In truth, he was starting to realize he didn’t know Raina McMillan at all. The thought was a knife twisting in his chest.
The emails and other invoices—all the proof that Roger had forwarded him—that had been forwarded to from her private correspondence—showed her discussing the non-existent supplies with another person whom Christian assumed was her accomplice.
The pain in his heart was unbearable. Not since the death of his parents had he felt so alone and desolate. She had drawn him in, made him love her—yes, love was not too strong of a word—and all that time she had been a deceitful, conniving woman, only focused on her own gain.
She had created a shell company with accompanying bank details. All the forms of incorporation were in her name. The payments from those supplier account were then diverted to her own off shore bank accounts.
Christian massaged his stiff neck. He had been going through the whole thing since he’d learned of it a few hours ago. The emails had come in just after midnight, and he’d been awake—unable to sleep, his mind filled with thoughts of Raina.
When he saw the evidence— the mounds and mounds of evidence Roger was forwarding to him, it all pointed to Raina.
Yet until he confronted her, he still held on to the belief that there was a mistake. There had to be a mistake, didn’t there? It wasn’t just foolish, sentimental thinking on his part. If Raina was stealing from the company, why then was she drowning in debt? Had that been an act too? But why lie to the lowly maintenance man about her financial troubles?
For the short period that he had known her, she had displayed no signs of having any addictions or vices that took all her money. Then again, money was enough of a motivation on its own for some people. Could she have kept up the “poor me” facade as an act to throw people off of her embezzling?
Christian made himself a tenth cup of coffee and returned with it to the living room. His brain was exhausted and he badly wanted to lie down, but every time he closed his eyes he only saw Raina.
He tossed and turned as he imagined for the millionth time the image of Roger massaging Raina’s breasts, his hands under her skirt, and his mouth on her neck. Raina’s reaction though was what had pierced his heart.
She had seemed to love what Roger was doing to her.
Raina had told Roger she was willing to trade her body for a promotion.
It was too much to bear and he shoved the images to the back of his mind. He glanced at the gold clock on the wall. Six thirty in the morning. The entire night had passed and he’d not slept a wink.
She usually got to work a few minutes before eight.
He would be there to meet her.
Christian needed answers.
Christian sat behind Raina’s desk and prepared himself for the inevitable confrontation. All of his feelings for her would have to be suspended.
He cleared his mind and thought back to the emails that Roger had sent him. The whole business did not make sense and it left a bitter taste in his mouth.
If Raina and his Uncle were having an affair, why didn’t Roger protect her by covering up for her?
The answer came swiftly. To cover his own ass.
His uncle was a selfish person whose only interest was himself.
Besides, he kept a string of women and Christian could not imagine him being so captivated with any woman to risk his own job by covering up for her.
It was disturbing, because all of the evidence he saw kept pointing to Raina. Christian knew himself to be a fair person and before he made the final conclusion, he needed to hear from Raina herself. She deserved that chance at least.
Yesterday, when he had caught them together right in the open lobby, Christian had reacted with rage and pain, something that he had never done before.
It was time to protect himself and get as far away from her as he could.
But last night he had missed Raina.
He missed her laugh and her playfulness and he had missed the children’s chatter—especially Jeremiah. It had felt good to be needed by a family, and to be looked up to.
Lost in his musings, Christian sat up abruptly when he heard voices in the hallway. One was clearly Raina and just hearing her voice made his knees weak. With her was Kelly. They walked past the office and he assumed that they had gone to Kelly’s office. He didn’t want to stay in her office any longer when he knew she was so close. He stood up and followed the two women. The door to Kelly’s office was slightly ajar and he paused for a moment, hearing Raina’s voice.
“Can you imagine? Five hundred thousand dollars!” she was saying.
His ears strained to hear the rest of the conversation.