The Boss's New Plaything

by Layla Valentine

  “I wonder why Chelsea didn't tell you what happened at Brinkman Tech...” She turned to Greaves. “Do you think she was embarrassed?”

  Greaves gave a tired shrug. I found it somewhat comforting that he was clearly a little too tired for his partner's games, too.

  “Just spit it out,” I told Henderson. “I think we're all ready for this day to be over, and you're making it unnecessarily long and annoying.”

  My comment ruffled her a little, but she tried not to show it.

  “Your sister was screwing her married boss,” Henderson said with a cruel lift of her brow. “He ended things with her, and she got so upset that she decided to take it out on the company. And on you.”

  The statement hit me like a blow to the chest. I opened my mouth to let out a snarky retort, but it dried up on my tongue.

  “You're lying.” I chewed on my bottom lip. “You're just trying to get a rise out of me.”

  “She's not lying,” said Greaves. “We have Donald O'Malley's statement, if you'd like to read it.” He began shuffling through a folder on the table, and pulled out a signed statement from Chelsea's former boss.

  It was just as Henderson had said. Donald and Chelsea had been seeing each other secretly for a few months, and he had ended things with her when his conscience had gotten too heavy. A week later, Chelsea had hopped on a plane to the Bahamas. The rest was history.

  “Believe me now?” Henderson smirked.

  “Whatever. Believing you or not believing you won't help me figure out my sister's location through the power of wishful thinking. She's gone, and I don't know where.”

  Greaves let out another, longer sigh.

  Henderson merely worked her jaw and glared daggers at me.

  “I think we're all getting rather tired here, don't you?” Greaves asked, pushing himself away from the wall.

  “I agree. Let's pick this up tomorrow.” Henderson swiped at the loose strands of hair on her forehead.

  “Tomorrow?” I blanched. “You're just going to let me sit in a cell for the night? I told you, I don't know where she is! Waiting until tomorrow isn't going to help.”

  The smile Henderson gave me this time was positively devious. “You won't have time for a cell,” she said. “You've got a flight to catch.”

  “What?”

  She nodded. “We're extraditing you back to home soil. Once we're there, we'll have expert interrogators work you over until you speak.”

  “She makes it sound like they're going to torture you,” Greaves interjected. “But it's much more boring than that. You won't like it, though.”

  “You can't do this!” I said. “I've got rights!”

  “As far as rights are concerned, we have every right to take you back to the States, and to continue to question you until there is no possibility that you’re withholding information.”

  The pair swanned out of the interrogation room, leaving me in the uncomfortable metal chair with a new understanding of the word helpless.

  What was I going to do? What was Chelsea going to do? Why hadn't she told me about what happened with her boss? I didn't want to believe it was because of what Henderson had said. What if Chelsea had been too embarrassed, and knew what she'd done was wrong? I couldn't think of any other reason for it.

  My sister didn't know where I was, and even if she did, would she do anything? A few hours ago, I would have said that she absolutely would, but now, I didn't know what to think.

  Then again, maybe Henderson was right. Maybe I just didn't know my sister anymore.

  “Ready to go?”

  I looked up and saw Greaves standing in the doorway. I'd had my face pressed against the cool metal of the table for the past fifteen minutes, and had almost been able to convince myself that this was all some sort of horrible dream.

  Almost, but not close enough.

  “Actually I have a few errands I need to run before we leave,” I said tartly, rising from the chair.

  Greaves chuckled humorlessly and walked behind me, pulling my hands back and snapping the cuffs back around my wrists.

  “This would be a lot easier for you if you'd give up your sister,” he murmured. “What has she done for you? Nothing. You're up to your neck in shit because of her, and where is she?”

  I swallowed down a bitter retort. I didn't have the energy to argue anymore.

  “Just take me to the airport. I'm tired, and I'd like to see somebody else's face for a change.”

  “Whatever you say.” Greaves led me out the door, then down the long hallway.

