The Other Side of Greed (The Seven Sins #5) - Lily Zante Page 0,82
sense. He’s been such a great help.”
“He’s hiding something, but I don’t know what.” I’m determined to push those images away.
He stops in the middle of the street, holding my arm, so that I too, have to stop. “Kyra, that’s insane. Why do you think he’s hiding something?”
“I don’t know.”
“Have you two had a lover’s tiff?”
He’s hit so close to the truth, that the bullseye hits my heart. “Don’t be so silly. I’ve tolerated that man because he’s free to hire. I can’t stand him at the best of times.” I storm off in a huff, hoping that Fredrich believes me.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
BRANDON
The more desperate I become to talk to her, the more she seems to avoid me.
The next day at work, I put my head down and get on with things. I’m curious to know how the committee meeting went, but I’m also fearful that something I say might give me away. So, I don’t ask anything.
Simona is away for a week, because she is celebrating a big birthday and she and her family have gone away.
Needing to resolve the divide between us, I consider booking dinner for us, somewhere nice, not too swanky, but somewhere funky and cool, which I think she might appreciate. Somewhere that I’m not likely to run into any business associates. But, as much as I’d love to take her to dinner, I have a feeling that she won’t agree. The chance of getting Kyra to come anywhere with me, let alone give me the time of day, is an impossibility.
I need to get through to her, and I am determined that it is today. This can’t fester any longer.
The clock ticks, tension ratcheting up by the second. When Fredrich leaves, I snatch my chance. Kyra hasn’t looked my way once. She hasn’t spoken properly to me in days. I clear my throat.
“Long day, huh?”
She glances at me for one second, before tapping on her keyboard, her eyes fixated on her screen.
I take my cue, and my courage, wondering how the tables have turned and our roles have switched. How is it that I’m the one being anxious around her? I never used to care whether I had upset someone before.
“I’ve booked dinner.”
Her brows push together, the first indication I have that she’s not as calm as she’s making out.
“For us,” I add.
This earns me an icy stare. “You booked dinner? For us?” she spits out, as if I’ve presented her with a search warrant.
“I want to make it up to you, after the last time … I have things I need to tell you.”
“You want to take me out to dinner to make up for it?”
“You know I do. Give me a chance to explain.”
“Ecuador,” she volleys at me.
I quirk a brow. “What about it?”
“You told me that you helped out on some community projects in El Salvador when I first interviewed you, and when I asked you yesterday, you said it was Ecuador.”
I scoff, then shrug for added nonchalance. I had a feeling I might have messed up. That was sneaky of her to ask me again, but I would have done the same thing if I had been in her shoes and some slimy son of a bitch had turned up at my company. I would have had a private detective shadowing her by now.
She’s gone easy on me. “So?” I feign indignance. “It’s an easy enough mistake to make.”
“They’re two different places more than a thousand miles apart.”
“My friend is in the hospital, these last few weeks haven’t been easy, you and I have been on a rollercoaster journey, and you’re picking on me because I said the wrong country name?”
She blinks, clearly not expecting this reply from me. Emboldened, I spew more of my pity.
“Do you know how hard it’s been for me?”
She’s about to frown again, but I’ve done the Jedi mind trick and turned it around. She’s now questioning her logic and it takes the attention off me, but I feel wretched for being such a snake.
“Are you married?” she throws back.
The absurdity of this makes me chuckle. “Married? No. Is that what you think?”
“I don’t have anything else to go on, given your scheming and lying. You’re not who you claim you are.”
“I know you have questions, Kyra. I want to give you answers. That’s why I booked dinner. It’s not to wine and dine you, it’s to get out of here and have somewhere to talk, someplace civil where you can’t shout and scream at me.”