My Wife Hid Me at Work, Now I Own Her Company novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Contact Only Through Kayla

I took her into the empty conference room and shut the door.

Kayla stood outside the glass with her arms folded and her back to us.

Allison stood by the long table with her hands pressed flat on it.

"A year of what?" I asked.

"Russell."

"He said you begged him. What did you beg him for?"

"Sit down."

"I'll stand."

She nodded, and her eyes went to the framed photo of the first warehouse on the wall.

"Last October there was an investor dinner," she said. "The ones with the wives and the speeches."

"I remember. You told me it was a company event and I couldn't come."

"That's right."

"I stayed home and made you soup for when you got back."

"You did."

She swallowed.

"Two of the investors had been asking who I was seeing. They wanted to know if I was settled."

"I couldn't say I was married."

"Because of your father."

"I'll get to my father," she said. "Please let me say the rest."

"Say it."

"I needed someone to stand beside me at that dinner so nobody would ask. Brody and I knew each other from college. He'd just lost his job, and he said yes."

"He stood next to you."

"He stood next to me. He put his hand on my back for photos. I let him."

I felt something go cold in my chest.

"Then he asked for a job," she said. "And he kept the secret. He told me nobody would ever know, and I begged him to promise it."

"You begged him to promise not to tell me."

"Yes."

"For a year, you let a man pretend to be your date, and then you hired him."

"Yes."

"And then you gave him a party."

"I didn't think it was a party for him," she said, and her voice broke. "I thought it was a party for the company."

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