The Temp (31 page)

79

The problem wasn’t going away anytime soon.

How could it have even happened? He’d been so careful, so perceptive. Roman laboured over the data and over what had been leaked to the public. It was company confidential information and in the competitions hands could be very beneficial. Roman sighed, rubbing the skin over his temples. A migraine etched its way across his skull. This was almost like then, years ago, when he’d had to raise the company up from the destruction his father had left it in.

The damage was severe; however, it was not irreparable.

They would recover. He’d brought Roman Industries ltd. out of bankruptcy; of course they would prosper again. He’d had harder work ahead of him, it would take time. He hadn’t been challenged in a while.

There was a knock. Roman untinted the office glass.

Trigger opened the door, Roman frowned remembering a time when he would have waited to enter. He supposed things could change in the heat of corporate espionage and leaks. As soon as the leak had occurred Roman knew there were only a few possibilities, a mole among them was the worst possible scenario. 

“Any news yet?” Roman said.

Trigger’s expression dropped. “I think we need to acknowledge the possibilities of there being a serious leak in the company.”

Roman grimaced.
I already have.

“I think you should take a look at this,” Trigger dropped the files on his desk. “I’ve narrowed down a list of suspects who might have been the cause. For the sake of loyalty I think we should first look at all low levels employees who’ve come into the company in the last year.”

Roman fingered the files. “How did you compile this list?” his voice was terse.

“These are all the employees who’ve come into the company with low level clearance and have had accessed to work well above their pay grade.”

It wasn’t unheard of to have employees be a part of projects above their requirements.

Roman stared at the files, flicking through them. He came to the last one, his eyebrows shot up, he blinked up at Trigger. 

“You know who’s on this list,” he said in a deathly undertone.

“I know,” Trigger sighed. “We can’t be biased anymore. I don’t like it anymore than you.” He sat down in the chair across from the desk and folded one leg over the other. “I can’t take her name off the list until I’m absolutely certain. She came into the company as a Temp, Roman.”

“She was your temp,” he corrected.

“And soon after she became yours. She’s scaled the corporate ladder in such a short time”-Trigger stopped.

Roman stared at the photo of the woman in her plaid pink sweater and delicate pink lips. She’d had her photo taken professionally after she’d been taken off the visitor guest list. The employee file was next to nothing to go on. Her photo? Eve was the picture of innocence. He couldn’t imagine her ever being capable of such a thing. She wasn’t. Besides, she wasn’t at the company anymore.

“I know she looks innocent,” Trigger sat on the edge of his desk. “It’s her appeal.”

“She’s your friend,” they locked eyes. “You’re her emergency contact.”

Roman set his jaw. “Why?”

“I thought she needed my help.”

Rome pushed back the papers. “Trigger, do everything in your power to make sure we know who it is before we point fingers at anybody.” Roman picked up the files. “There are six employees here, each of them could be it or we might have to consider alternative options. The information leaked was sensitive. I think it is possible someone higher up was responsible.”

Trigger’s jaw clenched and unclenched as he rose off the desk. “You’re right. We don’t want to jump to any conclusions. I’ll set up an external team to investigate. They’ll need access to the database.” Roman watched Trigger leave his office and pressed the remote.

The windows tinted a moment later.

He picked up Eve’s photo from the files and stared at it. If he considered it he’d have to consider so much more, which was why he didn’t.

He pulled out the bottom draw of his desk where the machine waited at the press of a button. He cast one last look at her picture and fed it through the machine until only shreds were left of the evidence.

80

Eve sat poised on the lounge.
The news bulletin had sped her heart, her mind to the point the bile in her stomach churned to get out. This couldn’t be a coincidence. The longer she sat there, the harder and more unrelenting the voices in her head became.

Something had happened, something had been enacted. She saw the first domino fall and soon others would follow, eventually her. Her only hope was that whatever it was had failed and perhaps
they
were considering backing out altogether. It would put an end to her part in this. She couldn’t bare the other possibility. She was the back up plan.

Her fingers trembled as she sent Trigger a message. She’d never sent one to him before
.
Saws the news, what do I do
?

It didn’t take long to get a reply.

The message came from a blocked number.

Delete all messages. Never leave a paper trail. Do nothing. Until I say so. 

He didn’t sign off with his name, Eve knew it was him. The message did not quell her fear, nor did she receive that warm fuzzy feeling she did when she was in his presence. Nothing. Her fingers gripped the phone. She wanted to throw the thing away, rid herself of everything. The problem wouldn’t go away so easily. Something indeed was underway, Trigger had changed.

The game had started.

