Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 67991 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67991 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“And to you,” Tempe murmurs.
Drake smiles at her.
“Can we have some coffee?” Brienne asks.
That has me jumping into action. “Yeah, sure. We just woke up. Sorry if I’m a little discombobulated.”
I lead everyone into the kitchen but it’s Tempe who moves to the coffee maker, which we’d set the night before and is ready with a piping-hot brew made of a lovely bean I picked up in Washington State over the summer called Three Peckered Billy Goat.
Tempe fixes everyone coffee—cream for Brienne, black for me and Drake—before she pours herself a cup. Brienne makes small talk and I tell her about the party at Foster’s house last night.
It’s only after Tempe is seated with us at the kitchen island and Brienne takes a sip of coffee does she say, “I’m sorry to drop in unannounced. I was going to call you, but we had plans to go out to breakfast and thought we’d stop by. I hope that’s okay.”
What am I going to say? No, sorry Brienne… I was getting ready to fuck my girlfriend and a call would have been nice. Of course not, because I know damn well she’s here about Tansy and I appreciate the face-to-face. “You’re welcome here anytime. I assume you talked to Tansy?”
Brienne grimaces as she nods, as if the memory of the conversation is slightly bitter. “She denied she was behind the false doping allegations.”
“I expected no less,” I say.
“Same,” Brienne agrees, her finger tracing the edge of her coffee cup. “I did present her with your drug test results to see if that would prompt her to fess up.”
Tempe leans forward. “But I thought those would take a week to get back.”
Drake chuckles, putting his hand to the back of his wife’s neck and giving it an affectionate squeeze. “When Brienne wants something done, she gets it done. She had put an expedited request in the day the test was taken and they came in just about half an hour before Tansy arrived.”
“Fortuitous,” Tempe murmurs with a wry smile. “But it didn’t loosen her lips?”
Brienne shakes her head. “Nope. She was sticking to her story, so I made her an offer.”
“An offer?” I ask. Because I didn’t really think Tansy had room to negotiate, but I hold that thought to myself.
Brienne sips her coffee, then says, “I told her I would continue to investigate and expose her, not just within our organization but publicly. I made it clear that her actions not only targeted you, Rafferty, but they were an attack on the team’s integrity. They were ultimately an attack on me. I also told her that the fact we share blood had no bearing on this and that no one gets away with hurting me or my team.”
I watch mesmerized, Brienne’s expression hard and unyielding. I’m a little in awe, and maybe a little in love with her.
“Ultimately, I gave her a choice,” Brienne continues. “Confess the truth and I’d let her resign quietly with no further action on my part. However, if she wanted to continue to lie to me, I’d ruin her. I promised to expose her entire scheme to the world and she’d never work in marketing again.”
“And she confessed all?” Tempe asks.
“Not right away. She was stubborn so I stepped out of the office, told her I’d give her fifteen minutes to think it over. As I was walking out the door, I told her I was going to have my attorneys ready to call the police to investigate her for fraud, and that’s when she chose to resign.”
“After confessing the truth, start to finish,” Drake adds. “Her story matched yours, Rafferty, although she downplayed the stalking. She did shed a lot of crocodile tears though, begging forgiveness and asking to keep her job.”
“But that was not an option,” Brienne says.
“So she’s gone?” I ask, somewhat in disbelief that it was just that easy. Brienne had no hard evidence Tansy was involved, only used a threat to get her to cave.
Incredible.
“I had security ready to escort her to her office and her personal effects were cleared out, her login credentials and arena pass disabled. She’s gone.”
I consider the gravity of the moment, but I can only think of one thing to say to Brienne. “I’m really sorry. I know that had to be hard on you, given she’s family.”
Brienne offers me a sympathetic smile. “There are many definitions of the word family. This team is my family. You’re my family. Tansy is my family. But love, respect and trust are earned, not automatically given by blood. In this instance, I had to choose one family member over another, and I would make that same choice, time and again.”
Damn if that doesn’t choke me up, but I manage not to fuck up my words. I exhale a heavy breath, relief mingling with a surge of gratitude. “Thank you. That means a lot.”