Winner Takes All (36 page)

“Hey, pal,” he said, his tone upbeat and cheerful, as if he hadn’t been slagging her in the press for four days, “you’re back already. Brilliant. I know you’ve got the inside track on why they led Ethan out of here yesterday in handcuffs, and I don’t want you to worry about oversharing because there’s no such thing.”

Eva thought she was prepared for this moment: David would apologize profusely on his hands and knees, or some equally obsequious pose, and she would tell him in a hard little voice that she just wanted to forget about it. But that scene only worked if he said he was sorry. Clearly, he wasn’t going to. Clearly, the conscienceless creep didn’t think that he’d done anything wrong. A wave of anger overtook her so quickly, it made her legs feel like water. She wanted to punch him in the face. She wanted to knee him in the groin.

Holding on to her temper, she tossed the half-drunk cup of coffee, with its week-old sour milk, in his face. It didn’t make her feel good, but it did make her feel better. She just wished she had something else to toss.

David sputtered and spit. When the coffee was out of his eyes, he said, “Ben! Hey, Ben, did you see that?”

Eva froze. She hadn’t realized her boss was in the vicinity.

“Yeah, I saw it,” Ben answered.

Even better. He’s standing right behind me.
Eva spun around, ready to explain and apologize for her behavior.

“If you ask me, you got off easy,” Ben said laughing. He had just arrived and was carrying his gray shoulder bag and tall latte from Starbucks. “The coffee wasn’t even hot.”

“But, Ben, my clothes are ruined and—”

Eva didn’t want to listen to him whine. She took the cup from her boss’s surprised grip and poured it over David’s head. Ben nodded approvingly. “That’s the way you do it,” he said and walked away. “Eva, I need to see you in my office in thirty minutes.”

The small crowd that had gathered around Eva’s desk dispersed as Ben’s presence signaled it was time to get back to work. David continued to grumble, but the Wyndham staff, who had followed every detail of the scandal, weren’t prepared to align themselves publicly with David Taverner. It was obvious that there was going to be a shakeup at the firm, and although nobody knew how it would play out, it seemed possible to everyone that Eva, should she decide to stay, might land on top. She had served Wyndham’s faithfully for years, and although she’d been used by their top guy, had cleverly extricated herself from his web of lies.

Kerry in human resources promised to investigate the matter of her computer and suggested in the meantime that she set up shop at Joseph Harkley’s cubicle, as he was on vacation for the week. “You can access all the files on the computer so you should be good to go.”

Joseph’s cubicle was several rows away from David’s, which was a relief, and as she walked past him with her bag, she took a snapshot of his coffee-splattered face and sent it to Ruth. She had barely logged on to the computer when Ben called her into his office, and she sailed by his assistant without sparing her a glance. Devorah was as good as David at spreading tall tales, and Eva could just imagine what the woman had said about her during her absence.

“Ah, here she is,” said her boss as she stood on the threshold to his office.

Eva stepped into the room and was surprised to find herself confronted with the dark penetrating gaze of the elder Mr. Wyndham. She’d had no idea he’d arrived in New York. In fact, she hadn’t realized it was possible to get there from London so quickly, and unnerved by his presence, she decided to let him make the first move.

Ben, sensing the awkwardness of the moment, stepped in to smooth things over. “Eva, no doubt you remember Elliot. Edward will be taking over the New York office, and Elliot is going to stay here for a while as Wyndham’s gets its bearings.”

That’s a nice way of putting it, Eva thought with a tight smile plastered to her face. “Yes, of course. Mr. Wyndham.” She extended her hand.

The patriarch stood up to greet her and insisted she call him by his first name. “There’s no point in being formal now, considering all the trouble my family has put you through.”

Eva was thrown off by this. She expected to be taken to task by the elder Wyndham—in the politest of terms possible. Even though she hadn’t done anything wrong, she still felt complicitous. Where there was smoke there
was
fire. Perhaps this was what being a victim did to you.

“Please take a seat,” Ben said as he slipped behind the desk. “We wanted to talk to you about Wyndham’s future.”

