The Assistant: A completely addictive and gripping psychological thriller by Nicole Trope

Author:Nicole Trope [Trope, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2024-08-12T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-ONE

GRACE

There is something different about Ava after she returns from the bathroom, something bothering her. It seems my mention of the affair has worried her. I find that interesting. What is she hiding?

‘If you can just get on with next week’s schedule, that would be great,’ she says and I dutifully get up and leave her office for my desk.

When I sit down, I hear a soft click behind me and I realise she has closed her door. I liked to keep my door open when I was running my company, liked to be able to see everyone bustling around the office and for them to know that they could come to me with anything.

Liza and I had offices next to each other and we would be back and forth all day. I believed Liza and I were friends. Perhaps we were in some way. When she got divorced, I was a shoulder for her to cry on, someone she could come to at any time to report on what was happening.

The day after I had seen the text on Tamara’s phone, I didn’t go into work. Instead, I stayed home, nursing a hangover. I waited until Robert had left for work and Cordelia had left for school before getting out of bed.

I felt hideous but I showered and dressed and then went down to the kitchen, images of Robert and Tamara in bed together making me feel sick. I called Liza.

‘I need you to fire Tamara,’ I told her.

‘What? Why?’ she asked and I explained about the text, about confronting my husband.

‘Grace, that’s awful… Are you absolutely sure? Because you said Robert denied it and so did Tamara.’

‘I’m certain enough, Liza, and it’s my company and I want you to fire her.’

‘But what reason will I give her? How can I explain? Do you want me to say something about the text?’

I was silent as I made myself a cup of coffee, finding my almond milk and adding just a quick shot of whisky in the hope that it would help me think straight.

‘I don’t care what you tell her. You’ll figure it out,’ I said.

Liza sighed and I could picture her in her office, staring out at the view with her perfect, silky black hair sitting on her shoulders and a pen in her hand. I could hear the clicking sound of the plunger on the pen as she pushed it continually, something she did when she was frustrated.

‘Grace, this may come back to haunt us. I can’t just fire her because you suspect her of an affair with your husband. Surely you have to see that sounds… strange.’

‘Liza, I know it’s the truth.’

‘You have no way of proving it, Grace. What if she goes to the Fair Work Commission? You can’t simply fire someone because of this. What if you’re wrong?’

I sighed, taking a sip of my coffee and feeling the settling burn of the whisky as it hit my stomach. ‘Liza, when you told me that Louie was cheating, did I tell you that you couldn’t prove it? A wife knows.

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