“Decker…” Dexter starts toward him.
Decker holds up a hand and shakes his head. “No, I’m sick of this shit, Dexter. I turn a blind eye all the time to everyone in this place blatantly ignoring the policies regarding workplace relationships, but I’ve fucking had it. For one, he’s dating an intern. For two, he’s clearly distracting her if she leaves files open on her fucking computer for the world to see, after we’ve had meeting after meeting about the secretive nature of this particular issue.”
“I’m right here. You can talk to me.” I almost add ‘asshole’ on the end, but some part of my brain is still being rational. Not much of it, though.
Decker’s eyebrows narrow. “Thank you for informing me of that, and to answer your question, yes, you can do damage control on this.”
“Maybe we should take a minute before having this conversation.” Dexter sounds uneasy now.
“No, I’ll tell you what’s going to happen.” Decker points at me. “You distracted her. You decided to have a relationship with an intern and flaunt it in front of the whole damn firm. You did that.” He grinds his teeth. “And now, you get to be the one who fires her.”
“What?” Dexter walks up next to his brother.
Even I can see it’s no use, though.
I need to distract, buy some time so I can think. This whole situation is fucked. “What about the person who leaked it? Shouldn’t that be the priority?”
“Don’t be an idiot.”
“What?”
Decker’s jaw clenches again. “It was her. She did this. I don’t know if she’s a damn plant or what. Blake just found her computer unlocked with the entity filings open on her computer, right there on the screen for him to read, and she was nowhere to be found. She’s careless with information.”
“Wait, this just happened? The article ran this morning.”
“I don’t give a fuck. She’s done. And you’re about to be next.”
My head spins, trying to piece all this together. Then, it becomes clear. I just dragged her away from her computer. Fuck. Right after Blake walked around the corner.
That piece of shit.
I start to go after him but manage to stop myself. My teeth grind so hard I might need to see a dentist.
“She’s not a plant, Decker. Seriously?” I try to plead with him.
Fuck, I need a minute to think this through, but that’s not an option.
“You think I’m being paranoid? We do the same thing to Cooper in New York. It’s the nature of the business. Pull your head out of your ass.” He glances to Dexter. “Has he always been this naïve?”
I shake my head, trying to get through to him. “It doesn’t make any sense. Why would she leave shit up on her computer if she was the one leaking it?”
“I don’t really give a fuck, to be honest. She’s done, and the news is out now. We never had any problems until she showed up. Occam’s Razor.”
Shit. This is so fucked up.
Cold sweat breaks out across my forehead. I know it wasn’t her, and this is my fucking fault. What the hell am I going to do?
“Now, go have security escort her out of my goddamn building.”
“Decker…”
He points at Dexter. “None of this is up for discussion. We’re not taking a risk over a damn intern.”
I follow Dexter out of the office, and I can’t get a read on him. He looks like he wants to kill someone. I just don’t know if it’s me or Decker.
Once we’re through the door and out of earshot, I say, “Hey—”
He whips around and cuts me off, talking through his teeth. “How could you let this shit happen?”
My defenses go up, even though I know I’m at fault. “I didn’t—”
“Save it.” His eyes roll up to the ceiling and he sighs. “This is bad, Matthew. The clients are pissed, rightfully so.”
“Why wasn’t Blake getting his ass chewed out? She’s his intern.”
Who the hell are you right now? You should be fighting for Karli, not trying to deflect the blame to someone else.
Dexter glares at me like he knows everything I’m thinking, then shakes his head. “You don’t get it, do you?”
“Get what?”
He pulls me over to an empty hallway and points at me. “When you brought her to Dom’s wedding, it was a public declaration. You flaunted the rules in front of everyone, regardless of how hypocritical they may seem, with an intern. Sure, this is a professional fuck up and the billionaires will survive a couple news articles.” He shakes his head. “Karli’s a good kid, a hard worker. You got personal with her. And now you’ve put yourself in a position where you have to destroy her.”
“I know.” I can’t even look at him when I say it.
He stands there for another second, staring straight at me like he’s waiting for something. I can’t for the life of me figure out what he wants though.
“So, that’s it?”
“What else is there to say?” I have no idea what he wants from me. I can’t shake off the way he’s staring at me, though. It looks like pure—disappointment, like he expects something more.
After a long stare, he finally says, “All right then, go do what you have to do. I guess.” He scoffs, then just walks away.
Looks like I’m letting everyone down today.
What does he want from me? I can’t unwrite the articles.
Fuck this.
10
Karli
I walk from the breakroom after getting an afternoon cup of coffee, and suddenly Matthew’s standing in front of me.
Where the hell did he come from?
His eyes dart around wildly. “I need to talk to you in my office.”
It’s not so much what he says, but how he says it. He’s cold—distant. I know the tone and it’s not good.
I walk a few steps over to my desk and set my coffee down on it. “Everything okay?”
I start to adjust something, and he cuts me off.
“Right now.” He still won’t look at me, just holds a hand out in the air as if he’s showing me the way.
Maybe this is some kinky game, or I’m in some kind of fake trouble. I don’t think he’d push his luck that much, though. Not after how careless we were earlier.
“Okay, sorry.”
He doesn’t say a word the entire way there.
“Should I be worried?”
He doesn’t slow down at all. “Don’t say anything until the door’s closed.”
This feeling of just… impending doom makes its way into my veins. He still hasn’t so much as looked at me. I take a deep breath and walk into his office.
He closes the door, then walks around and takes a seat, putting the desk between us.
I don’t even bother to sit down because he’s seriously worrying me. “What’s going on, Matthew?”
Then, his eyes finally meet mine, and I know for a fact something has happened. Something serious.
Finally, he breaks, a little, and all the air leaves his lungs. “The Hedgeman deal was leaked to the press.”