“Did you think snitching to the board that Emery had incredible data would get the project shut down?” Claire continues, cutting him off. “It’s honestly pathetic.”
My eyes widen and I fist-pump. Realizing that Vince is actively sabotaging my work makes me want to stay and hand him his ass personally, but hearing him get chewed out by a woman twice his age is almost as good.
I could stand here and listen to it all day, in fact, but I reluctantly pull myself away from the wall and turn to leave, clipping my shoulder on a cubicle wall as I do. A cup of pens falls to the floor with a loud clatter.
Fuck.
“Hello?” Claire appears in the doorway to the lab, her eyes widening when she sees me. “Emery!” She walks over as I’m frantically scooping up the pens. “Are you okay?”
“Oh yeah, just literally the clumsiest person alive today!” I pick up the final one and straighten to put them back on the desk. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Vince slinking out of the lab and disappearing down the hall. “Thanks,” I say to Claire. “That was epic.”
She looks sheepish. “What did you hear?”
“Oh,” I say, “just you handing him his ass.”
She exhales in relief, waving me off with a smile. “He needed a talking-to.”
“Claire, my hero.” I lean in. “And confirmation that he was the one who fucked with the samples? Wow.”
“You heard that, did you?” I catch a hint of a rare smirk on her face.
I nod. “Way to hand him his ass.”
“What on earth are you doing here this early?” she asks. “Is everything okay?”
“Oh, I was…” I gesture to the files I took from my office. “I’m taking a few days off and wanted to grab some things to review.”
“I’ve been here for two years, and I’ve never seen you take a day off. Is everything okay?”
I swallow, shaking my head as the lie forms on my lips. “Luca hurt himself at work, so I’m going to stick around and take care of him.”
Claire reaches for my arm. “Oh no!”
I nod. “He’ll be okay. I just want to be home while he’s recuperating.”
“Of course you do,” she says, and squeezes my shoulder. “Go home. We’ll keep an eye on Vince and will let you know if there’s any chatter fallout over the board meeting.” She lifts her brows meaningfully. “Really, Emery. Don’t worry about a thing.”
I force a smile.I sure fucking wish that was possible, Claire.
Annie was right, and Luca is still asleep when I get home. She does a victory lap around the living room when I tell her I was able to locate the data and delete it, pauses briefly at my mention of the thirty-day backup copy, but stops dead in her tracks when I get to the part about Claire confirming that Vince messed with the samples.
“That weaselly motherfucker,” Annie growls.
“Right?”
“We have to do something. We should tell Leonard.”
“Aside from the fact that we’re already deep in the doghouse,” I remind her, “we don’t have any proof.”
Her shoulders fall and then immediately perk up again. “The cameras.”
“You mean the cameras with backup footage we specifically don’t want people to start digging into? Those cameras?”
Annie’s shoulders slump again. “Fack.”
“The good news is that Claire and Tom are keeping an eye on him.”
“Then I guess that’s what I’ll be doing, too. Speaking of, I should get into the lab.”