Bet On It: An Age Gap Billionaire Office Romance(54)

"Miss Watts."

I stopped short, whirling around holding my keys in a way that I could repel an attacker.

A strange, unsettling man stood several feet away from me. "I have a message for you, for your boss. The one you've been fucking."

I flinched at his words, not just that he said them but that he somehow knew my relationship with Reed. But it confirmed that it had gotten around. My staff did know, which was probably why they said what they did during my review.

"I'm not doing anything—"

"Tell your boss that Paradise Limited is considering a hostile takeover if he doesn't capitulate to their demands." The strange man turned and walked away into the night.

My mind was a whirl, wondering what he was talking about. What demands? And a hostile takeover? Was Reed in trouble?

I got my car door open, and I scrambled inside. I slammed the door shut, locking the doors, my heart beating hard and fast.

Reed’s business involved gambling, but it had to be on the up and up, right? Were this man and Paradise Limited involved in shady deals? Was Reed involved in something shady? It was well known that organized crime and gambling were often linked together. I couldn't imagine that Reed would be involved in anything like that, but then I couldn't imagine him saying the things he had to me the other day. That proved that I didn't know him.

Just like with Betts, it was time I confronted Reed. I wasn't going to work for a company with ties to organized crime. I needed to find that same courage and confront Reed about this man as well as stand up for myself about my work. If he fired me, he fired me. I might've been helpless against the attraction I had to him, but it didn't diminish the importance my reputation held to me.

As I started my car and drove to a hotel, I determined that tomorrow, I was going to give Reed a piece of my mind. And just like tonight, where I didn’t know where I stood with Betts, I’d take whatever came from standing up to Reed. It was time I took back my life.





29





Reed





I sat at my desk, feeling more miserable than I ever had in my whole life. The only other time I’d felt this rotten was when I was told I couldn't play hockey professionally anymore. But I knew that day was coming and had a contingency plan. But I had no contingency plan dealing with Analyn or Paradise Limited.

I wasn't getting any work done, and I wondered why I’d even bothered coming in. My phone buzzed, and Catherine told me that Clive was here to see me. I wondered if he was coming in personally to complain about Analyn. Maybe I should fire her, but I hadn't been able to bring myself to do it. Perhaps I was worried about what she'd do if I did fire her. Would she turn around and file a sexual harassment lawsuit? It was hard to imagine her doing that, but clearly, I didn’t know this woman. How would I prove that she’d been an active, willing participant? Maybe Max Clarke could verify that she’d picked me up at the bar. What a shitshow this was.

"Let him in."

Clive entered, and I greeted him. He had been a marketing manager in a Silicon Valley tech company when I stole him away. His work, along with his team’s, was what had put my company at the top of online gambling in a relatively short time. He wasn’t just great at marketing, either. He was organized and a shrewd businessman. The few times I’d been away, I’d left him in charge, and he’d done a great job, even if Catherine wasn’t as helpful to him as she was to me.

"Clive, hi. How can I help you?" I sat behind my desk as Clive took a seat in the chair in front of it.

"I was hoping to talk to you about Analyn Watts. There's been a change in her that I think may have occurred around the time she got her performance review."

I nodded. "I did talk to her about her performance review. To be honest, I was a little bit shocked by it. But hopefully, her attitude has improved."

Clive's brow furrowed. "Improved?"

"Yes. Her review suggested that she wasn't adequately listening to her team. That she was suggesting that she had special access or approval by me."

Clive shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't put it like that, necessarily. She did at one point tell us that you had approved an idea of hers that we weren’t so sure about. Because of that, we’re going forward with it."

I studied him for a moment. "You and everyone else who works in the marketing department should have input on ideas. Analyn isn’t getting any special consideration from me. She needs to listen to her team and to you."

Clive frowned again. "I wouldn't say that she was dismissing or ignoring anyone on her team.” He shook his head. “You know, it's one of the problems with submitting our performance reviews the way we do here. Not to be critical, and of course, you want to be involved, but the way we do them, I'm not so sure they’re always interpreted the way we mean."

My gut clenched at the idea that I might have misinterpreted Analyn's report. The things I said to her. The accusations I’d made. They were vile, particularly if they weren't true.

"But you have my attention now. What did you mean?"

"We're all very happy with Analyn and her work. She's enthusiastic. And I suppose at some point, that enthusiasm can make it appear that she's not open to alternative ideas, but she and her team have connected very well. I haven't heard any complaints from them. There was just that one discussion in the beginning after the two of you apparently went to lunch. She had returned indicating you had given the thumbs up on the mythical creatures social media idea. Like I said, we weren't so sure about that. It's unclear to me whether people who like sports are also fantasy fans, but after a little bit of research, we thought maybe there was some overlap. And perhaps we could attract fantasy fans into sports gambling."