The Boss Project by Vi Keeland

“Twelve hours maybe? I found out on the evening of our wedding. We’d checked into the hotel where our reception was being held. When we got engaged, Christian’s father had given him the money clip his mother had given to him the day they were married. It was engraved with a sweet note and their wedding date. I’d secretly taken it from his drawer and had our wedding date and a note engraved underneath his parents’ names and message. I’d thought it would make a nice family heirloom. You know, maybe something that could continue being passed down through generations with dates added. Anyway, I wanted to video his reaction when I gave it to him, so I’d set up a camera in the honeymoon suite and told Christian to meet me there. But while I was waiting for him, my sister called to tell me a cabbie had just jumped the curb and run over her husband’s foot. I wound up going to the hospital to be with her for a few hours and forgot all about the camera that was recording. When I got back later that evening, I gave Christian the money clip, and afterward we said goodbye for the night since we were sleeping in separate rooms—the groom’s not supposed to see the bride before the wedding and all.” Evie rolled her eyes. “As if my luck could have gotten any worse. In any case, I’d forgotten all about the camera until after he left. I figured it had probably stopped recording hours ago, but I checked anyway and got the surprise of my life: Christian having sex with my best friend and maid of honor, Mia.”

“Jesus Christ.” I shook my head. “And you had no clue anything was going on between them until that point?”

“Nope. Well, I didn’t at the time, but in hindsight there were some clues I’d missed. Like, Mia’s name popped up on his cell phone once, and the message said something about them meeting. But when I asked Christian about it, he told me to stop being nosy because I was going to ruin the surprise of my bridal shower. And then another time I found Mia’s phone stuck in the cushions of our couch, and she hadn’t been over in a few weeks. She said she must’ve lost it when she was there last time and had been looking all over for it. But I thought it was strange that she’d never mentioned she couldn’t find it, if it went missing right after being at my house. We’re all so attached to our phones, and a new one is like a thousand dollars.” She sighed and frowned. “But never in a million years would I have thought the two of them would do what they did to me. Even after I found the video, I didn’t want to believe it right away. I thought it was a joke at first.”

“Guy’s got some balls suing you after what he did. Even if you did know about it and didn’t call things off to run up the bill, he damn well deserves it. And how can he sue you for defamation? The defense to a lawsuit like that is the truth.”

She smiled halfheartedly. “I think he’s trying to get even with me for embarrassing him publicly. His family has a staff of in-house attorneys, so there isn’t any cost for him. But I’m sure it will wind up costing me a fortune I don’t have. The ironic thing is, I didn’t even want a big, expensive wedding. Christian and his family did. They had more business associates on the guest list than I did friends and family.”

“I’m sorry. That sucks. But I do have a good attorney to recommend, and he owes me a favor or two. I’ll call him tomorrow and see what he can do.”

“Thank you. I’d appreciate that.”

I nodded. “Not a problem.”

The waitress came with our dinners. I’d ordered the salmon while Evie had chosen the chicken piccata. She licked her lips, looking over at my plate. “Yours looks good. Are you sharing?”

I shook my head with a chuckle. “Sure. Anything else you’d like?”

Evie reached over and grabbed my plate. She smiled while cutting off a piece of my salmon and replacing it with a piece of her chicken. “Actually there is.”

“Why am I not surprised…”

“Oh, pipe down. I just want to ask you some questions about the office.”

I took my plate back. “What would you like to know?”

For the next half hour, she peppered me with questions about trading, mostly how things ran and what my staff were and weren’t authorized to do. She seemed to have a pretty good grasp on a lot of industry terminology.

“You don’t have any experience in a brokerage house,” I said. “Yet you seem to understand a lot about how things work.”

“I read a bunch of books when I was offered the job.”

I nodded. “Anything else you’d like to know?”

“Actually…” She drummed her fingers on the table. “When I was reading up on your company, I found an old article from the year you opened. It said you had a partner. But I read your last few prospectuses, and the name disappeared from the stockholder section a couple of years back. Amelia…Evans, I think it was?”

I looked away. “That’s right.”

“What happened with her?”

I looked around for the waitress. Catching her eye, I raised my hand to call her over before returning my attention to Evie. “I don’t think that’s relevant to the job you were hired to do.” When the waitress walked over, I requested the check.

She slipped a leather padfolio from her apron pocket and set it on the table. “I’ll take it whenever you’re ready.”