Sebastian
“Hello, darling,” Veronica coos asshe enters Madison’s office an hour later. “Did you miss me?”
Not really. Seeing her means I have more shit hitting the fan in my life. I cringe as she wraps her arms around my midsection, ignoring the concept of personal space, again. “Hi, Veronica.”
Looking over her shoulder, I watch as Devin stares daggers into the back of her head. I shimmy out of her hold without being obvious and move toward Devin, who’s still sitting on the sofa.
Madison starts the conversation. “We have a major problem, Veronica.”
Veronica nods before glancing at me and batting her lashes. “Oh, isn’t there always a problem when it comes to my favorite CEO?”
God.She is the definition of inappropriate. I wonder if this is part of her process of finding out information for people. Does she just smother them with a coy voice, unwanted touching, and pure annoyance until they tell her what she wants to know?
It’s insanity. I don’t get how she can walk around as if there’s no sense of urgency here when she knows what I’m going through.
I swear, if she wasn’t my best way out of this mess, I’d fire her ass and hire someone with a little more respect. Photos are Veronica’s area of expertise, despite her not doing much for us over the last few months. Once her ass gets moving, she’s like a dog with a bone. Too bad the good bones had to come at Devin’s expense.
Last year, when the CEO of Thompson Publishing had photos of him released in less than ideal positions with a transvestite dominatrix in a sex club, she not only found out it was his partner leaking them to tank their stock to try to get him to sell his shares cheap, but she provided the proof he needed to sue the partner in some civil case. The year before that she was able to uncover the person selling photos of the senator from Connecticut eating out at a place that wasn’t his wife. Blackmail photos tend to be Veronica’s specialty. Although this didn’t start out as blatant blackmail, pictures were involved. Hence my need for Veronica.
It’s been proven that she can be trying at best, and I know Devin despises her, but as I told her, she’s the best there is, even if on a personal level she’s terrible.
“We’re paying you to alleviate these issues, Veronica,” I chime in with a bit of hostility to my voice.
“Sebastian, darling, if there’s anything I can find out from the photo, I will. I’m working on it. Typically, in these situations my clients have some big secret they don’t want exposed. Is that the case here? Your playboy ways haven’t exactly been classified information, so I don’t know what you want me to do without a suspect or motive.”
Fuck.She can be such a bitch sometimes. I mean, what does she want from me? I can’t give her information I don’t have.
That’s what she’s for.
“Veronica, Sebastian and Madison are doing the best they can to help you figure this all out,” Devin says, moving to her feet and squaring her shoulders. “Now, I’m here to help as well.”
Veronica looks Devin up and down before pursing her lips and crossing her arms over her chest. “Devin Elizabeth Miller. Born September 16, 1989 to parents Dale and Marilyn Miller. You have an older brother, Mark Miller, who is currently serving the New York Police Department as a patrol officer. You are originally from New Jersey, but over your career have spent many years traveling all over the United States. Your parents still reside in New Jersey.”
We stare at Veronica, more confused than ever. “I told you, we’ve looked into every employee at this company, including Ms. Miller.”
Anger radiates through me as Veronica uses Devin’s profile against her, as if it’s an accusation. Quite frankly, it’s none of her business to go spewing things she’s learned about Devin’s life. “That’s enough, Veronica. The person isn’t Devin.”
Veronica looks toward me, cocking a brow. “How can you be so sure?”
“Well, for starters, I didn’t even live here when all this started,” Devin snaps, her disdain for Veronica oozing from every pore of her body. “Second, because I’m the one in the picture that’s currently out in public for everyone to see.”
Devin grabs the newspaper off the coffee table and holds it up for Veronica.
Veronica’s face morphs into a myriad of emotions as she looks at the photo. It volleys between shock, jealousy, and even a little bit of anger before she puts her personal face back on. “Well, pardon me then. That was unnecessary of me, Devin. I do apologize.”
Devin glares at her with gritted teeth and accepts the fake apology. “It’s fine.”
Veronica finally realizes there’s a reason we called, asking her to get her ass here as quick as possible and do her job. “What else can you tell me about the photo? Obviously, I know the woman is Ms. Miller, but what about anything else?”
I scrub my hands down my face in frustration. “We were in my office, presumably alone. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.”
“Veronica, whoever is selling these images has to have access to our company. How else would they have been able to get that image?” Madison adds.
Veronica looks between the two of us. “There are a number of different ways, but without much to go on, I don’t have that answer for you.”
“What can we do to figure it out?” I ask. “They had to be in my office. There’s no camera feed or anything for them to tap in to. None of this makes sense.”
“There’s no camera that you’re aware of. We need to have the office checked for recording devices. In the meantime, I’ll have my people start by seeing who accessed the building the day this photo was taken. Since I presume you can tell me when it was taken, we’ll cross-reference it to the normal workday to see if anything sticks out. Plus, I’m also working on getting one of my guys to come in here to check your printers to see if the photos delivered to Ms. Miller yesterday were printed here. With today’s additional information, it’s clear that whomever this is has access to the floor somehow.”
