The 5-Year Plan (Friends to Lovers Romance Book 1) (3 page)

Victoria shook her head. Rather than wasting her time with these crazy thoughts, she should be worrying about her work and the fact that she still hadn’t come up with a good scheme to find the spy in the company. It wouldn’t do her any good to work her tail off if the company went under due to leaked information. She not only had her promotion to think about, she had her job, and the jobs of everyone at TerraDyn.

Feeling energized, Victoria made her way back to the office. As she stepped in, she glanced around. A strange buzz swept the area with an undercurrent of electricity. Something was going on. She could sense the excitement as people talked to each other while gathered in tight circles.

She stopped Joan, one of the senior managers, as she walked past with a stack of files in her hand. “What’s going on?”

Joan glanced over her shoulder and leaned in closer. “Someone floated the rumor that Peter’s discovered the identity of the person who’s been leaking sensitive company information.”

Victoria’s heart sank. There went her plan. She tried to hide her disappointment. “A rumor? He hasn’t told anyone who the person is?”

With a shrug, Joan started walking. “Haven’t talked to him. I suppose when he knows for sure he’ll tell everyone. It’s a delicate matter. They have to have evidence. Anyway, I am not even sure if it is true. Gotta go. See you later.”

“Sure!” Victoria stood for a moment, chewing on her thumbnail. How on earth had the brass uncovered the identity of the thief? She’d been trying to do the same thing for the past week but couldn’t even get a clue. Oh well! It was too late for regrets. She’d have to think of another way to shine. At least this meant the company wouldn’t go under. Besides, her track record was good. If she developed an amazing project and brought it to life, Peter might still realize she was VP material.

Starting to review possible contracts she could improve, or connections she could work with, she headed into her office. She sat at her desk and she saw a note stuck to her computer.
Report to my office ASAP. Peter.

That was strange. Was he planning to disclose the identity of the thief to her? Had he realized she’d been looking for the thief, too? Victoria locked her purse in the file cabinet and made her way to Peter’s office. Knocking on his open door, she smiled. “You called?”

Glancing up, Peter frowned. He gestured to the door. “Close it and take a seat.”

Now she was even more perplexed. She twitched back a strand of hair. What was going on? Peter wasn’t the sort of boss who liked to make small talk. Why had he called her in? “Is everything okay?”

“No, Victoria, nothing is.” Sitting up, he stared at her. “As you are quite aware, we have been plagued by information leaks out of our office. Sensitive date has been getting to our competitors.”

“Yes, I know.”

“We just discovered the name of that person. Trent plugged the leak and identified the thief.”

Damn it! Trust Trent to ruin her plans. She folded her hands in her lap. They’d been competing against each other forever, and one of these days she’d have to get used to the idea that she couldn’t win every time. “That’s good news.”

“Not for you, Victoria.”

“Excuse me!” She stiffened and tightened her fingers together. “What do you mean?”

“How much did they pay you, Victoria? I hope the money you got on the side was worth your job and your reputation.”

For a minute, she stared at him, her mind blank. She blinked twice and pulled in a sharp breath. A pain jabbed her side, just under her ribs. “Trent accused me of being the leak?” She forced a stiff smile. “This isn’t a very funny joke. And if it is a test of my—”

“Please, don’t embarrass yourself or me. Do you think I’d accuse anyone without proof?” Picking up a page, he pushed it at Victoria. Her hand shook as she took the paper. She glanced at it. She recognized printed-out emails. Her work email address jumped out—so did the names of the attached files. Her mouth dried. Heart pounding hard, she stared at the page. These files were the ones that had been stolen from their database. She checked the email addresses for the recipient. One of their competitor’s company names jumped out. Shaking her head, she looked up. “I…this…it must be some kind of conspiracy. I never sent these emails. In fact, some of the files…I’ve not even seen this information ever before.”

“Really? Do you mean your email was hacked—and you never reported that?”

“No, I—”

“Or you gave someone your password and access to your laptop?”

“I’d never—”

“Victoria, either I’m firing you for theft, or I’m firing you for what amounts to criminal negligence. Take your pick. HR recommended we turn you over to the police…”

Her skin chilled. “I’m being arrested?”

The corner of his mouth twitched down. “Since it’s obvious you gained access to files that only a senior VP should have, it’s been deemed best to get through this with minimum press.” He pushed an envelope across his desk. “Two weeks’ severance. If you ask for a recommendation, HR will say you worked here, and that’s all they’ll say. By the way, I wasn’t one of those who thought you should be let off so lightly.”

For a moment, the world swayed. She stared at the envelope. She didn’t want to touch it. Looking up at her boss—no, her ex-boss—she wet her lips and tried to think. How could her email address be on this printout? “This must be a hoax—a forgery. Maybe…maybe Trent got it wrong, or someone changed the email address before taking out a print out. I—”

“You need to clear out your desk. Now!” A vein pulsed on his forehead. “I’d hope you’d at least have enough loyalty left that you’d you come clean and tell us exactly what other information you passed on. Since you won’t—just get out.”

