I finally get her, it all blows up in my face."

"You'll work through it," Jensen confidently told me. "You should just try and talk to her."

"No, she won't listen to me. She unloaded when I stepped into her apartment. The last thing she wants to do is talk to me. She's blaming me for this."

Jensen ran a hand back through his hair. "What if I tried to talk to her?"

I narrowed my eyes. "You'd do that?"

"She was my employee after all. Until we get this all cleared up, I can't do anything about her job, but I can try to fix how this was handled and let her know that you were not at fault."

"I … yeah," I said with a nod.

I'd texted her half a dozen times after Emery messaged me, but she hadn't responded. She actually hadn't responded to my texts all day. I'd been messaging her through my meetings.

"That'd be great."

"Okay. I'll do that now. You go clean up your hand."

I nodded and disappeared into the guest bedroom. I ran my hand under cold water, hissing the whole time. It hurt something horrible. Dumb fucking idea. Yet it had seemed perfectly logical at the time.

My stomach was in knots over everything that had happened. And the helplessness that had settled over me. Quitting had felt like the only logical thing to do. If I weren't her boss, then she could have her job back. Yet it wasn't that simple. There were more things to consider than our relationship. Too bad I couldn't concentrate on any of them but the way that Heidi had looked at me when she told me to get out of her place.

Once my hand was bandaged-another freaking injury for me to deal with-I moseyed back into Jensen's office. He was staring down at his phone, and he looked bleak.

"What?" I asked. My stomach dropped, and I waited for the bad news that I knew was coming.

"She didn't answer."

I waited. "And?"

"Nothing."

"And, Jensen?"

He frowned. "She texted back."

"What did she say?"

He shook his head. I snatched the phone from him and stared at the text from Heidi.

I know you're only calling me because of Landon. So, just … don't. I don't want to talk to him. I don't want to talk about him. I want nothing to do with him or any of his family. Leave me alone.