Chapter Twenty-Six
One hard knock was all the warning Carson received before Gregory stormed in. He slammed the door closed behind him.
“What the fuck did you do?” he barked. His rage vibrated through the room to smack Carson. Gregory pointed his finger at him, accusation blasting. “I told you not to fuck with her. I told you not to mess with my assistant. But you had to fuck it up anyway.”
Carson jerked up. “What the hell are you talking about?” Avery. That was all he knew. It had something to do with her.
Gregory shook his head, lips compressed in a hard line around the words. He let out a growl, spun around and stalked to the wall, then back.
Carson rose from his chair, a knot already cinched in his stomach.
“Why did you hide the app from her?” Gregory threw up his hands in exclamation, frustration humming over his words. “Why?”
The app?
The knot in Carson’s stomach tightened into a firm ball of dread. He swallowed, guilt snapping out to laugh at him. There was only one app Gregory could be talking about. Fuck.
“What happened?” he asked, worry already centered on Avery. Was she okay? Where was she? He stepped around his desk. “I need to find her.”
“She’s not here,” Gregory bit out. He gripped his hips as he sidestepped to block Carson’s path, the action subtle but pointed. “No thanks to you.”
Carson pulled up, anger bubbling. He clenched his jaw and forced back the reflexive instinct to fight. It crawled over his skin and picked at his pride. “You need to tell me what is going on.” The words were ground out over the rough edge of grit lining his throat. “Now.”
Another knock blasted through the tension before his door burst open. Carson shifted his glare to Trevor as he entered and received an equally cutting one in return.
“What is going on?” Frustration simmered from Trevor as he glanced between the two of them.
“You went to him first?” Carson accused Gregory. His disgust grew with each passing second. And he still didn’t know the full scope of what had happened.
Avery. The worry hammered in his skull and twisted through his chest until each breath was a forced effort.
“I had to,” Gregory ground out. “You fucked up, and now I have an upset wife and a missing assistant.”
“What did I do?” Carson growled.
“You didn’t tell her about the app,” Gregory shot back, his finger pointed in accusation once again.
“So what?” he exclaimed. Yet his guilt sat on his chest to further impede his attempts to breathe. He sucked in deep gusts of air, but each one came back empty. Possible outcomes spun through his mind in an endless stream. Ones that brought down the entire Boardroom to less dramatic ones that left him without a job and Avery.
Avery. Fuck.
Pain pierced his chest, and he focused on it for one long moment. On the ache that spread through his ribs to pound in his head.
“Enough.” Trevor’s command cut through the argument in one clean stroke. He glared at each of them in turn, his scowl harsh with reprimand.
Carson stared at the floor, his teeth clenched at the scolding. The added humiliation did nothing to calm the rolling sea of angst, guilt and worry.
“Gregory,” Trevor snapped. “Explain.”
Carson looked up to stare directly at his accuser. He’d take whatever hits Gregory threw out and deal with them, just like he’d done his entire life.
Gregory took a deep breath, blew it out. “I forgot the McPherson papers at home.” He winced at Trevor’s silent rebuke. “I know, okay? It was a shit night with the kids.” He dug a hand through his hair, leaving the strands in a wild mess of wayward curls. “I asked Avery to run down and get them from Tam, and she mentioned the Boardroom app to Avery while she was there.”
“Why?” Carson bit out. Why in the fuck would they talk about it?
“I don’t know,” Gregory flung back. “The real question is, why didn’t you share it with Avery?”
Two sets of eyes drilled Carson, waiting for his response when he had none. The truth laughed at him, though. Hard and bitter with his own denial. He tried to drag in another breath only to fail. Countless possible answers shuffled through his mind, but he could only hold on to one: control and fear.
And he’d let it screw up the one thing that’d come to matter to him the most. His stomach heaved at the realization, a clammy unease spreading over his skin.
“Where’s Avery now?” Trevor asked.
“I don’t know.” Gregory’s voice had lowered, a tired resignation filling it. “The papers were delivered to my office from the security desk downstairs along with a note that said she didn’t feel well and would be out for the rest of the day.”
Trevor looked to Carson. “Has she contacted you?”
“No.” Not a word since her “good morning” text before he’d arrived at work.
Trevor’s eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms over his chest as he shifted into that full analytical mode Carson recognized.
“There’s more,” Gregory said, caution in his tone. He jerked his gaze to Carson before returning it to Trevor. “Tam mentioned that she and I were both a part of the Boardroom. That’s how the app came up. She told her she was there if Avery had questions or wanted to talk about anything regarding the group.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, winced. “She also said that you could give her access to the app, along with Carson.”
Trevor’s expression flattened into a blank facade. Technically, Tam hadn’t disclosed anything that wasn’t openly known by all Boardroom members. But... “Let me guess,” Trevor said, his gaze boring into Carson. “She didn’t know about Gregory, Tam or me.”
