Your job. Your inheritance. Sean might be a drunk, but I’ll leave it all to him in a minute if you cross me.”
“You wouldn’t,” Connor said softly.
His father laughed. “You want to bet on that? And if you’re thinking you can make it on your own, I won’t stop there. I can make sure you can’t get a job higher than mall security if you screw with me. Not here, not anywhere. Hell, I can even stop you from reenlisting if I’m so inclined.”
Connor’s breath was shallow.
“Of course, I might not do that,” his father said. “No. I might just let you run right back into the Navy. And you can die in that hellhole overseas for all I care.”
Connor didn’t respond, but opened the door calmly. He could feel the wary gaze of the receptionist as she watched him, worried that he was about to do something rash.
“Connor,” Sandra said as she followed him down the hall. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her button up her shirt and do her best to walk in just one shoe. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
“You make a scene in front of the office, and I’ll slit your goddamned throat,” he hissed at her. She snapped her mouth shut, but continued to follow him. He didn’t dare tell her to leave, lest it cause a scene.
James was open-mouthed as he watched Sandra trail Connor into his office. “Should I bring some tea—” he began, but Connor held up his hand to him.
Sandra shut the door behind her. “I’m sorry—”
“You’ve said that already. Quite a bit,” he said. “What the fuck are you doing here, Sandra? And what the fuck were you doing with my father?” He balled up his fists again and paced back and forth in front of his desk.
“It was all so confusing,” she said with a sniffle. “He told me—he told me you were engaged. Already. I didn’t believe him, so he showed me some pictures… who is she?”
“You have no right to ask me that,” he said, and looked at her sharply.
“You’re right. Sorry. But he… he told me that you’d already moved on. And so, I figured I’d lost you for good. I was… I was going to leave, then he propositioned me with—”
“With what? Are you a whore now? A real, bona fide prostitute?”
“No!” she said. Fresh tears appeared at her eyes. “But he just… I mean, it was a lot of money.”
“How much?”
“What?”
“I’d like to know how much my ex-fiancée is going for on today’s market.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does.”
She bore her toe into the plush white carpet. “Three thousand.”
“Three thousand dollars. You fucked my father for three thousand dollars.”
“Well, not really—”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you kind of walked in on us before he gave me the money. So, really, you owe me—”
“Fuck off, Sandra,” he said, and shook his head in disbelief.
“You’re such an asshole!” she yelled.
James popped his head inside. “Everything okay, sir? Do I need to call someone?”
“Call someone?” Sandra screamed, and turned on James. “Yes! You can call the goddamned HR department to cut me a check—”
“Call security if you don’t see her walk out of here within ninety seconds,” Connor told him.
“Yes, sir,” James said, and clicked the door shut.
She turned to Connor, utter confusion clouded across her face. “How could you?” she asked. “I’m your fiancée. We were supposed to get married in a few weeks. You act like you never loved me at all.”
“No, that’s you,” Connor said. “Leave, Sandra. And don’t ever contact me again. Trust me, it’s in your best interest.”
“I won’t—”
“Would you rather security carry you out?”
She looked him up and down, and tried to decide if he was serious. “Fine,” she said.
Sandra turned, as poised as she could manage with one shoe, sex hair and a mascara-stained face, and marched out.
Connor sighed. Why did you do that? You hate this goddamned job anyway, you should have just walked out of here for good.
“That was a crazy one,” James said. He carried a pot of chamomile tea on a silver tray.
“You’re telling me,” he said. “Thanks.”
It was a miserable job, mostly, but there were certainly benefits. Just play it cool, just a little while longer. Don’t let him get to you!
“James. Did you know? Did you know what my father was doing?” he asked, and looked at James’ back.
James turned slowly. “I knew he was doing unspeakable things to a young woman in his office,” he said. “I didn’t know you knew