The man sits back in his chair, trying to pretend he’s not angry or trying to stop himself from leaping out of the chair and hitting me. “What do you want?”
“I want you to back the fuck off, and let Chianna be happy.”
“And happy means being with you?”
I roll my eyes. “Being happy means being happy. Christ. You’ve terrified her into thinking that you’re going to destroy her career if she doesn’t toe the line with you. And that’s revolting.”
“Did she tell you that?”
“No.” I shake my head. “She’s been avoiding me. Another thing that I’m sure is your fault.”
Meynard leans forward on his desk and folds his hands together. “We’re equals right now, Kris. But we won’t be for long. So if you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay away from her.”
I stare at the man. Something doesn’t add up here. He may hate me, but what he’s doing to Chianna doesn’t directly affect me. At least not when it comes to her work. There’s something else at play. “Why do you want to make her miserable?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You make her work harder than any of the other interns. You demand all of her time, even outside of work hours. That’s more responsibility than anyone should be given, especially for the rate that we pay them.”
Meynard’s face flashes, and he glances up at me and then away. Why? Now he seems to be avoiding my gaze. “What did you do?”
“Just go mind your own business, Canterbar. Soon enough we’ll be out of each other’s lives for good.”
There’s an inkling forming in my gut, and I turn on my heel so I can go straight back to the office. My level in the company is high enough to see salary records. And he looked strange after I mentioned Chianna’s.
My stomach drops when I see it. He’s not paying her a dime. All of her hours are added to his paycheck, and they’re deposited into his account. Meynard is using her to make cash while working her to the bone. I’ve seen the way she’s been frantically running around the last few days. He’s been using it like free overtime. The bastard.
Core Tech always pays our interns a living wage. Always. But if he was the one to reach out with the opportunity, then she might not have known. The bastard. That’s even lower than I expected of him, and it’s not going to stand.
The intern bullpen is crowded. I’m rarely down here on this side of the office—I rarely need to be. But Chianna needs to know this. Even if she never wants to see me again, she needs to know exactly the kind of man that is holding her back.
“Chianna.”
She looks up from her desk and then back down, stiff as a board. “I can’t talk to you.”
“I don’t give a shit what your uncle does to me for talking to you, there are things that you need to know.”
Her face snaps back up. “You think I’m concerned about what he’s going to do to you? He’ll fire me, Kris. Just for talking to you. Please go.”
“Five minutes,” I say, taking her by the arm and guiding her around the corner. We’re not in private, but it’s better than being watched by everybody in that bullpen. “He won’t fire you because you’re fucking good at your job, and if anyone—anyone—tries to punish you for sleeping with me or talking to me, I’ll make sure that your firing will be known as retribution which is against Core Tech’s bylaws.”
Chianna covers her face with her hands. “It doesn’t matter, Kris. I’ll still be the intern who fucked the executive. No one will want to hire me. And the only person that can make sure that I don’t get on every blacklist in the city is Meynard.”
I stare at her. “I love you,” I say. “I am falling in love with you. And I’m telling you that before anything else because I want you to know that I’m not trying to use anything to force you to be with me. I want you to be happy, no matter what.”
“You…” she trails off. “What did you just say?”
“I said that I’m falling in love with you. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, and I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks about it, and I equally don’t give a shit how long it’s been. I want all of you. In my life. In my bed. And most of all, I want you to be free to make your own choices, whether they include me or not.”
For a moment there’s the glimmer of tears in her eyes as she looks up at me. Her body sways toward mine and I see her forcibly pull it back. “You said before anything else. What do you have to tell me?”
“Your uncle has been using you to line his own pockets, and I can prove it.”
Shock and surprise register on her face. And then her brows furrow. “How?”
“He’s not paying you. And the salary you should be earning, including your overtime, is going into his account.”
Chianna goes pale. It’s the first time that I’ve seen her go the opposite direction of blushing, and it’s unnerving. “What salary?”
“We pay interns just like we do entry-level employees. Core Tech believes that everyone should be compensated for their time, no matter their experience level. But I’m guessing that he didn’t tell you that. Did he?”
She slowly shakes her head. “No. He did not.”
Taking a risk, I lean down and press my forehead to hers. “I’m sorry.”
“What are you doing with him?” Meynard steps around the corner. “I think I made myself very clear, Chianna. You’re not allowed to talk to him, look at him, even breathe near him, or you’re done.”
She pulls away from me and faces him. “Is it true that you lied about my salary and you’ve been pocketing it and any overtime pay that was meant for me?”
He freezes. I can’t stop the smile on my face. He’s fucked now, and it’s his own doing.
“Y-yes. It’s being added to your trust.”
“Bullshit,” she says. “We both know that’s bullshit. Just like we both know your orders to stay away from Kris are bullshit. You’ve been trying to terrify and bully me out of this job since you offered it to me, so what the hell is going on? You owe me some answers.”
Meynard looks around. Chianna isn’t being discreet, and good for her. He only has himself to blame, and for this, he doesn’t deserve discretion.
“What I did, I’m doing for your own good.”
“Yeah?” she crosses her arms. “You’re going to have to explain that one.”
He shakes his head, twisting up his mouth. “You may think I’m an asshole, but I’m trying to protect you. Doing this job killed your mother. She put everything that she had into it, and then she died. I don’t want that to happen to you.”
Chianna takes a step back like she’s been slapped, and I place a hand on her lower back so she knows that I’m with her. “She died of cancer. Not because of her job. She loved her job. You know she did!”
“And how do you think that she got cancer, Chianna? Hours and hours in an R&D lab with all kinds of untested substances, maybe radiation? You want to follow that same path.”