GONE - The Complete Series: Part One, Part Two & Part Three by Deborah Bladon

Author:Deborah Bladon
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2014-12-31T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

"Whatever Hughes is paying for you, I'll double it."

No, it's not Clive Parker saying those words to me, unless he has some odd strain of strep throat that's made him sound like a woman. It's Rowan, Clive's assistant. I'm standing in line at the sandwich shop across the street from my new office waiting to pick up my lunch. The fact that I'm blocks away from Corteck's headquarters shouldn't have given me the sense of ease that I've been feeling. It was inevitable that I'd run into someone who works there.

"How do you know I work at Hughes Enterprises?" I spin around on my heel.

She gestures with her hand towards the identification badge that's hanging from a lanyard around my neck. "I saw that when you walked in, Lilly."

My overly active imagination was convinced, for a very brief second, that she knew about my new place of employment because of one of those corporate spies that Clive is so paranoid of. "Right," I offer back out of a sense of embarrassment.

"I'm serious. I'll double what you're being paid now if you come back to Corteck."

I want to be buoyed by her words. The career driven part of me would love to believe that she's desperate to have me back at Corteck because they value my programming and developing skills. I know that's not the basis of her offer though. It has to be coming out of her sense of loyalty to Clive. "Why would you offer me that?"

I can tell that she's surprised by how bold my question is. Acting naïve might have played a part in my landing a job there in the first place, but I'm done with that now. All of Clive's cards are on the table right next to mine. I know his motivations and I'm convinced that her offer has more to do with his desperate need to win than anything else.

"You're a bright talent, Lilly." She looks past my shoulder as she says the words. "Clive and I both feel your future is at Corteck. We have a lot to offer you."

The only thing they can offer me is years of worrying about my personal files being compromised. I have no desire to step back into an environment in which my ideas are never truly my own. "I have a question."

"Sure." Her gaze finally settles on my face. "What is it?"

I see a flash of compassion there and I have to wonder whether Clive filled in the blanks about why I left. "Mr. Parker took it upon himself to look at some of the private files on my personal computer when I was working for him and I'm wondering if he kept a copy of those."

Her eyes dart down to my laptop bag which I've strung over my right shoulder. Since Clive told me he went through it, I've kept it as close to me as I can. I felt a profound sense of relief when I realized that I wouldn’t have to grant access to my computer to anyone at Hughes Enterprises.

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