Victoria’s fingers shook as she tossed the accusing page down on the desk. Anger churned in her stomach and burned her face. “How can you think I’m responsible? I’ve always been loyal, efficient, and productive. My work’s been important to me—hell, all I have to show for the last four years of my life are the achievements I’ve made here. I didn’t do it.” She put her hand flat on the page, her fingers spread flat. “Go ahead and investigate. Or charge me and let the police look into this. Someone set me up to take the blame.”

Standing, Peter smoothed his tie. “Oh, so now we have a mastermind? I’m not stupid and I’m not careless. Not only did I check the original emails, we traced the IP to our systems and your logon. I just wish I could persuade the company to move on a legal case against you.”

Pulling in a sharp breath, Victoria turned away. Tears stung the back of her eyes and burned in her throat. She wanted to run, or to hit something. And Trent had done this to her. She couldn’t believe that. Why would he do this?

She glanced back and shuddered at the cold contempt in Peter’s eyes. What option did she have—she had to leave. If he’d double checked everything, and if someone had taken care to deliberately implicate her, she had no choice but to walk out. No one was going to listen to her denials.

Lifting her head, she met his stare. “I didn’t do it. And I’m going to prove that.” Turning, she strode out of the room. She yanked open the door, checked herself so she wouldn’t slam it and then thought,
oh, hell, why not.

It gave a satisfying crack that had heads turning.

Face hot, she walked to her office, her eyes kept straight ahead. Grabbing a box, she started to slam her few personal possessions inside. Her photos. Her lucky bamboo plant. The stuffed bear Trent had given her. She stopped with the bear in her hand. Trent—why did he do this to her? She thought he was her friend. Her best friend. Was this his way of getting back at her for something—or his way of telling her to stop working so hard. Tears burned her eyes again. She swallowed them back and sniffed. A knock on her door made her jump and look up.

A security guard stood there, hand on his belt. “I’m here to escort you out. They want you gone in five minutes.” He sounded almost apologetic.

She slammed her bear into the box. “Did they tell you I’m a dangerous thief?”

He took a step back. “Uh—no, ma’am.”
              “Good. Because I’m not.” Grabbing her purse she tucked her box under one arm. It seemed pathetically light. “And I’m going to be back here—and they’re going to apologize to me!”

Even as she spoke the words, she had no idea how she was going to bring that idea to fruition. She’d been thrown out. She no longer had access to the company files or computers. She glanced at her laptop. Her fingers itched to grab it. How could she clear her name if she couldn’t get at the evidence that had condemned her?

For the first time in her life, she didn’t have a plan.

And that scared the hell out of her.

Numb with shock, Victoria stepped out onto the sidewalk. She felt as if everyone was staring at her—inside and outside the building. Actually, that couldn’t have been true. She was certain that no one knew that’d been fired. But she knew how fast office gossip moved. The news would fly around the building and she’d become the butt of everyone’s jokes, pity, and condemnation. Everyone would believe the accusation. She would have if someone else had had the finger pointed at them. Those emails were damning. But how could she convince Peter and the rest of the management team that she’d been framed?

Even worse, she knew how people talked. The rumor would circulate and her career would be ruined. She’d be lucky to get a job flipping burgers—which she couldn’t do. Helplessness gripped her, froze her skin and left her shaking. She stood on the sidewalk, staring at the pavement. One hot tear leaked out and traced a path down her cheek. She brushed it away with the back of her hand. She’d worked hard all her life, dedicated her life to excellence, and this was her reward. She tightened her jaw. Something had to be done. She couldn’t just walk out, defeated and despairing. She pulled in a breath, but one thought kept circling like a vulture—
why did Trent do this?

  As if her thought had summoned him, Trent burst out of the lobby doors. He’d pulled his tie loose, wrinkles creased his white shirt, and day-old stubble darkened his jaw.
He looks like a classic sexy bad guy
, she thought. And he was the last person she wanted to see right now.

Eyes clouded, he reached out a hand. She jerked back. “Don’t!”

A man passing knocked into her elbow and her box fell. Trent bent down, and she yelled, “Leave it.”

Kneeling, she scooped her things back into the box. Trent picked up the bear he had given her years ago. “What do you want me to say?”

Standing, she stared down at him. “I don’t have the energy or the desire to wonder why you did something unthinkable. What did I do to deserve the damage you’ve created in my life? Do you hate me that much?”

Standing, he held out her bear. “I would have hid them, but Roger found the first email.”

Looking away, she shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.” “It does.” He stepped in front of her with her bear still in his hands. “Do you want me to say I’m sorry? What do you want?”

