His Hush-Hush Baby - Holly Rayner Page 0,44
all of the craziness went away.
But instead he stood there and did nothing. He watched her walk off and let the emptiness ring in his office and his soul.
What the hell had just happened?
He took a few steps backward, feeling weak and dizzy. Turning around, he took the seat behind his desk and dropped his head into his hands. Diane’s accusations spun through his head.
What was she talking about? Lying about stock prices? Emails?
His gut knotted up. Diane wouldn’t make up something like that as an excuse to be done with him once and for all. He’d seen the hurt and anger in her eyes.
His mouth dry, he opened the browser on his computer and loaded his work email. A quick scan of the day’s messages revealed nothing related to their conversation. It was the same with his personal email.
Pulling out his phone, he called Diane—though he already knew it was pointless. She wanted nothing to do with him.
Predictably, she didn’t answer.
He didn’t get it. Had he been crazy, or was she wanting to get back together only twenty minutes ago?
What had changed between when he left the room and he came back in?
Picking up his office phone, he called Brie.
“Yes?” she answered.
“Whatever you’re doing, drop it. I need to talk to you right this instant. In person.”
There was a long pause. Then, “Okay. I’ll be right over.”
He hung up, fuming. At who or what, he didn’t know. Whoever it was that had planted these crazy ideas in Diane’s head.
There was a knock on the door. Brie entered cautiously, a nervous deer walking into an open field.
“Hey,” she said. “Everything okay? I saw Diane take off.”
He swallowed against a lump in his throat. “We had an interesting conversation. If you can call it that.”
“What happened?” She eased herself into the chair opposite him but stayed perched on the edge of her seat.
It suddenly became hard to look at her. However, he forced himself to maintain eye contact.
“She said I’ve been lying about stocks,” he said. “According to some emails.”
Brie’s eyebrows rose. “Excuse me?”
“Exactly.” Kai leaned back in the chair and scrubbed his palm across his mouth. “Where would she get that notion?”
Brie’s mouth hung slightly ajar. “I…I don’t know.”
“Really?” He cut his hand through the air.
Brie’s throat rolled with a swallow. “Kai…you’re upset right now. Understandably. Let’s take a moment to cool off.”
He pressed his fingers at the spot between his eyes. “What did you two talk about while you were in here?”
She stiffened. “I’m sorry, Kai, but I can’t tell you.”
He dropped his hand from his face and stared at her. “You were in my office.”
“True.” She stared right back. “But the conversation we had was a private one. Diane has things going on in her life, okay? And this might sound like a cruel thing to say, but they’re not all about you.”
“I know.”
What kind of things?
Whatever Diane had going on, he could help her with it. Instead, they were caught in this constant push and pull. The closest they’d actually come to some kind of mutual honesty was her blowing up at him a few minutes ago.
“But what about me?” he asked. “Did any of that conversation include me?”
Brie pressed her lips tight together.
“Okay, fine. Sorry.” He leaned into his desk. “What about Weiss Enterprises?”
“Are you asking me if I told her that…that what? You’re cheating when it comes to selling stocks?”
It was a punch to the gut. Not only because he hated being accused of such an atrocity, but because Brie was his second-in-command. He trusted and respected her, and he hoped the feeling was mutual.
“I’m asking for honesty,” he said.
There was a long pause.
“I didn’t tell her anything,” she answered. “I listened while she talked.”
Kai’s inhale burned his nose. “Okay.”
“Is there anything else you’d like to ask me?”
“No. Thank you.”
Brie nodded and stood but didn’t go anywhere. “You can. If there’s anything on your mind…I’m here.”
Kai blinked. It seemed an odd gesture. One moment ago, she’d been so defensive, and now she offered a listening ear.
Then again, he had borderline accused her of spreading misinformation about him. And everyone was out of sorts right then, it seemed.
“Thank you, Brie.”
It was the most he could give her right then. Maybe later, after he figured everything out, he would owe her an apology.
“You’re welcome.”
She left his office in a flash.
Alone again, Kai debated what to do next. Scour his emails even more thoroughly? Bring in each member of his senior staff and interrogate them one by one?
Both