“Craig?”
“Oh, no.” I shake my head. “He’s fine.”
“Okay.” Heath's expression tells me he’s not happy with my response.
“In fact, Craig is more qualified than I am. I’m actually wondering if you should have me replaced. Gondal Assist has—”
“No,” he cuts me off.
“But there are people there with so much more experience than me.” I already know he doesn’t want to bring on more people to help. Heath wants to keep this investigation quiet so that he doesn’t spook whoever is behind this.
“I said no.”
“Right, because it’s always what you want.”
“Trust me. It’s not.”
I step farther into his office, needing space, but Heath follows. Deciding I’ve got to move again, I sit in one of the chairs in front of his desk, thinking it will make him take a seat behind it. Instead he leans up against it and is even closer than before.
“I know you requested me,” I say, and he clenches his jaw. “No one told me.” I got the sense when I emailed my boss about knowing the Monroe brothers that he was already aware of our connection. I think it’s why I got the email so late.
“Why wouldn’t I request you? Like I said, I trust you, and you work at the most prestigious and progressive accounting firm in the city.”
“It was ranked third,” I correct him, making him smirk.
“Yes, the last time it was ranked, but I have no doubt it will be number one next time. They are a younger company, but they’re also growing rapidly.”
A thought suddenly occurs to me, and I don’t like it. “Did you make them hire me?”
“What? No,” he says, looking offended.
I glare up at him and search his face for the truth, but I don’t think Heath would lie to me. He’s always been honest even when I didn’t want to hear it.
“I’m not saying that’s beneath something I would do,” he admits.
“You are a lawyer.” I roll my eyes, pretending to be annoyed. The reality is, I think it would be sweet if he tried to do something for me without me knowing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy I got the job on my own, but it’s the idea that he would do it that I enjoy.
“The reason Gondal Assists is doing so well is because Phillips has a knack for picking the right graduates that know what they are doing.”
“Thanks.” I hope I’m not blushing, but my cheeks feel warm.
“It’s the truth. You don’t need me to tell you that, Meadow. You’ve always been the best at whatever you put your mind to.” If only that was true. “And as I said, I trust you. I’m handing over a lot of personal client information. Only you can access it and hand things off to Craig. Confidential details that my client is selling something can come down the line at any moment. That might not sound like much, but it could change stock prices if someone knew beforehand—”
“Insider trading,” I finish for him.
“Exactly. I’ve got enough of a mess on my hands with this.” He lets out a deep breath.
“Okay,” I agree and stand. “You look tired.”
“Are you saying I look like shit?”
“I don’t think you could look like shit if you tried,” I say, and he pushes off his desk to close the space between us. “I’ll figure this out. You should get some rest.”
“I haven’t gotten rest in years, Meadow.” His hand comes up to cup my cheek. “Not since—”
“You can’t go in there!” a woman shouts from behind us and snaps me back to reality. I step away from Heath a second before the door swings open and my sister comes strolling in.
“Can you make a will and leave everything to your cats?” Briar asks.