  Apparently, my star factor hadn't decreased during my time in confinement. The officers in the precinct still stared at me like a circus attraction on my way through. I stared at the floor.

  Henderson was waiting outside, smoking a cigarette. She sneered at me as Greaves loaded me into the back of their SUV.

  We rode the bumpy drive in silence. Greaves and Henderson had nothing left to ask, and I had nothing left to say. Not that I'd had much to say in the first place. I stared out the window at the scenery, wishing I could be anywhere but here. The Bahamas had been my paradise not long ago. In fact, the tropical environment had afforded me one of the best nights of my life—one that I would never forget.

  But I was alone now, in the back of a car with tinted windows, so I couldn't even feel the sun.

  The security entrance of the airport was desolate when we arrived. I supposed the two FBI agents didn't trust me around large groups of people, so they parked and unloaded me far away from the bustling departures entrance of the building. The door Greaves steered me toward was dull and gray, and I expected much of my trip back to the States would be the same.

  The sound of squealing tires had all three of us snapping our gazes behind us. A sleek black coupe had just made a quick stop next to the agents' SUV, and I wondered idly if I was about to be kidnapped by Chelsea's former employer. The situation was certainly dramatic enough.

  Both doors opened, and my mouth dried as I watched Joel get out from the driver's side. He appeared genuinely distressed to see me in handcuffs, my arms held tightly by the two agents. I was genuinely distressed that he had to see me like this, too. I wanted to tell him to leave, to go back to his plane and his practice and forget this day ever happened. I didn't want him to remember me like this.

  “Wait!”

  Oh, no.

  Chelsea bounded over from the other side of the car. “She's innocent. I swear. I'm the person you want.”

  Greaves and Henderson exchanged a look of surprise.

  “You're Chelsea Redfield?” Henderson asked.

  “Well, I'm certainly not her freaking clone,” Chelsea replied. “I'm here to turn myself in.”

  Though I mentally congratulated Chelsea for the quip she directed at Henderson, I knew it wasn't going to bode well for her in the long-term.

  Joel stayed beside the car, watching but not intervening. I supposed there was nothing he could do. He was a doctor, not a lawyer, and certainly not an FBI agent. I tried not to focus on him.

  Henderson pulled out another set of handcuffs and gestured for Chelsea to turn around. “Come on. We'll miss the flight if we don't go now. We'll have to do extra paperwork now that there are two of you.”

  Chelsea took a step back, eyes wide. “No! You have to let her go. Megan didn't do anything.”

  Henderson's smile was predatory. “That's for the legal system of the United States of America to decide. You're both going to have to come with us.”

  “You heard her,” Joel said, finally making his presence known. “Megan didn't do anything. Let her go.”

  Henderson looked Joel up and down, clearly appreciative of his fine physique. “You should watch yourself, or I'll be taking you, too.”

  “Your threats don't scare me.”

  I'd never been more attracted to Joel than I was in that moment. He was standing up for me, even though he barely knew me. Even though he probably still had only the most basic understanding of what was goi
ng on here.

  I wanted to kiss him. But I would probably never kiss him again.

  “Come on, Chelsea.” Henderson rattled the cuffs. “Turn around and put your hands behind your back before I come over there and do it for you.”

  Chelsea, tears welling in her eyes, looked to me. I gave her the tiniest of nods. Then, she turned and reluctantly held out her hands for the FBI agent, who roughly cuffed her and yanked her towards the security door.

  “Thanks for the delivery, handsome,” Henderson called behind her.

  Greaves turned me and nudged me toward the door, but I cast one final look behind me.

  Joel was standing there still, eyes narrowed in an expression of deep consternation. It broke my heart to see him like that, just as it looked every bit as though it broke his heart to see me dragged into the airport in handcuffs.

