Page 65 of His to Seduce
“How long, Shelly?”
Her shrug was apologetic. “Until we can convince Mr. Peters that his nephew is a liar and a thief.”
She was on my side and believed me. The realization didn’t help much. A lot of people in my life had known truths and not stood up for me when it mattered. “I see.” I stood from my chair and moved toward the door of her office. I made a decision in an instant. Hoped like hell I wouldn’t come to regret it. So much for lists and safety. I threw it out the window. “You’ll have my resignation emailed to you by the end of the day.”
“What?…Camden—”
I held up a hand and stopped her. Kind and fair she might have been, but this wasn’t right. EvenifI was cleared, how could I come back and work under the condition that I could be used like this? I’d been nothing but moral and ethical and committed to my job since the day I was hired. If they wanted a scapegoat, they weren’t using me.
“You heard me, Shelly. I quit.”
“Don’t do this…”
“And what would you have me do, Shelly? Return when the dust settles, knowing every single day I sit behind my desk that something like this could happen again?”
She was silent for moments, too many before she finally nodded. “I see.”
I barely managed to hide my scowl before I said goodbye and walked out of her office. I closed the door harder than necessary, hearing it crash closed behind me. When I reached my desk, Stan from Human Resources was leaning casually against it. He was young, hired two years prior, fresh out of Michigan State University. I didn’t know him well, but he always wore a smile that made him seem even younger than twenty-three years old. Today was the first day I’d ever seen him not smiling.
“Hey, Stan,” I muttered, and grabbed my purse out of the drawer where I’d locked it earlier.
“Sorry, Camden,” he replied. “I was told I had to be here.”
“I know. And don’t worry—I have everything I need.”
I handed over the security badge that got me into the building. My chin wobbled as he slid the badge from my trembling fingertips, the reality of what was happening finally sliding into my veins. He escorted me out of the building, not saying a word to me, but I felt his pity seeping off him.
I managed to make it to my car before the tears fell.
What in the hell had I just done?
—
I had nothing to do after I got home from work except go for a run. I tended to run with Chelsea most days when she got done with school, but seeing as how I was home before ten o’clock, there was no way I was waiting around for someone to go running with me. Feet pounding the pavement and five miles into the run, I was feeling the strain in my thighs and calf muscles, not to mention the burn in my lungs.
That could have been partially attributed to the fury still rolling through me, though, not necessarily the run.
Too much had changed, too much had gone wrong in such a short amount of time, that I couldn’t even mentally create the lists that kept me on firm footing.
At my house, I had a stack of evidence I knew would lead to proving Gordon was guilty of what they were accusing me of, but did that matter? If seven years of working with a company could turn into such a disaster and they assumed my guilt while allowing him to stay in the office, did I even want to go back?
It only made it worse that Shelly had admitted they weren’t even hiring a third-party investigator to scan the files. They didn’t want to risk word of an investigation of freaking money laundering going public, so Peters was seeing to everything personally. The company being “his baby” and all.
Which meant, regardless of findings, regardless of truth, I was royally…completely screwed. Gordon would get a slap on the wrist and probably a promotion after a stern talking-to at a family gathering to clean up his act and return the money.
I could call the cops. If Tyson and Blue weren’t still on their honeymoon, I could talk to Tyson and see what he’d suggest, but what good would it do? A public investigation of criminal activities would cast a dark pall over our entire company and would hurt a lot more people than just me. I’d be known as the whistle-blower, and good luck finding a job then with the way that could be spun in the media.
What other choice did I have but to walk away? At least then I could get a decent recommendation in hand and the hope of finding another job without suspicion covering me like a thick blanket.
Quitting had been my only option, and they’d forced me into it.
At that thought, I pulled to a sudden stop and gasped for breath. My eyes went blurry as I scanned the edges of the park where I’d been running. Barely anyone was out, the weather getting too chilly in mid-October for a lazy Friday afternoon spent hanging out in one of Latham Hills’ public parks. There were only a few moms with children near the playground equipment and chasing soccer balls through the middle of the fields.
My chest heaved and my shoulders shook as everything I’d realized began crashing down on me, a weight hitting my shoulders that seemed to want to force me to my knees.
I hadn’t done anything wrong, and yet I was still screwed. Still forced to now think of a way to move on and get over this damn hurdle.
It might have been small compared to other difficulties I’d faced…
