The moment I drove out of the garage, the cameras started. People were everywhere, making it harder for me to leave. It didn’t get any better the moment I reached headquarters. Once I got in the apartment, I texted Hawkins, I needed triple security for Emmalin and Flick. I didn’t give a fuck about me, being ransacked, it was them I was worried about. Hawkins was my main security. The person I trusted with my entire family. Hell, he was there when Emmalin went into labor with Flick and got her to the emergency room. So, to say I owed him my life was an understatement. I tried not to depend on him too much, now that he’s married to one of Emmalin’s best friend’s Gwen and they have a set of twins. My phone rang. I grabbed it, praying it was Emmalin.

It was Chace. I threw the phone down. I sure as fuck couldn’t deal with him right now. He protects Emmalin, just as much as I do, and if there’s even a thought I had hurt her in some way, Chace was there to ream my ass. Maybe this time I would actually let him win.

I sent a text to Emmalin.

Grayson: I love you, please know that. Give a hug and kiss to Flick for me and tell her I love her. I love you both.

A few minutes went by, and my phone dinged.

Emmalin: I’ll tell her.

The ultimate blow. I got up - fuck sleeping - and dialed my lawyers. This shit stops now.

“I want her fired immediately.”

My lawyer Francisco shook his head. “Mr. Mandrake, I advise against that.”

“The fuck do you mean, you advise against that?”

“If you fire her, she’ll use that against you in court. You need to have a probable cause for firing her.”

“Bullshit. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the state of Illinois is an employment at-will state. An employer may terminate with or without any reason or cause.”

“While that is true, Mr. Mandrake, I strongly advise against it. She’ll paint you as the bad guy for firing her because of your relationship.”

I gritted my teeth. “If you say the word ‘relationship’ again, you will be fired. We didn’t have any fucking relationship!”

He held up his hands in defense. “Noted, my apologies. But, we do have to play smart. You can move her to another position, but I strongly recommend against termination. At least not now, and not yet. Not until we have everything we need.”

I slumped against my chair. My other lawyer Syed finally spoke up. “We’ll start with investigating her background. We’ll bring up everything on her. We’ll go as far back as preschool if we have to.”

I mull over the decision for a few seconds, and turned to Helen Peterson from Human Resources. “Have her moved, effective immediately.” She nodded as she quickly wrote down notes. “Any particular area, or do you want us to accommodate?”

“I don’t really give a shit where you put her, she can clean the fucking toilets for all I care, just get her off my fucking floor.” Helen nodded, as she exited the room.

I ran my hand through my hair. At this rate, I’ll be bald before the end of the fucking week. I turned to Jack Devers. He was former CIA, but he could do and hack anything and everything. Nothing was a challenge for him. “I want everything, and I do mean everything, down to what food she hates, allergies, exes, family. Everything.”

He smirked. “That I can do. It’ll be great working for you again, although I think you only call me when there’s a fuck up.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You know that’s not true.”

He faked scoffed. “I didn’t even get invited to your wedding!”

“You were in Nagano.”

He looked to be pondering that before he smiled. “Yeah, that was fun. The women over there are spicy.” He wiggled his eyebrows as he stood up. My lawyers followed suite and left. Jack stayed, mulling around until they left. He finally turned to me, all serious. “We’ll fix this.”

I took a deep breath. “We have to. I won’t lose my family.”