  Chapter Nine

  The flight was short, but horrendously uncomfortable. Sitting in the same position for hours without use of your hands is something you wouldn't think would be that bad, but is actually that bad. Chelsea wasn't having any easier of a time, from what I gathered. Not that I'd talked to her. Since she’d arrived at the airport, we hadn't spoken more than two words to each other. I could tell that she was filled with guilt, but I was too devastated to care.

  I didn't want to be upset with her, but I couldn’t help it. Fighting with my twin was like fighting with a part of myself, and every second we spent in silence grated on me. Knowing what I did, I couldn't find it in me to forgive her. Maybe one day, when all of this was far behind us and the ache in my chest had subsided, but for today, she was my enemy, and that was that.

  They transferred us to a humid, musty cell in the bowels of a Miami police precinct immediately after our plane landed. I barely got a glimpse of blue sky before I found myself curling up on a scratchy blanket on one of the room's two cots. Chelsea was on the other one, looking despondent.

  Even though this was all her fault, it hurt for me to see her like this. We sat in silence for a few moments, but then I couldn’t take it anymore, and I asked her the question that had been echoing through my head since our flight.

  “How do you think they caught up with you so quickly?”

  Chelsea's eyes stayed glued to the floor. “I don't know.”

  “I'm not asking you if you know,” I said. “I'm asking you what you think.”

  She let out a long, weary sigh. “I don't know.”

  That was frustrating. I gritted my teeth and sat up on the bed, gripping the sides of it and letting the cool metal soothe my sweaty hands.

  “Why do you keep saying that? What are you not telling me?”

  Chelsea had never been great at keeping secrets from me. That being said, this whole thing about the relationship with her boss had managed to stay hidden all this time.

  “I may have...I may have had something to do with them finding us.”

  The words buzzed in the air like great, fat mosquitos. I wanted to swat them down and pretend they didn't exist. I wanted to believe still that my sister had nothing to do with our untimely incarceration, beyond committing the crime in the first place.

  But my anger was already sizzling, and hearing her admission only made it worse.

  “What do you mean?”

  She looked over at me, finally meeting my eyes, and grimaced. “You know that guy I hung out with during the blackout? Damien?”

  I nodded. I didn't like where this was going.

  “I may have accidentally let something slip.”

  That made sense, and explained why she was suddenly all panicked the next morning. When Chelsea had said she was worried about Joel ratting us out, she'd really been worried about Damien.

  “Are you serious?” I asked in low, deadly-serious tone.

  “I wish I wasn't,” she said. “I'm so sorry, Megan. I didn't mean for any of this to happen.” Her eyes clouded with tears, streaking mascara down her cheeks. “If I could take it all back, believe me, I would!”

  I chewed on the inside of my cheek, holding tighter onto the bed so I didn't spring across the cell and start clubbing her over the head with her own shoe.

  Chelsea had stolen the money. Chelsea had brought the money to me, ensuring that I was irrevocably involved in her problems. Chelsea had spilled the beans her one-night-stand, ending in my capture.

  And what had I been doing during all of this? Trying to clean up her mess. Apparently, I was the only one doing so, otherwise we wouldn't be in a sweaty Florida jail cell, awaiting word on what horrible event was going to crash into our lives next.

  “I can't believe you.” I spoke in a measured, quiet tone, so it wasn't obvious at first how angry I was. But Chelsea could always gauge my emotions.

  “Megan, please.” She crossed the cell and squatted low on her ankles, trying to pull my hands into hers. I refused to let her. “Megan, you know I would never purposefully hurt you. I screwed up. I'm so sorry, and I know it might take some time for you to forgive me, but believe me when I say that I never wanted to do this to you.”

  I rose suddenly, sending her falling back against the cement floor. I towered over her with tightly closed fists, so tight that I could feel my nails sinking into the flesh of my palm.

  “Not meaning to do something doesn't give you a free pass to ruin my life!” I yelled. “I was happy, Chelsea. I had a job I loved. I had a vision for a life that didn't include rotting in jail for the majority of it. You stole all of that from me, because you couldn't use your goddamn brain for one second! And you expect me just to be okay with it because you didn't mean to hurt me?”

