Dark Redemption - Charlotte Byrd Page 0,58

so that I could make a definitive choice as to whether I want to stay with him despite that.

Keeping the secret from Marguerite is not right, but it's also not my place or Dante's place to tell her what happened.

I feel like there is no right or wrong answer, but not telling her makes me feel shitty.

Nevertheless, this weekend we have really connected and become friendly despite the fact that Adele seems to prefer spending time with me. Marguerite is honest, charming, and lovely, and someone that I will be proud to call my friend. Besides she and Lincoln have been together for a long time.

Who knows? Maybe it's something that he has done before and she has accepted from him. You never know what's going on behind closed doors.

"I don't think we should tell Marguerite," Dante says, the smile disappearing from his face being replaced by something more serious.

I nod. "I kind of agree with you."

"I feel guilty," Dante says. "I feel like she should know. But then another part of me feels like this is their marriage and who knows, maybe she already knows."

I smile realizing that he's practically reading my mind. We finished working on my resume and the cover letter with Dante redoing all of it.

"Well, according to this, I'm a perfect fit,” I say, reading it over.

"Are you sure you're okay with going there?"

I nod. "I mean, it’s not like I have a million job offers coming in from anywhere else."

"What about your mom?"

I hesitate. I hadn't thought about that much.

“She's feeling better now and it's not like I'm moving there permanently. How long exactly?”

“Six months, maybe nine. Maybe even a lot sooner. I want this to be as quick and painless as possible.”

I get up from the table to refill my glass. When I return, I sign into my email and send off the cover letter and resume to the address provided.

"Well, this is it," I say. "Now, we just wait."

Dante nods. "If this works, I'm probably going to set you up with a private investigator there."

"Really? Why?"

"Just to run all this stuff by. Somebody who works with corporate espionage."

I sit back in my seat.

"That's exactly what you're doing, you know."

"I am?”

Dante nods.

"You're going undercover to find out what's happening in this company, their systems, possible lies. You're trying to get us inside the system."

"That seems intense,” I say.

"It is. I don't want you to be under any delusion that it's not going to be hard and difficult. And you're going to be wearing a lot of masks. You're going to be this one person there and another who reports to me and possibly writes an article about it."

"What if it's really fraud?" I ask.

"He'll do anything to keep it a secret and you'll have to do whatever it takes to protect yourself. I'll be there. I hope that it doesn't get to that point, but it has before."

"Before?” I ask. "You've done this before?"

"I've done some elements of this before. I've never put anyone on the inside, but I've hired private investigators and their lives got threatened."

"Are you serious?" I ask.

I move to the edge of my chair, perching like a bird.

"I don't want you to be confused about anything. I'm not trying to deceive you or scare you, but this isn't just like a regular job. You're going to possibly uncover a major fraud and people involved with it will do a lot to keep it hidden."

I inhale heavily and then exhale just as slowly. Prior to this conversation, I thought that this position would be something fun, a store leading to possibly a story.

But of course, Dante's right.

It's not just a story. These are people's lives. And when you threaten them and you put them under attack, they might take action.

"You still want to do this?" Dante asks, sitting back in his chair and crossing one leg over his knee.

He's dressed in casual shorts, flip-flops, and a loose fitting button down shirt that's open halfway down to his chest. He looks like a man who's on vacation, wearing his leisure wear.

I think about it for a moment, taking as much time as I need. He's right. This isn't just a hypothetical adventure that I'm going to go on. This is a serious job with serious repercussions mainly for me.

If I crack the story and I get it published and actually discover and uncover what I think we will, my world could change.

I could be the journalist that then gets to investigate