*

“You’re here,” Roman said. He couldn’t believe it, of everything of late. He breathed out the air he’d been holding ever since he’d stepped into the elevator.

“Of course I am,” Eve put her hand on his arm. He sensed her hesitation; he tugged her into him anyway, inhaling her. “Is everything alright?” her eyes glimmered; her hands trembled on his forearm. She was shaking like a leaf. The news ran nonstop in the background, 24 hour news.

“You were watching,” he said.

“I was worried. It concerns you, it was the only information I could go on.” Roman wasn’t sure until this very moment, wasn’t even sure when he’d shredded her file, now he was. If Eve was the culprit she’d be long gone by now. She would have run, any sane person would. She would have known she’d be suspected. 

Having her here made all the difference.

81

The phone call came at five am sharp.

“Trigger,” Roman growled into the phone. It took a moment for him to compose himself. He hadn’t been sleeping since an hour before. He never took calls before eight. Lately there were a lot of exceptions, including Trigger who knew all those rules. He should know better.

“I’ve got bad news,” Trigger wasn’t deterred by his tone. 

Calling this early, it could only be bad news. Roman sat up,

Eve was sound asleep next to him, the picture of innocence and vulnerability. It was hard to maintain his anger if he was looking at her, he turned away.

“Have you found out who it was?” Roman said without preamble.

“We’ve uncovered something else. It was unexpected.”

“What?” he snapped.

Eve stirred.

He got up and went out of the room.

“Cameras, it seems part of the floors were under surveillance. We’ve pulled the feeds but haven’t been able to locate who was watching. Sir, I need you to consider”-

“What?” Trigger never called him Sir so he knew it had to be a dire request.

“I think we should send the team into your apartment, a quick sweep to confirm the extent of the invasion. It could take under an hour. You wouldn’t have to be present.”

“You think there’s a camera here? You think someone might be watching?” Roman ground out, his jaw tensing. The only camera Roman had was the one over the entryway to the front door; he could access it from his office computer.

“It’s a possibility.”

No.
“Have them arrive within the hour.” Roman shut off the phone before Trigger could respond. He was angry. His friend would understand once this all blew over. They rarely butted heads and hardly ever over the company.

*

Roman paced the room as the tech team got to work on his apartment. He followed them wherever they went as they held their gadgets fanning over surfaces and furniture. All the while his fists curled and uncurled. They were like ants he wanted to crush, regardless of whether they were helping him.

Privacy.
How he could value it now. It was such an invasion, he couldn’t possibly imagine the extent of his humiliation. Eve had gone off to work before the team had arrived. Good, he didn’t need Trigger knowing exactly how close Eve had gotten to him.
This is ridiculous.

He paced the room.

Then one of the gadgets went off.

The machine beeped in a fevered pitch.

Roman’s eyes shot to the man as he retrieved the clock on the mantle. It took some fiddling with, moments later the man retrieved a device from the clock the size of a thumb.

Trigger stepped forward and inspected the thing out of the man’s hands. It had a wire, the body of it no larger than a beetle. Roman pushed his hand through his hair, frustration rippling off him in waves.

“Well?” he finally said.

“They’re done a sweep of all the rooms and found only the one. I’ll have it sent to our lab for analyse, I’m assuming its capabilities will be similar to the other ones we found. We can’t find who was watching, we can access what was seen. And hopefully it should be the same here.” Trigger handed Roman the clock as the team packed up their gear and headed out. The second they were gone the clock smashed against a wall. “You all right?” Trigger said.

“Of course I’m not alright. How could this happen? How?!”

Trigger put his hands in his pockets. “There was only the one camera in your apartment placed in your living room. I think whoever did it didn’t have access to your bedroom or any of the other rooms. Consider it a good thing.”

“How is this good?” Roman growled.

“It’s likely it was someone at one of your parties, meaning it’s less likely it was someone close to you.”

Roman looked up then.

Trigger’s face was grim, as if he was trying to convey something. Did he know about him and Eve? Had she told him? It was possible though unlikely.

They hadn’t talked about telling anyone else.

He didn’t think he needed to. 

82

The decoy had worked.

He smiled to himself, a genius plan of his own. It had been a bold move putting two cameras in the same place, however one of them was harder to detect than the other.

Of the original two cameras in the lounge living area of Roman Pierce’s apartment one of them, the decoy on the mantle was heading up to a laboratory for testing and deconstructing. Of all his plans, this one had been executed with the most precision, relying on technology, not on people, not on Eve Allure. 

The other camera remained stationary and out of reach, poised for the show. Its panoramic view, a mini cinema and the show was in full swing.

And there would be a third camera soon in place too…ready.

83

“Rome,” Eve breathed.

