“The company donates a large sum-“
“Oh, spare me.”
He sighed a sigh that was almost a growl. “Look, would it make you feel any better if I said it was self-serving? That I paid off your debts so that you don’t have to accept any dodgy assignments from my half-brother again? You’re quite dangerous, with your abilities. You could have done far more harm to me than you did. And I don’t really want to have you as an enemy, so there. Do you accept that explanation? Does that help your pride?”
I took a few deep breaths and considered it. “Oddly, yes.”
“Thank god. Are we done, then? Is that all you wanted?”
I flicked my gaze between all of the various scrolling monitors around the room. “No.”
He groaned.
“I accept your money. But I want to work for it.”
When he spoke, his words dripped with an unpleasant sarcasm. “How? Are you a computer science specialist? Or do you intend to be my tarot card reader for... oh, infinity?”
“Alright, I get it, my work is worthless. And the latter is more my wheelhouse, if you’re genuinely asking.”
“Well, reading my cards again would require trust. Trust which is sadly broken between us.”
That hurt. It shouldn’t have, but it did. Sometimes, I did let myself be vulnerable. “Trust can be rebuilt.”
“I don’t think starting off your career in eternal debt to a CEO you despise is a very exciting start to your business, don’t you agree?”
I tried again to let my defenses down, to open up that connection we’d felt before. “I don’t despise you.”
But his defenses were still up. “Of course. Where did I get that idea from? It can’t have been from you giving me the finger on camera for quarter of an hour then furiously kicking down my door to berate me for daring to pay off your debts.”
I sniffed. “I didn’t kick down your door.”
He all but rolled his eyes. “My apologies for the inaccuracy.”
I huffed. Forest was exhausting. It was tempting to just accept his offer and leave, get out of all of this drama, maybe spend some time actually being able to consider that positive pregnancy test I’d barely had time to think about.
But ultimately, though he said I shouldn’t start my career in eternal debt, I also couldn’t start it knowing that I’d received a handout – basically, a pay-off, if I accepted his version of events where he was paying off my debts so I didn’t have to accept sleazy assignments from Apollo.
“What if I could help you take down your half-brother?”
That snapped him out of his bitterness, if only temporarily. He stared at me in astonishment. “Excuse me?”
“That’s what’s bothering you, isn’t it? That’s the problem you came to me with in our first session, at the networking event. Apollo’s got it in for you, and you’re outsmarted. Or at least, you’re equally... smarted.”
He narrowed his eyes. “How exactly do you think you could help?”
“I don’t know. But you said I’m dangerous. If I’m dangerous – and I don’t quite understand how – then use me as a weapon. Then, consider my debts paid.”
He looked up from his desk to stare at me for a moment.
When he spoke, it was in an odd, thoughtful tone. “Leave it with me. If I can come up with something I might be able to use you for, I’ll be in contact.”
He was brushing me off, and I was happy with our stalemate, for now. I was feeling queasy. I hoped I wasn’t going to be sick into one of the fake plants in the reception.
I waved goodbye to Jenni, threw up into a trash can outside, and made my way sluggishly home. Shit.
FOREST
When I’d said Ria was dangerous, I’d not really thought why. But it had been the insidious way she’d been able to convince me, of all people, to sit through almost an entire tarot card reading. And it was her skill with the cards – to use symbols and images to get to know a person, understand where they came from and where they were going. The power to unlock a person’s understanding and capabilities. It was powerful.