Page 76 of Irresistible Temptation
“White skirt, matching jacket. Long blonde hair. I looked different back then,” she said, her eyes boring into me. “Actually, not far off from your little plaything now. You clearly have a type.”
It started coming back to me now. A memory forming, my brain slowly adjusting to it like a new pair of glasses. I remember the brief meeting with her in the accounting office at my old building. She was completely different from the person who was sitting in front of me now. I remembered she had been nervous, her brown eyes wide and curious. It wouldn’t be far off for me to not be a little flirty, but that was all it was. It never turned into anything past that brief introduction. I had honestly forgotten about her, until I fired her a week later due to budget cuts.
“Ahhh. There we go. It’s coming back to you now,” she said, a smile playing on her lips. She looked so different now with the black hair and harsh haircut. Her dark makeup overpowering her features. It was no wonder I didn’t recognize her.
“Firing you was a business choice,” I said. “It wasn’t personal.”
“Oh, but it was. To me, it was,” she said, her voice nearly a whisper. “You didn’tseewhat I saw. Didn’tfeelwhat I felt. You could have had it all.Wecould have had it all. Taking on the business world together. You saw my potential. You saw how special I was. And you threw it all away.” Her voice began to shake, growing louder. “You played me!”
Keeping my voice steady, now aware that I was dealing with a woman on a psychotic break, I calmly spoke. “I’m not sure whatimpression I gave you in that initial meeting, but I’m sorry you saw it as something more than it was.”
She let out a single, cold laugh.
“Please, tell me what you want, Mia,” I said.
“Money. Obviously.” She threw her hands up before leaning in toward me. “And to see that little tramp of yours humiliated.”
“Juliet is not a tramp.” I said firmly.
“Are you sure? The internet seems to think so.” She sneered.
I narrowed my eyes at her.
“If I had known you were into attention-seeking whores like that, I would have changed my tactic, but I thought you weresmart.I thought you wanted someone who matched your potential. Not someone who put their goodies on the internet.”
“That’s enough,” I said, shaking my head.
“The way she just gave it up like that. It’s embarrassing. I almost feel bad for her. To feel that worthless, that being a slut is her only option…” She shook her head and clicked her tongue behind her teeth.
“I said that’s enough!” I said loudly, hearing enough. I slammed my hands against the surface of my desk.
Mia stopped talking, snapping her mouth shut before it spread into a grin.
“I’m not afraid of you, Chester Brandfield,” she said.
“You should be.”
“If you raise your voice at me or threaten me again. I will release the photos,” she said, looking up at me from beneath her dark lashes.
“Don’t do this,” I said, softening my tone. I hated the power this woman had over me, and the fact that she was doing this because she felt jilted in whatever fantasy land she was living in. “Juliet doesn’t deserve this.”
“Don’t say her name again!” she said, her voice shrill.
I put my hands up warily and sat back down behind my desk. “Okay.I’mthe one who deserves this. Take it out on me,” I said, chewing the inside of my cheek as I stared back at Mia.
“Oh, I plan to,” she said.
“I’ll pay you whatever you want, but I want all the copies destroyed.”
“No can do,” she said, smiling smugly.
“What?” I asked exasperatedly.
“You’re going to pay me. And you’re going tokeeppaying me. I need those photos to keep you in my pocket.”
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair frustratedly. “How much?” I asked.
Her eyes roved my desk until they landed on a pad of paper. She slid it toward her and plucked a pen from my desk. She scribbled something down and slid the pad of paper toward me, clicking the pen closed.
