Ruthless Temptation (3 page)

She
sighed. “Ralph would lose his job.”

“
Yes. He would. Had you thought that far ahead?”

“
No.”

“
Do you want your boss to lose his job?”

“
I don’t want anyone to lose their job.”

“
But you had hoped that by coming here and confronting
me, you’d uncover a scandal about the people you work for.”

“
Not
hoping
I
would. Only wanting to know what the hell was going on.”

“
You said you thought you could blow the lid off a
scandal.”

She
blew out a puff of air again. “I know I said that. I was naïve. It was a stupid
thing to do. I’m sorry. I really am.”

Was
she saying that so he wouldn’t call Ralph, or was she truly contrite? “So you
didn’t come here with the express intention of getting Ralph fired.”

“
No. Not at all. I needed to know who I was really
working for. I needed to know I hadn’t made a huge mistake in taking this job.”

“
It’s not a marketing job. Hadn’t you already thought
you’d made a mistake?”

“
No. I thought I could work my way up.”

“
But now that you think they’re all a bunch of liars,
you’re not sure you want to be there.”

She
lifted her hands and then dropped them back onto the bag. “I’m confused.”

“
About what?”

“
About everything. About what I overheard, and about
what is really going with the hackers.”

He
nodded. He was confused, too, by what she’d overheard. But unlike her, he had a
general idea of what was going on, and Ralph was smack dab in the middle of it.
He had little respect for Ralph, but he had wanted to make sure she wasn’t out
to hang her boss. That was territory he’d rather not venture into.

The
silence grew awkward while
Viggo
debated. Something
in her called to him, but considering he’d just deflated every balloon she’d
walked in here with, he doubted she felt anything but disdain toward him.

She
stood. “I think it’s time for me to leave. I’ve made a mistake in coming here,
and I apologize for wasting your time.”

He
stood. “You haven’t wasted my time.”

“
What are you going to do?”

He
watched her face for a few seconds. This was too easy, but he’d never been one
to look a gift horse in the mouth. “I’m going to invite you to my apartment
tonight for dinner.”

She
opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

He
cut his gaze to her left hand. No ring, but that meant nothing. “Unless of
course you’re seeing someone or attached in some way.”

“
Neither.”

Perfect
. “Then I’ll see you at six.” He
reached for his phone. “Give me your number. I’ll text you directions.”

“
I’m not coming to your place for dinner.”

“
Yes, you are.”

She
put her hands on her hips. The gesture made him want to kiss her in the worst
way. “And if I refuse?”

“
I call Ralph’s supervisor in Central.”

She
stared at him like he’d just told her he intended to kill her puppy. “Why? I
told you why I did this. I admitted it was a terrible thing to do, and I
apologized.”

“
I have more questions for you, and this way you can
relax and divulge your secrets in a more comfortable atmosphere.”

“
Bullshit. You’re trying to seduce me.”

Oh,
he liked this girl. Her confidence was very sexy. “Would that be so
disagreeable?”

“
You don’t need to sleep with me to find out who I am,
or prove what I’ve told you is true.”

“
That’s correct. I don’t. It will take me less than ten
minutes online to learn all there is to know about you. And then I’ll call
Ralph’s supervisor.”

“
Unless I come to your apartment and have dinner with
you.”

He
wouldn’t have put it exactly like that, but since she did, he decided to go with
it. “I’m glad you see the logic in this. What’s your phone number?”

“
This is blackmail.”

“
No, it’s not. It’s a business proposition. Have an
enjoyable evening with me, or risk losing your job.”

“
What do I get out of it?”

“
Lobster. Unless you prefer steak. Or better yet, let’s
have both. Do you prefer white or red wine?”

She
almost laughed. He saw it before she could rein it in, and he resisted the urge
to pump his fist in the air. “I can’t decide if you’re insane or simply a very
persistent man.”

“
I’m both. What’s your number?”

She
gave it to him, and he texted her his address and the code she’d need to get
inside the building. “Do you know where this building is?” he asked, once her
phone pinged with the incoming text.

“
Yes.”

“
I’ll let the security staff know you’re coming. Oh, do
you own a red dress?”

“
Excuse
me?”

“
Or royal blue. Either color would look stunning on
you.”

“
I’ll wear what I want.”

He
shrugged. “Suit yourself. As long as you show up by six.”

She
turned and headed for the door. He watched her round ass move under that skirt,
and could barely contain the urge to cross the room and kiss her until neither
of them could breathe.

She
opened the door and turned around. “I might not be there.”

“
Your choice, Madison.”

They
eyed each other for long moments. Then she finally left.

Viggo
slumped back in the chair and
shook his head.
Holy shit
. He had
some serious detective work to do before six o’clock. This girl was either
every fantasy he’d ever had, all rolled up into one gorgeous package, or the
devil in disguise. Either way, this was going to be one hell of an evening.

Chapter
Three

Madison
walked around town for two hours, vacillating between wanting to call Mr.
Via
Grim Gong and tell him to go to hell, and wanting to
shop for a red or royal blue dress to wear that evening.

