“I believe it has to do with how I spent my weekend, sir.”
Christopher Lord’s brow furrowed, his heavy jowls wobbling as he sharply enunciated every syllable. “Not only how, Miss Sullivan, but with whom.”
She inclined her head in acknowledgment. No way was she going to roll over and give them her belly. Absolutely not. The only information they would get from her would be answers to questions she deemed relevant to her position within the firm. The rest of it was none of their damn business, no matter how furious she was with Isaac.
“It has been brought to our attention that you took a trip with the CEO of Quantum Ventures, a company against whom a prominent client of our firm has asked us to file suit.”
Again, she inclined her head.
“Please respond verbally, Miss Sullivan.”
The nape of her neck prickled with unease. “May I ask why, Mr. Lord?”
“For clarity’s sake.”
“Was my nod of acknowledgment not understandable?”
“For God’s sake, Rachel, just answer out loud,” Jim snarled under his breath.
“Certainly,” she said, her voice so arctic she was surprised it didn’t condense on the air. “When I understand why.”
Christopher Lord’s face flushed. “Because I’ve asked you to, young lady.”
Like that, was it?
She met his gaze head-on. She didn’t blink. Didn’t flinch. “Am I being recorded, sir?”
Bradley Mitchum jotted down a short note on his legal pad before unbuttoning the single button on his suit coat and crossing his arms. “This needn’t be a hostile interview if you don’t wish it to be, Miss Sullivan.”
In other words, if she played nice and answered the men’s questions, they’d pat her on the head and maybe allow her to keep her job.
Nope. All kinds of nope happening here.
She waited, and Mitchum gave her a patronizing smile. “Did you or did you not spend the weekend with Isaac Miller, CEO of Quantum Ventures, the primary defendant in an injunction your immediate supervisor directed you to file last Friday, October seventeenth?”
“I did,” she answered.
He stared at her for a moment before continuing. “And did you or did you not allow Isaac Miller to cover your travel expenses via his corporation, Quantum Ventures, again identified as the codefendant in the injunction you were directed to file?”
“I didn’t allow it. The use of the corporate jet was exclusively his decision.”
“But you didn’t request that he travel commercial or, at the very least, allow you to meet him at your final destination, which, I believe, was Dublin, Ireland?”
“Mr. Mitchum, you and your two fellow partners are obviously aware that I spent the weekend in Ireland with Isaac Miller and that I traveled to and from the country via Mr. Miller’s corporate jet.” The corners of her mouth turned up, but the gesture, the look, was far from anything one might constitute as a smile. “In the name of expediency, let’s allow that to stand as established fact. This way you can skip the inane questions and move on to those that you most want answered.”
Christopher Lord turned positively puce. “Don’t be irreverent, girl.”
“With all due respect, don’t call me ‘girl’...sir.”
Andrew Taylor held up a hand, staying Christopher Lord’s response. “Miss Sullivan, answer me this. Did you or did you not engage in inappropriate activities with Isaac Miller between the hours of 7:00 p.m. Thursday, October sixteenth, and midnight Sunday, October nineteenth?”
Her mind filled with memories of her time spent with Isaac, from their initial meeting to what proved to be their final goodbye. No matter what he thought of her now, no matter what these meneverthought of her, she would not under any circumstances label anything she’d done with Isaac as “inappropriate.” Sitting up impossibly straighter, she looked each man in the eyes before answering. “No, sir, I did not.”
Christopher Lord looked at her with undisguised smugness. “You’re lying.”
“No, sir, I’m not.”
He leered at her, looking her up and down. “Do you deny you engaged in sexual intercourse with Mr. Miller?”