“Such as it is,” added Elliot. “The auction house is in a devil of a mess. The corruption seems to begin and end with my son, which means that the criminal charges alone should not destroy us, although the fines levied against the company will be steep. Add to that the civil cases that will be brought against us by former sellers, and it’s unlikely that Wyndham’s will see itself clear to the next decade, let alone the next century.”

“Surely, you’re taking an unnecessarily pessimistic view of the situation,” Ben said quickly. “Wyndham’s is in better shape than that. We have very good credit with the banks.”

Eva didn’t know if Ben was speaking the truth or simply flattering an intimidating employer. “Will there be many lawsuits?” she asked. Eva had looked at this tragedy only from her perspective. Once she understood from Jeffers what she stood accused of, she thought of her own survival, not the company’s.

“Probably one class-action suit helmed by the top lawyers in the country. There’s a lot of money to be made here,” Elliot said sadly.

“But it won’t be at Wyndham’s expense exclusively. Davidge’s and Brooks’s will bear equal responsibility,” Ben said, highlighting once again the very thin silver lining.

“That’s good, I suppose,” she said.

Elliot was dismissive of this positive outlook. There were no bright spots in this god-awful mess his son had made. “Eva, I don’t know what your plans are, but I hope you’ll consider staying with Wyndham’s.”

Eva nodded. At the moment, she was thinking only one step ahead. Like today when she got up: Go to work. What she did in the future would depend, she supposed, on the opportunities that presented themselves and the way the price-fixing scandal played out. She didn’t necessarily want to leave, but at the same time she didn’t know if she could stay. If this morning was anything to go by, it might be too awkward and uncomfortable.

When she didn’t say something right away, Elliot rushed to apologize for his son. “His mother and I are still shell-shocked,” he said. “We always knew that Ethan wasn’t a fan of hard work and elbow grease, but we thought it was a product of lack of involvement rather than a character flaw. We see now that our elder son will always try to find the easy way out. Alas, he has a deplorable lack of ethics. I’m deeply sorry, my dear, that you got caught up in the middle of it. When I think of your going to jail in place of my son….” He was too angry to finish the thought and let it dangle.

Eva saw that the elder Wyndham was genuinely upset. His usually stick-straight back was slumped in the chair. “I intend to stay,” she said, not committing to anything. Her intentions could change at any time.

“Good. Good. As long as you don’t hold us all responsible,” he said. “We need people like you on board right now. You did fabulous work on the Hammond collection, and we’re confident you can bring in other accounts equally impressive. I assume we still have the Hammond account?”

Eva thought of Cole’s mother last night, holding up the empty champagne bottle and insisting that the waiter bring another one to the table immediately. She fought a smile. “I suppose so. Mrs. Hammond hasn’t mentioned anything about it one way or the other.”

“Hmm.” He seemed disappointed, although no news was often good news. “Well, regardless of that matter, I hope you’ll stay with us, as an assistant manager, of course. Ben will give you—”

“Excuse me, sir, are you offering me a promotion?” she asked.

He seemed thrown off by the interruption. “Erm, yes.”

“I appreciate the offer, sir, but given the fact that I didn’t deserve the last one I got, I’d rather not get another,” Eva said, mortified by the idea.

For the first time since she’d entered the room, Elliot Wyndham smiled. “Won’t let an old man appease his conscience, eh? Good for you,” he said admiringly, “but there’s no reason to get stiff-necked about the offer. This promotion is based on your performance here. You’re one of our best people, and if my son’s treachery hadn’t been uncovered, another casualty would have been the loss of you to the auction world. You’re not only very competent at your job, but you also have a certain outgoingness, or an affability, which I suppose some would call people skills, that many of the employees around here lack.”

Eva was surprised the patriarch had noticed. “Very well, I accept. I don’t know what my long-term plans are,” she said, exchanging honesty for honesty, “but I promise to stay on until the Hammond collection has been dispersed.”

“Good. Good. I hope by that time you’ll feel at home again at Wyndham’s, assuming, of course, that Wyndham’s is still here,” Elliot said.

“There’s no doubt about that,” assured Ben quickly. “We have several impressive auctions lined up.”

Eva hid a smile—she’d never seen this cheerleader side of her boss before—and made a vague comment about the future. She didn’t know which half of the optimism-pessimism debate to support, so she straddled the fence. “Is that all?” she asked when the room fell quiet.