She
stopped at the park in the center of the city and sat on a bench, listening to
the fake seagulls in the distance and breathing in the fake scent of sea air.
They’d done their best to make this city sound and feel like a coastal city in
northern California, but anyone older than nine or ten would likely remember
what the ocean really smelled like, and what birds actually sounded like.

Madison
understood what
Viggo
and the other Weathermen were
trying to do, and she supported it wholeheartedly. She knew their companies
made insane amounts of money but that the men also gave to charities, and they
each supported the Storm Troopers. They either had the hackers or were actively
looking for them, depending on which rumor you wanted to believe.

Being
employed at HCS didn’t mean she was privy to everything going on, especially
not in her role. She relied on Ralph to keep her informed of the latest gossip,
but once more she wondered who he’d been talking to earlier this week, and what
she’d actually overheard. Had she misinterpreted it? No. She was certain of
what she’d heard, but now had no clue what it meant.

What
if he and this unknown person were merely repeating gossip they’d heard about
the Weathermen? What if
Viggo
was right, and Ralph
was repeating inside information to someone he had no business telling it to?

Ralph
had mentioned Dave Perry by name, and whoever he’d been speaking to either
worked at HCS and hated it, or didn’t work there any longer but once had. Ralph
had been commiserating with the person, and had said some very unflattering
things about the company that employed him. Ralph had also specifically
mentioned the article, the hackers, and the warehouse. She had not
misinterpreted
that
. And she also
realized she’d never told
Viggo
that part. Maybe she
should? Then he might not be so high-handed about her perceived loyalty.

It
had been easy enough for Madison to find the article Ralph had mentioned and
read it for herself, but for all she knew it was nothing but speculation. She
now realized what little information she’d had when she’d talked her way into
Viggo’s
office.

This
had been a half-assed plan, even if her boss had to be the worst investigator
HCS employed. She’d seen very little investigation in the month she’d worked
for him, unless you counted him watching old sitcoms on his work laptop.

She’d
been thrilled to be offered this job, thinking she’d get to eventually use her
marketing background for a government agency, even though it was only a
satellite office. The job was a joke, and Ralph was useless.

When
Madison made the decision to confront
Viggo
, she’d
only been trying to find out if she hadn’t inadvertently taken a job in a snake
pit. If HCS and the Weathermen were covering up important information the public
needed to know about the hackers that wasn’t right. She didn’t want to work for
people who played games with everyone’s lives.

They
had all been underground for eight years now. Madison wanted to go home as much
as everyone else did. She’d stupidly thought she’d stumbled onto the secret of
the century, but realized now that all she’d managed to do was jump the gun.

Worse
than that, she’d managed to piss off one of the Weathermen. And now if she
didn’t have sex with him tonight he’d probably get her fired. So much for her
budding career at HCS. The two Weathermen left who weren’t either engaged or
married were notorious for being players. They all had been like that, once.
And she’d fallen right into
Viggo’s
trap.

She
read the tabloids online.
Viggo
Ingram and Blaine
Parker were photographed with different women every week, all of them looking
sleek, pampered, and confident. She wasn’t the kind of woman
Viggo
took out on dates. The only reason he wanted to have
dinner with her was so he could seduce her, quietly, secretly, and then she’d
slink away and leave him alone. Otherwise she’d be out of a job.

Her
plan had been impulsive and not well-thought out. Absolutely true. But that
didn’t mean she deserved to be blackmailed into having sex. She wasn’t going to
let him get away with it. She’d go over there tonight only to tell him she
wasn’t going to become one of his conquests. Let him call Ralph’s supervisor.
She’d call him herself and tell him everything she’d heard Ralph say on the
phone. If she was going down, at least she’d do so with a clean conscience.

****

Viggo
didn’t find anything in Madison’s
background that gave him any reason to suspect she’d shown up this morning for
a different reason than she gave him. Her family had not survived the move
underground, like the families of so many people he knew. She’d been born in a
small town close to San Francisco, had graduated from high school with a high
grade point average, but hadn’t been a standout in any sports or other
activities.

She
was only twenty-five now, which meant she must have been forced to move
underground the year she’d graduated. He couldn’t imagine what life had been
like for an eighteen year old kid in the midst of that chaos. She was a strong
person to have made it this far on her own.

She’d
found work at a fast food place and earned both her undergrad and graduate
degrees at
CentralWest
university, having finished
the MBA just last year. This job at HCS was the first job she had outside the
food service or merchandise retail industries. She didn’t even have any traffic
tickets.

What
little he could find on her family hadn’t turned up any criminal activity. Her
mother had been a registered nurse, and her father had worked in construction.
She was an only child, and he hadn’t been able to find much on her extended
family, but he did find a job application for a clothing store at the mall here
in
CentralWest
where she’d listed no living relatives
that were known.