  Chelsea dissolved into blubbering tears, and for a moment I wondered if I'd gone too far. She had created this mess, yes, but was it bad enough to be deserving of so much of my scorn? Was I being too hard on her? She was going through all of this, too.

  I sighed and lowered myself down to her level and leaned against her. “Hey, don't cry.”

  Chelsea sniffed and rested her forehead was against my shoulder. Her shoulders continued to shake and tears gathered in my own eyes for everything I'd lost too. My job. Joel. My future. But there was one thing I didn't have to lose in all this, and that was my sister. Maybe it would take me some time to forgive her, but at least I could make a start.

  “I haven't told you everything about what I did,” she said after a moment. She leaned back until our eyes met. Hers were pink and puffy, and I reached out without thinking and wiped away some of her tears.

  “Henderson and Greaves already told me,” I said.

  “They did?”

  I nodded. “That's one of the reasons I've been so hard on you. You were so reckless and selfish, Chelsea.”

  “What did they tell you?” she asked, her voice thick with emotion.

  “That you were having an affair with your boss, and he wanted to end it. Then, you stole the money for revenge, or something like that.”

  Chelsea's devastated expression quickly morphed into one of fury. She shot to her feet, and immediately began to pace the floor. I was left on the ground, staring up at her in confusion.

  “That rat bastard!” she fumed.

  I stood, though my body begged me not to. I was so tired, so achy from all the discomfort and stress of the past twenty-four hours. I just wanted to be in my bed at home, reading or watching TV, or doing anything other than sitting here.

  “Chelsea,” I said, trying to get her attention. She was in another world. “Chelsea, who's a rat bastard? Your boss? Damien?”

  She stopped and looked at me, expression wild and furious. “It was a lie, Megan. That isn't what happened. Donald is just a disgusting liar.”

  “Chelsea...” This time, my tone let her know that I was growing tired of waiting for answers.

  Chelsea sighed and slumped down onto the bed beside me, sitting with her shoulders hunched over the side like all the weight of the world rested on them.

  “Donald was so charming when I first met him,” she said. “I immediately dev
eloped a crush on him, and he knew it. He used it to his advantage all the time, was super flirty whenever we were alone…he knew that I'd do anything for him.”

  She reached over and grabbed my hand as the tears began to roll down her cheeks again.

  “We started seeing each other, but I didn't know he was married. I swear. He told me that he and his wife had separated over a year ago, but they were still in divorce proceedings so we had to keep things quiet. I’m so stupid. I believed him! It would have been so easy for me to find out about her, but I think I just developed this blind spot, where he was concerned. I didn't want to believe anything bad about him, so I didn't ask. I didn't search. Then, I found out that he and his wife were very much still together, and that she was pregnant with their second child. I freaked out. I tried to break up with him, but he told me that the relationship would be over when he wanted to end it. He turned into this massive asshole, which was so scary after he'd been so sweet for so long.”

  “Oh, Chelsea,” I murmured, wrapping my arm around her. “Why didn't you just quit? I know that must have been horrible, but was it worth stealing the money?”

  She sniffed. “I tried to quit, too. He told me if I did, he would make sure that I was blacklisted from every other opportunity. He said he would tell people that I stole, or that I was lazy, or whatever he could to make them not take me on. In retrospect, I know that I could have fought him on that, but I wasn't thinking at the time. I was so hurt, betrayed, and panicked. I thought I was going to be stuck working for him and sleeping with him for the rest of my life, or at least until he got tired of me. I was desperate...” She looked up at me, eyes wide and misty. “I made a mistake. A big one.”

  I pulled my sister against my chest and stroked her hair as the tears came again. This time, both of us cried, with great, heaving sobs that drained us of our energy. Our angst. Our everything. By the time we were finished crying, we were empty husks. Even if we were still completely screwed, we'd released a stopper of tension between us. It was a start.