She spun round coming face to face with him.
His scent had wafted to her, that muskiness that could only be his. This was the moment, the one she’d desperately wanted to get right. They were in the bar, the same one he went to when he needed to be alone. The same one he’d gone the night Carra had come back into her life.

“Eve, what are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” she sat on the stool next to his, her red silk dress draped over one side revealing her alabaster flesh up to her thigh. It was the same silk dress he’d torn and replaced before, the one she knew would spike his pulse. Her hair was tousled over one side, her lips a stark red.

“Isn’t this your favourite dress?” Eve whispered and let her finger trail down her neck. It was late and hardly anyone was at the bar. It was almost absolute privacy.

They’d gone to bed and she’d woken to find him gone.

Roman grabbed her hand and pulled her off the stool.

“Are you insane? Not here,” he drew her to him hard and walked her into the lobby. His jaw twitched, his fingers were hot on her skin.

Eve kept up in her tight bodice as they waited in the foyer for the elevator. As soon as it dinged open he pushed her inside and thrust himself up against her.

“What are you playing at Eve?” her hands were pressed above her, his hard chest against her. Her breath came out in a rush. “You know how that dress makes me feel,” he pressed more of himself against her. There was aggression lined in his voice as it growled deep into the base of her thighs.

He pushed the Red Stop button and the elevator halted.

Eve’s heart jolted, she didn’t have time to consider the boxed in space. He sprang on her, his lips forcing hers apart, his tongue needing against hers.

His hands wrapped her thighs around him as the material tore. She wanted him inside her. Eve undid his fly and pressed him against her. She gasped as he went in suddenly. He gasped too and couldn’t be stopped. And pushed into her deeper groaning like metal on metal.

“I need to fuck you so bad.”

She pushed her hips against him and found a rhythm as he moved in and out, leaving her gasping as she fell deeper and wider over him. He stretched her inside sending her over the edge. She panted and he kept on pushing her hips up and down pressing her back against the steel wall. She cried out. The air suffocated her. Pressed in on all sides and then she moaned again.

He stilled moments later, pulling out and readjusting himself. “What was that for?” Roman breathed against her.

“I needed to distract you,” Eve panted in his ear.

“Why?”

“Because of everything that’s happened lately.”
Because I’m responsible.

The next day Eve stepped into Roman’s wardrobe. It was a room with hangers and suits lining the walls and a small bit to herself-a drawer.

Her pulse spiked when she saw the note.

Feel free to distract me again. R.

Next to the note was a wardrobe space all to herself filled with countless identical red silk dresses.

*

“We were able to rewind back the footage for the last two weeks. I don’t know if you want to watch any of it. It is your apartment of course, you’d know as much as anyone what was going on there,” Trigger said as he sat down in his desk chair.

“No, no. it should be fine,” Roman said.

“I spooled through the footage personally, so the team wouldn’t be privy to anything. It appears the only occupants in the last two weeks were you, the maid, your bodyguard and two women.” Trigger was watching Roman carefully now. “One being Eve and the other woman I didn’t recognise.”

“Right,” the two locked eyes for a moment.

“I can have it sent over shortly.”

“Hand delivered?”

“Of course, there will be no paper trail. You will possess the only copy,” Trigger swivelled in his chair and clasped his hands together.

*

Roman stared at the memory stick for what must have been forever. There was only one piece of footage worth seeing.

Eve and Carra. He didn’t want to pry, she deserved privacy. Besides she’d come back to him after he’d found the girl. There was just something about the way Eve had been that night. Something about her eyes and how guarded she’d been and he’d wondered what kind of secrets she possessed. Everyone had a past and everyone had secrets, they were each entitled to them. So why did he think he was privy to hers? He tried to think of a logical reason why he should know.

Was she in danger? Had someone done something to her?

The very idea turned acid in his stomach.

Eve was vulnerable and needed protecting. She’d come to him with her own proposition. She would be his if he found Carra for her. Maybe he should have questioned it at the time. Maybe he should not have taken no for an answer.

Who was this Carra? She said it was her childhood best friend who’d disappeared one day. It only gave him more reason to ask questions.

Then it got even stranger.

He’d asked about Carra the day after he’d found her and brought her here, it was as if she’d never walked into Eve’s life again. Eve had shrugged and diverted the question with another and he hadn’t mentioned it again. It didn’t take a genius to know something had happened, something. He knew when he’d stood in the stairwell. He hated not knowing what. He should give her a chance to explain. Give her the opportunity. He should speak to Carra himself. 

He flipped down the tablet with the memory stick in place.

Yes, he’d give her the opportunity. He’d give her the benefit of the doubt.

Eve deserved as much.