That
wasn’t uncommon, either. Plenty of people he knew had lost track of family members
once they’d moved underground, and had spent the past seven or eight years
trying to find them without any luck. So many records had been lost in the
aftermath, online included. Small towns that had once existed and didn’t
routinely back up their records online had been decimated, and the paper
records had gone with them. Online servers had crashed and data was lost.
Madison’s story wasn’t much different from countless others, and he had no
reason to think it wasn’t true.

The
more he read, the more uncertain he became about what to do. If he called Ralph
or his equally moronic supervisor and told them what this girl had done, she’d
be out of the only decent job she’d ever had
.
Not
to mention he had every reason now to suspect Ralph was in touch with someone
at HCS who had betrayed them.

Her
story about why she’d done it and the resulting confusion she’d exhibited once
he’d hammered away at the reasons behind her actions made more sense now. This
wasn’t a question of her searching for fame or glory. She’d been trying to make
sense of her idyllic perception of HCS, versus the reality she’d been hit in
the face with, courtesy of Ralph. He’d have to tell the others about Ralph, but
only after he learned more from Madison.

Which
brought him back to the present.

What
the hell was he supposed to do about tonight? Sure, he could seduce her, but to
what end? She was too young for him, for one thing. Eighteen years between them
was a lifetime. She’d want something stable. Something permanent. Marriage and
children. Not a month or two of lavish parties and having her picture taken
everywhere they went before she became too clingy and he broke it off.

The
women he usually dated wanted one thing from him. His money. They talked a good
talk, but when it came down to it, they only cared about what he could give
them in terms of material possessions or comfort.

He
was so fucking tired of it. It had been fun at first, mainly because there had
been so many of them. Now, it was like listening to the same song again and
again, and realizing while you may have once loved it, now you fucking hated
it.

Viggo
pushed back from his desk and
rubbed his eyes. He was tired today. Too tired. Forty-three wasn’t old, but on
days like this he felt twice that old. Something in Madison had called to
him—no doubt about it. But why? She was very pretty, and she had the kind of
body he loved to hold. Curvy and lush. It hadn’t only been her looks, though.
He loved the nerve of her coming here and thinking she could expose some
scandal. That took guts.

What
she’d done today had been borne partly of naïveté concerning the agency she
worked for, but she also had survived horrible conditions and been forced to
move underground without her family at a tender age. Despite all that, she’d
worked her way through an MBA and had landed a job with the top government
agency in the country. That meant she had brains and talent. Brains and talent
that he could use here, if it came to that.

Viggo
chuckled and shook his head. One
minute he was threatening to make sure she lost her job if she didn’t fuck him,
and the next he was considering offering her a job himself. He was either
getting soft or he needed more sleep.

He
turned his attention back to HCS and who Ralph might have been talking to. That
bothered him more than anything. Because Madison had said Ralph mentioned Dave
Perry and the warehouse, it had to be someone who either believed every word
that damn article said was true, or someone who knew what was really going on.
He needed to find out which it was.

Madison
could find out. She was there with Ralph five days a week. She’d mentioned
blackmail. Asking her to do this wouldn’t be blackmail, but she’d see it that
way. He was in a bind. Ralph would no sooner tell any of them the truth than
he’d actually do the job he was paid to do. This might turn out to be nothing,
but
Viggo
would feel better if he knew that
firsthand.

Because
if someone else had found out what they were up to in Central, they’d be in
more hot water with the media. They had fewer allies than before at HCS, thanks
to the backlash from that fucking article. People were beginning to believe the
outlandish rumors. It had been almost eight years since everyone had been
forced underground, and the public was tired of it.
Viggo
and the others had read all the negative press, and it left a bad taste in
their mouths.

If
the Weathermen knew who the hackers were, why hadn’t anything been done about
it? What were they waiting for? Why hadn’t the government stepped in and done
something about it? Why were the Storm Troopers still on the surface if all
they did was collect data? Why wasn’t this data being used to stop the program?

Viggo
was sick of it, and so were the
others. It took them each more time than ever now to try to explain what they
were doing and why. Their PR sites got more hits than all the other areas of
their company websites combined. And most of the information they now had could
never be shared publicly. People would freak out.

His
instincts were rarely off, so he decided that whatever Madison had overheard
needed to be further explored. For all he knew it might turn out to be nothing
more than a rehash of what they already had, but if it turned out to be
something bigger and he chose not to act on it now, he’d never forgive himself.

He
glanced at the clock on his laptop. It was time to go home and get ready for
her arrival. Whatever happened tonight, he had a reputation to maintain. This
dinner had to be perfect. Maybe once she was in a different atmosphere she’d
remember more details, and she’d be open to keeping him informed on what Ralph
said during future phone calls?

Either
way, he had to get to the bottom of this. He owed it to himself and to the
others. And if he was able to have an enjoyable few weeks with a pretty girl
while he ferreted out the information, well, why not? He wouldn’t apologize for
being a man who appreciated beautiful women, and Madison was someone he wanted
to get to know better. Much better.