He shrugged. “I was mad with you, but I have been trying to make it up. I gave a check to not cut you off.”
I laughed suddenly. “You paid her to fuck me?”
Randy’s jaw dropped with horrified surprise. He looked like someone who thought he paid well below market price for a priceless painting and just realized he was the target of a scam. “You’re sleeping with her?”
“Do you think we were going to sit around drinking tea? Of course we’re fucking.”
“She is a gold digger,” he ranted vindictively. “She took money from me and you. She’s played us both for fools.”
I laughed at him. He just never gave up. “Are you trying to sell me the same old gold digger mythagain?”
“Don’t fool yourself into believing that, that bitch is with you because she wants?”
I was out of my seat in a flash and I’d thrown the first punch before he knew what had hit him… and boy, did it feel good!
I stared him down while flexing my fingers.Go on, give me another reason to give you another reason to wear make-up.He didn’t disappoint. He retaliated with a punch to my gut, but I’d spent four years keeping myself fit and I jerked back so fast it landed as a weak jab. In fact, I was so hyped on adrenaline I did not even feel it. I grabbed him by the collar and delivered another blow to his precious face.
His hands flailed wildly in the air as he crashed to the floor. He didn’t even try to get up. He just sat there looking up at me with a slightly dazed expression. Blood trickled from his cut lip. His hair was crushed down on one side and I suddenly realized why he took such care to present it so perfectly coiffured. The perfection of his buoyant hair distracted you from his dead eyes. He had the emotionless eyes of a cold-blooded snake.
Standing over him, I felt a sense of triumph, not for having laid him on the floor, but for knowing that there’d never been anything between him and Sapphire. I strode to my desk, picked up the photo, walked back to within three feet away from him, and flung it at him. He caught it, glanced at it, then looked up at me, a furtive look in his eyes.
“Go on. Explain that,” I invited silkily.
“I’m not taking the blame for this. This is just as much your fault as mine.”
I took a threatening step towards him. “I swear I’m going to turn you into a bloody pulp if you don’t stop acting like an asshole.”
“You made it super easy because you always had your nose buried so far into your stupid computer codes, you couldn’t smell bullshit if you were drowning in the damn thing.”
I took another step and he instantly shifted backwards on his ass.
“Okay, okay, calm down. You want to know what happened that night? Well, your whiskey was spiked. The bartender made you a little concoction. The way he reported it, you would be out cold by the time you got to your room. A little surprise was waiting for you there. While you were dead to the world the prostitute did her thing. You have to admit this is a particularly good photo. She deserved every penny of what I paid her too.”
The hatred I felt for him boiled over and I wanted to throttle him once more, but I kept my mouth shut. I needed him to finish playing his hand.
“After that it was easy to have Lillian park the photos in your desk drawer after you stormed out of our meeting. You had let it slip earlier that it was Sapphire’s birthday and you were going to celebrate where you had your first date so I gave her time to know you were not going to show up. I actually sat and watched her through the window for almost an hour. When I saw her make a move to leave, I went to her. She was going out of her head with worry so I offered to take her to the office and help her locate you.
Sapphire found the photos in your desk. She was devastated. Selling the idea of you embezzling to pay off a whore who was blackmailing you was as easy as taking candy from a baby.”
“Get the fuck out.”
“Look for what’s it worth, I’m sorry, I?”
“Get out, before I decide ending you might be worth another bout of prison time,” I said between gritted teeth. I watched as he stood shakily and walked to the door. Later, I would deal with him properly. First, I had to find Sapphire and tell her the truth, but in a way to ensure that there was no chance of her doubting my sincerity. I had a fair idea of where I would start on the journey towards building my case.