She Fell for Her Stepbrother, Then Found Out She Was Pregnant novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: Close Call

Lena's POV

The doorknob turned.

It rattled once against the lock, and the whole room went still.

Caleb's hand clamped over my mouth, though I hadn't made a sound.

We were against the back shelves behind a stack of flooring cartons.

My skirt was still rucked to my hips and his belt was hanging open.

I tried not to breathe.

"Locked?" Paul Whitaker said to himself, mildly, on the other side. "Odd."

He tried the knob again.

Then his voice drifted away from the door, back toward the dock.

"No, I'm back," he said, into the phone. "Just the supply room. Go on."

Caleb's hand stayed where it was.

Neither of us moved.

"I told you," Whitaker said, farther off. "Richard retires at the end of next year, and the board votes on a successor in December."

A pause.

"Two names, in fact. The daughter and the stepson."

Another pause.

"Yes, exactly. They can't sit through a lunch without a knife fight. By December they'll have cut each other to pieces."

I felt Caleb's chest tighten against my back.

"Then the board will ask who can steady the ship," Whitaker said. "And I'll have a buyer ready. Nobody suspects a thing. Why would they? I'm the family accountant."

Footsteps moved away across the concrete.

A truck door slammed.

Then there was only the hum of the bulb over our heads.

Caleb took his hand off my mouth.

We stared at each other.

"Buyer," I whispered.

"I heard."

"He's going to sell the company."

"He's going to sell it the day Richard leaves," Caleb said. His voice was very quiet and very flat. "And he needs the two of us fighting when the board votes."

"We could tell Dad."

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