And there was that good ol’ guilt again. It punched Carson in the gut before tightening the winch around his chest. “No.” He shook his head in a slow rejection. His guilt lay exposed in his voice. “There was no need for her to know.” Not when she doused her desires in shame when they were exposed to someone she knew—and she’d been blindsided with that reality.
Fuck.
“Full disclosure,” Trevor said, each word clipped with conviction. “There is no true consent without it.”
“I know.” Carson met his gaze and managed to withhold his flinch. “I fucked up.” The admission did nothing to relieve his own shame that was growing into a hot, sick mess.
Trevor spun around and stalked to the window to stare out it. He gripped his hips, his shoulders lifting and falling with his deep breaths. “Every member is entitled to all the facts so they can evaluate if the Boardroom is for them.”
“You’re right.” Carson didn’t even try to contradict the reprimand. “The starting circumstances were different with Avery. You know that.”
Trevor faced him. “And you told me it was handled.”
“It was,” he snapped. “In fact, it was going fucking fantastically until Tam opened her mouth.”
“Fuck you,” Gregory growled. “You don’t get to blame Tam for your mistake.”
Carson cringed, eyes lowering as more of that shame rushed in. “You’re right.” He forced his gaze up. “Sorry.”
Gregory’s eyes narrowed, but he gave a nod. “You need to fix this.”
“I know.” Irritation crawled over his neck alongside the growing sense of desperation and...loss. The truth smacked him in the face with the clarity he’d been avoiding. “I have to find her.” He bolted for the door, moving before he’d finished the thought.
“Wait.”
He froze at Trevor’s command, pulse racing, nerves jumping. An urgency pressed on him now that he had a direction. He needed to talk to Avery and explain his actions—before she made the wrong conclusions. Like that hadn’t already happened. His own sharp laugh cut through his mind.
Trevor came toward him, brows drawn low. “I understand this turned personal for you.”
Carson couldn’t stop his snort. Personal was way too shallow of a description.
“But,” Trevor went on, “this is also legal. She can’t speak about anything regarding the Boardroom, or I will sue her for everything she owns.” His voice had shifted to ice, along with his glare.
A cold spear of protective fury raced through Carson. His chest expanded with his mounting retaliation, but Trevor cut him off.
“And there is no sexual harassment case, if she tries for that angle.” His gaze included Gregory this time. “No one pressured or threatened her into joining the Boardroom, right?”
“No one was pressured into anything,” Carson spit out. He’d made damn sure that every decision had been hers. “And your opinion of Avery is insulting.”
“She isn’t like that,” Gregory defended. His scowl said exactly what he thought of Trevor’s assumptions.
Trevor dismissed their words with a shrug. “I have no opinion about her. My responsibility is to this company. And to that end, I will protect it however necessary.”
“You asshole.” Disgust coiled in Carson’s stomach. “There is more to life than this damn company.”
“There is,” Trevor agreed. His voice rose with each word. “And I have over a hundred employees and millions of dollars in client investments to protect.” He took a breath, leaning back. “Avery is a single entity.”
A single entity.
The minimal classification didn’t fit her. Not when she’d become everything to him.
“I’m calling Burns,” Trevor said as he pulled his phone from his pocket.
“You don’t need a lawyer,” Carson insisted.
“Hopefully not. But he should be briefed.” Trevor moved to the door. “I’ll hold off on notifying the corporate lawyers.”
The door clicked closed behind him. The soft note seemed to shatter through the quiet to nail Carson with a final condemnation. Fucking A.
Gregory cleared his throat. “Sorry about that.” He motioned after Trevor.
Carson’s low chuckle contained every deprecating thought flagging him. “Not your fault.” Not at all. This was one hundred percent on him. “And sorry again about Tam.” He winced. “This isn’t on her.”
Gregory gave a tight smile and turned to the door. “I’ll let you know if I hear from her.”
He nodded. “Thanks.”
The silence wrapped around him after Gregory left, yet his ears rang with every condemnation he could muster. Avery had trusted him, and he’d failed her. Completely.
Would she forgive him?
Should she?
He cursed his own stupidity and swiped his phone off his desk. No messages or missed calls. He pressed her number and waited, heart racing with the barest of hope. The ringing rolled to voice mail as he’d expected, but he’d hoped anyway. He left a brief message for her to call him before firing off a text. Are you okay? I’m sorry. Can we talk?
He sent the message and stared at the phone. A long moment passed before he recognized another step on his stupidity trek. Like she would really respond to his text.
He had to find her.
Jean jerked up when he stormed from the office.
“I’ll be out for the rest of the day.” He didn’t spare her a glance or wait for a reply. He was on a mission and he wouldn’t stop until he knew that Avery was okay.
Even if that meant he was out of her life forever.