Chapter Seven

~Raphael~

I hadn’t known when I had first walked in that I would call ‘Max’ in for a meeting, but when Freddy called and told me that her identity was indeed fake and that her real name was McKenna O’Grady, I knew that I needed to expose her immediately.

It was hard to describe how utterly enraged I was at first. Despite all my hoping, it turned out that this woman was trying to trick me as well! Was there really not a single decent human on the face of the Earth?!

But then my logical side had reminded me that there was a small chance that her fake name had nothing to do with me. Perhaps she was in some sort of witness protection program, or working under cover. Although that didn’t make the most sense, I found myself hoping something was true.

But true or not, I needed to confront her. I wasn’t the type to be able to let it go. So, I called Shelly and asked her to set up a meeting between us. Of course, she had right away, but I was left waiting for Maxi- McKenna to wake up.

I imagined that, given her overnight schedule, that she probably wasn’t going to be up until the afternoon, and it turned out I was right. McKenna had called a bit after two and confirmed she would be arriving in about an hour, giving me just enough time to ready myself for whatever load of bullshit she tried to heap on me.

For some reason, I had half expected her to arrive in her janitor uniform. I wasn’t sure why, considering that there were still many hours before her shift, but that’s just what had been in my head. So, when I walked into the room and instead saw her dressed in a crisp blouse and a pencil skirt that was barely visible from where she was sitting, I had almost lost my train of thought.

She didn’t have any make up on that I could see, and her clothes were obviously both cheap and worn, but she looked amazing nonetheless. Her blue eyes were sparkling with curiosity while her cheeks were flushed -from nerves no doubt. She watched me with a keen sort of interest that made me feel as if I had forgotten to button my own shirt up all the way or had worn mismatched shoes. Once more I found myself wondering who this woman was and why she was lying to work at my company.

She had reacted better than I thought she would when I dropped the bomb that I knew. Sure, her already pale face went whiter than a sheet, and I could see her breathing hitch, but other than that, she stayed absolutely still.

It almost seemed wrong to have scared her so badly. If she was some sort of corporate spy, it was easy to see why they had sent her. She could melt the defenses of even the most hardened man with a furrowed brow and a pout, but I refused to let myself be swayed.

The seconds ticked on and I let her sit there in silence. I could tell that she wasn’t taking the time to cook up a lie, but rather was trying to get over the shock of me exposing her. In my opinion, that boded well. To me it indicated that she wasn’t used to lying at all and the sheer surprise of it was thoroughly shaking her down to her core.

“I…” Her musical way of speaking made a melancholy sort of tone, which I decided I didn’t like at all. She had a voice that was meant for happiness and brighter things. The sooner I got her out of my office, the sooner I could stop being bothered by the discrepancy. “I needed the fake name.”

That was a sentence, but certainly not an answer, so I sat there with crossed arms and waited for her to continue.

“For…protection.”

“Protection?” I parroted, raising and eyebrow. “From what?”

“If it makes any difference sir, I would prefer not to say. I came here to start a new life, and talking about my old one seems counterintuitive.”

“Counterintuitive, huh?” I took a deep breath. While she was finally giving me answers, they weren’t really abating any of my questions. Also, I had no way of knowing if she was lying or not, even if she did have an innocent face.

In fact, what had even been the point of me calling her here? Not that I thought about it, it wasn’t like she was going to confess to corporate espionage outright like a criminal in a holding cell. If she was worth her salt at all, she would lie out of her ass to protect her mission.

I had essentially wasted her time and mine, but she was the one who had to come in and work a full shift later. Abruptly, I was very embarrassed by how rashly I had addressed the situation. I should have just waited for Freddy to get back to me with more info. He was the one person I could trust to solve this whole mess, and it was doubtful he was going to finish it tonight.

“What seemed counterintuitive to me is to have someone working for me who doesn’t trust us with her own name. You lied to us, and that doesn’t bode well for your trustworthiness as an employee. Not to mention the fact that you could just be a spy from another company sent to sabotage or steal.”

“Sabotage?” Her eyes went wide as she repeated me, and her shocked reaction seemed genuine. Interesting. But I still couldn’t let that phase me. “If that’s what you think I am, then you are really, really mistaken sir. I’m just a woman who’s looking to start a new life. I’m a nobody, and I’d like to stay that way.”

The way she leaned forward, and the spike of fear in her tone made me want to believe her. Hell, if she was lying, this woman was one hell of an actress. But I couldn’t trust her. Everything I knew about humans told me that doing so would be detrimental to everything.

“Very well then. I’m sure you understand the sort of position you’ve put me in,” I saw a flash of rebellion in her eyes as I said that, but she otherwise remained quiet. “I’ll tell you what. You go home, you have the rest of today off -paid, of course. You will be contacted within twenty-four hours of my decision. Until then, I wish you the best, Miss O’Grady.”

“Please don’t use my real name,” she whispered, her eyes flicking downward. “It’s dan- I would just prefer you didn’t.”

“Very well then. I won’t patronize you by saying it was nice to meet you in this way, but I do wish you a good rest of the day. I hope to see you in the future.”

“I can’t quite say the feeling is mutual,” she answered wish a shaky smile, her eyes clearly watering at the corners. She quickly tipped her head towards me then hurried out, allowing me to watch her round, plush backside as she went.

It was probably hypocritical for me to check her out mere moments after threatening her, so I averted my eyes. While firing someone was rarely pleasant, I had never felt so guilty for giving someone the business. And to be honest, I had been much gentler on her than I had ever intended to be.

Ugh. I was a mess. I didn’t know what was going on with me, but it needed to end soon. I was wasting so much time, productivity and energy on something that shouldn’t even matter.

But still, in the very back of my mind, I couldn’t help but hope that I was wrong, and she had some sort of good reason for lying to me. Even if I knew how unlikely that was.