“I want you to go away. I want to utter one long scream and then keep screaming. I want not to have been humiliated by my boss!”

“I feel terrible about this, Tori.”

“Good for you.” Sweeping her purse back up to her shoulder, she hefted her box. “But you got what you wanted. I’m not only off all the projects that I’ve worked so hard on, all my work is going to be assigned to someone else. It’s likely I won’t be able to find another job. I’ll get to be that girl who has nothing to do but go to bars and drink and party!”

He gripped her bear with both hand and stared at her. “This is not over yet.”

She laughed. “Funny to hear you say that. Everything’s finished for me. But I hope you get that promotion you don’t want.”

He stepped closer, blocking her escape. “I tried to help.”

She stared at him. Fresh rage washed through her, searing hot. “Help? Oh, yeah. My friend. Just another Brutus? You didn’t mean it, right? But, guess, what, it doesn’t matter what you intended. My life is over, Trent. And you played a big role. Thanks a lot.”

He pushed a hand through his hair. “Tori, I can totally understand your anger—”

“Bullshit. You haven’t even scratched the surface of what I feel right now. How can you make up stuff like that, knowing it’d wreck my career? Or was that the plan all along?”

His eyes glittered with remorse. “I told you—Roger found the first email. After that, we both went digging.”

“Don’t lie!” She jabbed him in the chest with one finger. Her purse swung free and she pushed it back up. “I’ve heard enough.”

She started to push past, but he grabbed her arm. “Listen…”

Victoria shook herself free. “Get lost. I don’t want to ever see your face again.” She stepped into the street, waving for a cab. One screeched to a stop to avoid hitting her. Running to the door, she jerked it open, climbed in, and gave the driver her home address. She did not look back at Trent. She did not want to see him standing on the street, still holding the bear he’d given her. Tears blurred her vision. She put a hand over her mouth and stared out blindly at the passing scenery. Was she stuck in a nightmare? Would she wake up and laugh at her own foolish inventions? Or was this really happening?

As soon as she got home, she put her box beside the door and kicked off her heels. She left her keys and purse on the side table and headed into the bedroom to change. Soft sweats did not provide the comfort she wanted, but at least they took the chill off her soul. Flipping on the TV, she chased through the channels, her mind spinning.

Time passed. She didn’t feel like eating or sleeping. She couldn’t figure out her next move. She thought that maybe she should hire a lawyer—or a private eye. But she needed her savings to last for as long as possible. If she started spending without a plan, she might end up without an apartment, too. Besides, she couldn’t gather the energy to get up, let alone to make a few calls and find someone who could give her good advice. The one person she could have relied on in this crisis, the one person she trusted above all, was the one who had betrayed her.
Trent!
If she ever saw him again, she didn’t trust herself not to gouge out his eyes with her bare hands. She would…

The ring of her cell phone blared. Listlessly, she picked it up and checked the display. Shit! Why the hell was Bob calling? What did he want? She wasn’t in any state to deal with him right now. She hung up, but he called again. And again. Finally, the phone stayed silent. She checked her messages and found he’d left two.
Hey! You must be busy with work. Will call later. In town. Wanted to hook up. Got something important to say. Cheerios, Bob.

Cheerios—agh!
Why did he want to meet? There was nothing left to say. They’d broken up months ago. She deleted the message and sat back on the couch, the phone clutched in her hands. She pinched the bridge of her nose. A headache had started and it went with the emptiness eating away at her stomach right now. Bob was the least of her worries. She should do a budget, go online and check her personal email, research if she could file for unemployment, maybe start thinking about a new career—try to figure out who really had stolen that data. 

Her doorbell rang. She sat up. If this was Bob, she was calling the police. She glanced at the clock and a shock jolted her—it wasn’t still afternoon. The time had slipped past and it was already five past seven in the evening. How time flew when you were wallowing in misery. The bell rang again. Folding her arms, she ignored it and considered turning up the TV volume. There was no way she could see someone and act normal right now. Whoever it was would have to come back at another time.

“Victoria! I know you’re in there. Open up.”

Trent’s voice jolted her. How dare he show up at her place? The man had some nerve. Face hot and her temper soaring, she threw herself off the couch and marched to the door. She yanked it open. “You bastard!” She lashed out with a kick. He jumped back just in time and her foot only brushed his crotch instead of connecting.

She’d taken karate classes for five years, and Trent knew that well enough. “Stop it! Have you lost your mind?”

“Damn right.” He’d stepped out of range, so she stepped inside and started to slam the door.

He slapped his hand on the door edge. “I need to talk to you.”

“Go away!”

“You might as well hear me out.”

Arms crossed, she debated calling the cops on him—intruder arrested. That had a nice satisfying ring to it. But she sniffed. Was that ginger? And garlic? She glanced down and saw the brown grocery bag with the oil stains spreading. “Is that China Palace? Are you trying to bribe me?”

