could almost feel a trap closing over her head. The need to bolt overtook her but she forced her legs to stay still. “Why?”
“Most people would ask how.”
She refused to be taken off guard by double-talk. “I’m not like everyone else.”
“I’m starting to see that.” Derrick watched her for a second. His gaze moved over her face in the silence. After a visible inhale, he began again, his voice louder and more firm. “I will help your brother but he has to do something for me.”
“You don’t like that he’s making you look like a complete jerk, maybe even a bit incompetent.” She got that.
Derrick fired Noah eight weeks ago, exactly two weeks before she lost her job. Noah’s videos started out as a way to let off steam. Then he gained followers. A lot of them. He even managed to make money off his internet work, but she had no idea how.
He’d become a symbol for the “little man” fighting against the corporate machine. As his following grew, so did his stories about Derrick and the company.
Blame it on Noah’s baby face or his sarcasm, but media and online sites had picked up the battle. Then Derrick’s lawyers had made contact...and so had the prosecutor’s office about the missing funds.
And now Derrick had the Insider and its gossip network working for him.
“I have shareholders and business associates,” Derrick said.
“So, this is about money.”
Derrick’s frown deepened. “Isn’t everything?”
Not an unexpected answer, but still... “It worries me that you don’t know how scary that question is.”
“I’m proposing a quid pro quo. I make your brother’s legal issues disappear. He shuts down his site and I assist him in finding other more profitable and appropriate ways to channel his technology experience.”
That sounded somewhat reasonable, which scared her. “That’s the entire deal you’re offering?”
“No.”
She beat back a wave of disappointment. She’d taken care of her brilliant brother for so long. Tried to keep him occupied and out of trouble. The idea of having someone else handle that job sounded really good to her at the moment. With her life in shambles and the need to find a new job nipping at her, she loved the idea of having one less stress to deal with.
“I haven’t told you what I get out of this,” Derrick said.
Her heart sank. She held in a groan before it could escape her lips. “You did. He stops running the site.”
It might sound easy but it wasn’t. Noah didn’t have anything else right now except for his anger at Derrick and the attention from his videos. It was the “thing” that kept Noah going. It also provided him with more attention and praise than he’d ever gotten.
“The damage is done. He’s lied and caused me what could be irreparable damage,” Derrick said.
His words pounded her but she kept her shoulders up and her back straight. “That sounds like a legal term.”
“Because it is.”
That meant more fighting. More lawyer fees on top of the ones for her employment attorney. “I thought you were worried about the lost money.”
“There are bigger issues here.”
She couldn’t imagine money being a side concern. “Noah is a kid.”
“Noah is twenty and a genius.” When she opened her mouth to respond, Derrick talked right over her. “You are twenty-nine, which means you’re old enough to know he’s looking at criminal charges and civil repercussions for the money, which I’m willing to overlook right now.”
“I’m going to pretend I know what that means and jump ahead. What is your part of the quid pro quo? Because you don’t strike me as a guy who does things to be nice.” That wasn’t quite true. He’d hired Noah and ignored his lack of a degree and questionable people skills. But he’d also had security escort Noah out of the building months later. Now that she knew how that felt, she had even more sympathy for her brother. “What do you want?”
“You.”
A weird, high-pitched ringing filled her ears. She shook her head but it refused to die down. “What?”
“The carefully placed stories about us have been aimed at diffusing some of your brother’s damage.”
“In other words, you’re using me to somehow make yourself look better.”
He shrugged. “That’s not the way I’d put it.”
“Of course not, since you’re clearly clueless about women.”
That had him sitting straighter. “Excuse me?”
Bull’s-eye. The idea that she’d found the one thing sure to grab his attention—questioning his success with women—filled her with relief. “You’re letting people believe we’re together and—”
“Dating. People are starting to believe we’re dating and that your brother doesn’t like it and is trying to break us up by launching false charges against me.” Derrick looked far too pleased with himself. “Which was exactly my plan.”
“That’s ridiculous.” She could think of a lot of other words to describe it but kept the conversation G-rated.
“I thought so, too, when the PR team suggested it, but I guess the public does like a good love story.”
A scream rattled around inside her. “Did you ever think to ask me first?”
“No.”
The quick response had her sputtering. “That’s really your answer?”
“I called you lovely in my interview with the Insider, which I think we can agree was a bit of a stretch since you looked ready to punch me the first time we met in person.”
“Oh, you picked up on that?” Good to know.
“Let’s get down to it.” He leaned in again. Didn’t break eye contact. “We’re talking about a business arrangement.”
“Who is?”
“You will pose as my girlfriend for an appropriate length of time, short though because the timing is important here. Long enough for us to sell that we’ve been dating. Then you’ll act as my fiancée and—”
“Wait.” That ringing in her ears turned into a loud clanging sound.
He stared at her. “I haven’t finished explaining the plan.”
When his PR team said he’d needed to create a diversion, it made sense in an abstract sort of way. But they could not have meant her. He—they—didn’t
