Drawing on the example of the woman in front of her, Callie reassumed the mantle of icy suspension that had seen her survive the night.
“Thank you, Irene. Now, if that’s all today, I think I’ll head home.”
Irene nodded her dismissal. On her drive home, Callie honed that icy calm into steel-plated armour. With any luck it would see her through the rest of her life because she knew to the soles of her feet that she would never allow herself to be so vulnerable ever again. It simply hurt too much. It was better to stay on the path she’d chosen. To be the best at her job she could be. To take comfort in casual friendships and leave life at that.
Maybe she’d get a cat, she thought. Something that could subsist beside her without expecting more than she was prepared to give, and without giving more than she could accept. But even as she dwelled on that thought, she knew she wouldn’t. There was only one thing missing in her life—Josh—and without him she couldn’t bear to accept any other substitute.
It was two weeks until Christmas and the joyful hymns and carols pumping through the building’s elevators’ sound system were already driving Callie nuts. She ascended to the executive floor and stepped out with relief, the assault in her eardrums and her psyche over. It was hard enough watching the world go by in a fever of excitement over a festival she normally avoided without it impinging on her workspace as well.
As soon as Callie reached her office, though, she knew something was terribly wrong. Adam Palmer waited for her by her desk. Callie had barely seen him since his marriage, but those times she had he’d been relaxed and happy in a way she’d never seen before. Now, though, tension vibrated through every line in his body, and her smile of welcome quickly faded from her face.
“Callie, come with me to the boardroom.”
There was a coolness to his voice that made her stomach clench in fright. That and the realisation his words had not been couched as a request, but as a command.
“Adam, what’s wrong?”
“We’ll discuss it there,” was all he’d say and Callie was left to follow his rigid back along the carpeted hallway.
From every empty office they passed she heard phones shrilling unanswered. Where was everyone? The boardroom door, normally open, was firmly closed and a buzz of angry voices echoed through the wooden barrier.
Silence ensued as Adam pushed open the door.
“She’s here.”
Two words, yet they made her suddenly feel as if she were walking a plank over shark-infested waters.
“Sit down, please, Callie,” he directed.
Callie did as she was told, her eyes skimming over the assembly of senior executives ranging opposite her. At either end of the table sat Irene and Bruce Palmer. Twelve sets of accusing eyes bored into her, making her fidget on her chair.
Adam took charge of the proceedings immediately.
“Is it true that during the time you were with Josh Tremont you entered into a personal relationship with him?”
Callie’s eyes flew to Irene. What the heck? Irene had told her to do whatever it took, and she had—at great personal cost. Was she now to be denounced for it?
“I did, but I—”
“And is it true that you passed on information to Palmer Enterprises that enabled us to win the Flinders contract over Tremont Corporation.” Adam’s tone was relentless.
“I did what I was sent in there to do.”
“The information you gave to my mother two weeks ago, who gave it to you?”
“Josh did, but—”
“Did he put you up to this? Did you do it deliberately?” one of the other executives interrupted before she could finish.
“Do you have any idea what this has cost us?” another shouted from across the polished expanse of mahogany.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. What the heck is going on?”
Callie turned to Bruce and his grey features and aged expression shocked her to her core.
“The information you gave to Irene was a setup, Callie. We’re going to lose millions—maybe everything.” Bruce’s voice cracked on the last couple of words.
Callie swallowed against the sudden dryness in her throat. The information was false? They were losing millions? Palmers wasn’t in a position to lose millions, not after losing so much business to Tremont Corporation already. She’d believed that the Flinders deal, together with the latest information she had, would give them the boost they’d needed. To get them back on par with Tremont Corporation. But instead she’d dragged them into a quagmire.
Realisation dawned with damning finality. Josh had set her up. He’d set her up to take the Palmers down. To make them take the fall he’d been engineering all along.