He held up the bag. “Dim sum? Moo shu? Pineapple curry rice? And your absolute favorite—kung pao shrimp.”

Her mouth watered, but she narrowed her eyes. “How dare you assume that I’d be willing to sit across the table and share a meal with you! Don’t you have any decency? Any shame, you asshole!”

“Of course I don’t. But I do have dinner. Just give me one chance to explain. Okay?” And I brought your bear.” He pulled it out of the bag and wiggled it.

For an instant a smile tugged. It faded fast. “You do know I want to kill you.”

“Yeah, do it after we eat.”

Giving a sigh, she opened the door and stepped aside.

Trent edged inside, bear held in front of him, staying well out of her reach. He headed straight to the square dining table that stood in the middle of her kitchen and put down the food. “I didn’t create those emails out of thin air.”

She stared at him.

Leaning his hands on the table, he said, his voice strained with patience, “I know you didn’t steal anything, but Roger knew. I couldn’t sit on those emails, even if I wanted to.”

She sniffed and a fraction of her anger dropped away. “You could have told me first.”

“I would’ve. That was my plan, but Roger pushed, and called in Frank and suddenly if everything didn’t go straight to the top we were all going to fry. And then I wouldn’t be able to help you.”

Cautious now, she sniffed. Her place now smelled like garlic and ginger. “So?”

“So I plan to stay on this to clear your name. For that, Peter has to trust me.”

She licked her bottom lip. “You know, this morning I’d have scoffed at anyone who suggested that you might be trying to sabotage my career.”

“I know—not funny now.”

She let out a breath. “I want to trust you—I really do.” She slumped into a chair. “I don’t want to believe you would betray me. But couldn’t you have delayed, come up with some excuse?”

“I might have been able to buy you one maybe two hours. But what would that get you? As I said, my juniors knew about it. If they’d gone up to him and had gone around me, I’d have lost credibility. I couldn’t risk that, not if I wanted to stay on top of this thing.”

She swallowed and nodded. “I guess.”

Straightening, he put his hands on his hips. “Look, those emails—no one could ignore them. Trust me, Victoria, if there was anything different that I could have done, I would have done it.”

“I guess it isn’t your fault—I know you didn’t create those emails. But I’m just so…so…”

“Upset?”

“How about murderously angry, hurt, and I want to get back at whoever did this!”

“It’s okay. We are going to get to the bottom of this mystery and uncover the real culprit.”

Fresh tears sprang to her eyes. How could she have doubted him? Had she become so focused on work only that she had forgotten what friendship was? Or was she lashing out because she’d gotten the shock of her life today? She cleared her throat. “How are we going to uncover this plot?”

Trent nodded. A smile lifted the corner of his mouth. “We?
I
am going to dig into this lie. No one gets into my system without leaving some footmarks. Someone not only stole the information, but he or she set you up as the scapegoat. I might have forgiven the first crime, but not the second. That’s just not done.”

She hugged herself. “And what am I supposed to do now?” Misery twisted sharp inside her. “I feel so alone, Trent.”

He walked over and hugged her. Warm, strong arms wrapped around her and she clung to him. He pressed her tight against his chest. “You’ll never be alone. Don’t ever think that. I am there for you, always.”

She rested her head on his shoulders. He smelled like garlic and ginger, too, and her stomach grumbled. “I’m sorry that I said such awful things to you.”

He laughed and pulled back. “It’s okay. I’ve had worse from you.”

“From me?” Lifting her head, she smiled. An old memory flashed. “Second year of college—I ran behind you with a baseball bat in my hand, trying to land one on you.”

“The baseball incident—what else.”

“You deserved that one. Who told you to put a cockroach in my bed?”

“Hey! I was trying to toughen you up. Who, I ask you, is scared of a cockroach?”

She pushed away from him. “You did it to win a bet!”

He dipped his head, but glanced up at her, a small smile playing in his eyes and around the corners of his lips. “Oh yeah! I forgot that part.”

As she stared into his eyes, a feeling of desire rippled through her, warm and inviting. She stood and went over to the food. She was just hungry. And tired. And…and how could she feel that way about Trent? He’d felt safe when he’d held her—warm and strong. That was all. A safe harbor. She wasn’t his time and he wasn’t hers.

She dug out one of the take-out cartons from the bag. “Let’s eat.”

He started to head into the kitchen to get plates, but she told him they’d just use chopsticks and the boxes. He’d brought beer with him and they opened two. It was always comfortable with Trent, but tonight something different seemed to be happening. She could sense a chemistry sparking between them. Was her mind playing tricks on her? And was it mutual? She tried to watch him, but Trent just seemed like good old Trent, making jokes, trying to get her to laugh and lighten up.