“Yes, that’s all,” Elliot told her. “I’ll be here until things settle down, so if you have any problems please feel free to discuss them with me. It’s going to take a lot of work to get this company out of the trash bin, and the first thing that requires is trust. I’m here if you need me.”

Eva thought this was a very nice offer and thanked him as she stood up. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Good. Good. Now why don’t you take the rest of the day off?” he suggested. “You’ve been through an ordeal.”

“No, that’s all right,” she said, her hand on the doorknob. “I’m fine.”

“Don’t be silly, my dear. Why don’t you take the week off. Actually, take two weeks. Two weeks is better,” Elliot said. At her confused look he laughed. “Don’t worry. We’ll still be in a heap of trouble when you get back.”

Eva tried to protest further, but Elliot wouldn’t listen to her. Neither would Ben, who threatened to fire her if she didn’t take the two weeks off. Back at Joseph’s desk, she read a text from Ruth—“WTF? Cut yourself some slack and go home!”—and called Cole to say she could take that long lunch after all. Mrs. Hemingway, sounding happy to hear from her, immediately put her through.

I will never get used to that dragon-faced gatekeeper asking about my health and wishing me well, Eva thought after she hung up. Then she logged off the computer without even using it, stood up, pushed in her chair and tried to figure out what she would do with two weeks off. Not since finishing grad school had she had such a huge chunk of time to herself. Although Wyndham’s gave the standard two-week vacation time to its junior employees, the company didn’t encourage you to take the weeks consecutively. In fact, it was frowned upon, which tended to frustrate Eva. She always wanted to take trips to faraway places like Africa or Asia, but it never seemed worth the jetlag to stay for such a short time.
Maybe now’s the moment.

But as soon as she had the thought she dismissed it. She wanted to go somewhere exotic and would definitely get there someday, but now, right now, she wanted to spend the time with Cole. In a few months, perhaps, when their relationship had settled into a comfortable rhythm, she wouldn’t be overcome with this jittery feeling at the idea of leaving him for so long.

She was disgusted with herself for being such a lovesick fool, and she wondered if Cole felt the same way. They had grown so close in the last few days it seemed inconceivable that he could simply disappear to Asia for two weeks again. In the future, he’d take shorter business trips, wouldn’t he? Suddenly Eva wasn’t so certain of the answer. Being in a relationship meant changes, she accepted that, but she didn’t know if Cole did. Maybe he wasn’t ready for changes. Maybe, now that the threat of incarceration wasn’t hanging over her, he’d lose interest in her. He’d said he loved her but what did that mean? How many women had he loved over the years?

Don’t do this
. It was too easy to be negative and to assume the worst. And what about Cole? He’d been nothing but supportive and understanding throughout the entire ordeal. And not just the ordeal—their whole relationship. He deserved better than her doubts. Besides, billionaire playboys didn’t stand by you while your life was falling apart only to walk away when things starting to go smoothly again. Any man who was afraid of commitment and complications would have let her dump him when the scandal broke. Not Cole. He wasn’t like any other man. He would be around for a while.
They
would be around.

Before heading to the elevator, Eva inspected her work station to make sure there was nothing she needed. The Post-its had no relevant information on them, just scribbled notes she couldn’t even decipher, and she tossed them away. While she was in her meeting with Ben and Elliot, David had disappeared, which was a relief. Although she’d already dumped two cups of coffee on his head, the desire to go for the hat trick was almost irresistible. Perhaps in two weeks she would overcome the urge to pour scolding liquids on her coworker’s head. She certainly hoped so. It would be extremely inconvenient for David, not to mention Eva, who would have to walk by Devorah’s desk every time to refill her coffee cup.

When Eva arrived at the restaurant, Cole was already at the table. He was talking on his phone nursing a glass of red wine. He hung up immediately when he saw her.

He greeted her with a kiss. “You don’t look much worse for wear,” he said, before ordering her a glass of Shiraz the same vintage as his.

“I shouldn’t think so,” she said sighing. “I didn’t do a speck of work today, except pour coffee on a coworker’s head, which, technically speaking, isn’t actually work.”