“He’ll try to blackmail her. We both know how much this position means to her and how badly she needs to have it on merit, not … reputation.” I agree.
I nod to myself, ready to take it on, but Nick stops me. “Call her instead. Make it less obvious that we’re watching.”
“Oh. Sure.” I dial her phone and wait for her to answer. It takes more than a few rings, and then she answers. “Hello, Sophia. Is everything okay?”
“Of course, Mr. Agosti.”
“If Neal threatens you or gives you any trouble, please let me know. We’ll take care of it.”
“That does sound like a great way to move forward with this project. I appreciate your input, and I will discuss it further with you shortly.”
She hangs up, and I nod to Nick. “Yeah, he’s being a problem.”
“Short answers, or did she say something obvious?”
“We’re not working on a project, and she gave an excuse to come over here.”
“I’ll stay, just to make sure everything is set, if that’s fine.”
“Sure. We could actually stand to talk a little more about the business and what we’d be doing in a case where Miles is unable to move forward.”
We talk quietly for a long while, then Sophia comes in. Her cheeks are red, and she’s obviously frustrated. As soon as she shuts the door, she slaps her hand down on the desk. “Nick, is it against H.R. policy to knee a guy in the balls?”
“If it’s in the office.”
“Or to stab him in the kidney?”
“Same answer.”
Sophia pants, then makes herself sit down. She wipes under her eyes, then rubs her knees. “He knows about you guys and me and said that he’d be more than happy to make you guys leave me alone without having me lose my job. All I had to do was ask.”
“Fuck him,” I growl.
“Roman, calm down.”
“I’m so insulted. Like the only reason, I’d sleep with you guys is to get ahead in business? Not because I actually want to? And that I’d want to sleep with Neal despite the fact we’ve barely spoken to each other.” She rubs her forehead. “This is awful. I hate him.”
“We could fire him. We have the grounds to do it.” Nick offers.
“We can’t just fire everyone who finds out about us. Then it’s just like a conspiracy theory … but real. It’s not how to deal with this.” Sophia looks at her feet. “I’ll just have to calm down and deal with it or something.”
“Well, it won’t hurt to have a conversation with him,” I growl. “I don’t tolerate that kind of shit at work.”
“Unless you’re the one doing it?” Nick teases.
I flip him off, and he takes Sophia to lunch so I can prepare to deal with the latest issue – Neal himself.