Please Me, Daddy novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: Before Merrick Tells Them

"It isn't proof," Quentin said.

We sat in his car outside my apartment at one in the morning, with the engine off.

"You heard him through a window," I said.

"And I'm the man he's trying to remove. The board will hear a jealous CEO who stood under a dining room. He'll say I made it up."

"Then we need him on record."

"We do. But Friday he sends the photograph, and by then everyone on that floor learns about us from Merrick, with his hand on their shoulder and his voice full of sorrow." He looked at the dark windshield. "I won't let him tell it."

"What are you going to do?"

"Tell it first."

At eight-thirty the next morning, the thirty-first floor was full.

Quentin had sent one email at seven. It said: Everyone, reception, 8:30. Mr. Stroud.

Sixty people stood in a loose half circle around the front desk, with coffee and phones and uneasy faces.

Merrick stood near the back in his camel coat, with a pleasant, curious look.

I stood next to Quentin.

He had told me to stand wherever I wanted, and I'd picked the place beside him.

My hands were cold, and the watch was heavy on my wrist.

"Good morning," Quentin said.

He didn't raise his voice.

He never did, and the room went quiet anyway.

"Ms. Doyle and I are in a relationship," he said. "It began before she worked here. I knew who she was on her first morning, and I didn't report it. That is my mistake, and nobody else's."

Nobody moved.

"I'm telling you before anyone else does, because someone intends to. If you see a photograph this week, you've heard it from me first. Ms. Doyle did nothing wrong. If any of you think the CEO's assistant gets her work by sleeping with him, come to my office, and I will show you her files, and then you can apologize."

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