in this company,” Jack said, his voice practically a growl.
“She has nothing to do with the company.”
“Oh really? Then why is she here, making a scene in the middle of the day?”
“I’m sorry,” Elise spoke up. “I had an interview here yesterday—”
Jack snorted. “This is the kind of person you’re hiring these days?”
“Excuse me?” Elise asked, her face getting flushed with color.
“Hang on,” Lucas said. “There’s no need to talk about her like that.”
“How do we know she’s even pregnant?” Karen asked.
Elise got to her feet. She had clearly had enough.
“All right,” she said. “I think I’ll let you lovely people work out your issues on your own.” She turned to Lucas. “Your friend here is right. Go ahead and throw my application away. I’m not a good fit for this company.”
“I should say you’re not,” Jack said firmly.
“Damn it, Jack,” Lucas said. “Shut up. Elise, please sit down for a moment.”
“Why should I?” she demanded.
“I know they’re being…appallingly rude,” Lucas said. “But it isn’t about you. It’s about me.”
“Meaning what?” Elise asked.
“They know I was using the new contraceptive pill,” Lucas said. He looked around the table at all the angry board members. “That’s it, isn’t it? You’re upset because this proves that Androcyl doesn’t work after all, and we’re going to have to go back to the drawing board. And you’re taking it out on her.”
“We don’t know that Androcyl doesn’t work,” Karen said. “We don’t know this woman from Eve. Again, how do we know she’s really pregnant? And if she is, how do we know you’re really the father?”
“I don’t have any reason to lie about it,” Elise said.
“Of course you do,” Jack said. “What woman wouldn’t want a rich CEO to take financial responsibility for her child? You must think you hit a gold mine.”
“You think I’m here for his money?” Elise asked. “Wow, you’re a real piece of work.”
“Lucas,” Ryan Rhodes spoke up. He was one of the lesser investors and generally didn’t speak up much in meetings, but when he did, he could usually be counted upon for some common sense. “We need to contain this while we make some decisions. You’re right. This casts the efficacy of the drug into serious doubt. Assuming the young woman is telling the truth, we have some decisions to make, and we should take care of them quickly and privately.”
“Yes,” Karen said. “We need to make sure this story doesn’t spread. If anyone were to find out about this, it would destroy our image. We would never be able to release Androcyl without someone in the media dragging up this story. Profits would be decimated.”
“Well, I’m not going to tell anybody,” Elise said. She sounded thoroughly annoyed now. “I came here to tell Lucas he’s going to be a father. He had a right to know. Frankly, I still don’t know what I’m doing talking to the rest of you. And I have no plans to tell anyone else.”
“What do you think?” Jack asked the board at large. “Should we get an injunction against her?”
“That’s out of the question,” Lucas said firmly. “She hasn’t done anything wrong. We’re not going to take legal action against her.”
“This is how companies go under, Lucas,” Jack said. “It starts exactly like this.”
“I doubt this is exactly how it goes,” Lucas said. “You’re all overreacting. This can easily be contained. It doesn’t have to leave this room. I believe Elise when she says she isn’t going to tell anyone. She has no reason to.”
“Unless she decides she wants to extort you,” Jack said. “Make sure she gets her hands on your money.”
“Wow,” Elise said. “I can’t believe I ever wanted to work here.”
Lucas got to his feet. “You should go, Elise,” he said.
She stared up at him. “What?”
“You should go home,” he said. “I’ll settle this with the board.”
She shook her head. It looked as though she was trying to clear it.
“Listen,” she said. “I know I caused you some problems, just coming in and announcing this like I did. I really did want to tell you privately. I’m sorry. I just needed you to know, and I didn’t know what else to do.”
“You should have tried my phone again.”
He knew he was being petty. Anyone could be tripped up by their first ever international phone call. But still, it drove him crazy to think that the only thing standing between them all this time had been her failure to dial a country code.
She might have been new to international