Contents
TITLE PAGE
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Thanks For Reading
SPELLBOUND BY THE ANGUI
CIPHER’S KISS BOOK TWO
HEATHER WALKER
Copyright © 2019 Heather Walker
Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.
Chapter 1
Ellen Burke paused in the doorway and pursed her lips in exasperation at Ree Hamilton, reclining on her office couch, staring out the window at nothing—as usual. Her gaze seemed to trace the distant horizon where San Francisco Bay met the wide Pacific Ocean, but she saw nothing in front of her.
Ree was supposed to be CEO of Primary Industries, but she sure hadn’t acted like a CEO lately. She rarely did anything more than stare out the window these days. When she did do some work, her actions made no sense to Ellen, who was supposed to be her second in command and privy to Ree’s best-kept secrets. Yeah, right.
Ree and Ellen had grown up as best friends. They had started this company together with their three other best friends. In all the years they’d known each other, they’d prided themselves on confiding in each other about everything. Now, after that disastrous negotiation with the CEO of Allied Chemical, Ellen stared at a hollow shell of her former best friend.
Throwing in with a hostile competitor was bad enough but, to make matters worse, she’d lost interest in the projects that had given her the energy and motivation to start this company in the first place.
Ellen braced herself to storm into the room and give Ree a good talking to. She’d been steeling herself for this moment for days. Finding her alone in her office was perfect timing to get all the cards out on the table.
Ned Lewis drifted into view from some forgotten corner, leaned over the couch, and murmured something down at Ree. She burst into a glorious smile as she turned her face up toward Ned. He bent down and kissed her, and she laughed.
Ned Lewis was the other thing that rankled Ellen no end. That upstart had strolled into their female-dominated company like he owned the place, and now Ree gave no attention to anything but him. She stared out the window or at the wall in a mindless trance—right up to the moment when Ned appeared. The instant he entered a room or spoke to her, Ree broke out of her stupor. She became ten times more animated, more enthusiastic, more communicative, and more responsive than Ellen remembered her from all the rest of her life put together.
At least, Ree became responsive to Ned. She didn’t become any more responsive to her best friends or clients or employees. That was the worst part of all. While Ree opened up more and more to Ned, while she blushed and smiled and lowered her eyelashes every time he spoke to her, she drifted further and further away from her old friends and the people who loved and depended on her.
Working with Ree on a daily basis, Ellen was most affected, but she knew from the worried glances and general cold shoulder she’d been getting that the other three were worried and upset too. Vic, Mila, and Quinn had stayed busy with their work and avoided Ellen outside of brisk work exchanges, likely feeling awkward to interact with Ree’s closest confidant. If only they knew she’d been dropped like a hot potato too. And she didn’t know what to say to the other three friends without some clue as to what was going on with Ree.
Ned perched himself on the arm of the couch and engaged in a soft-spoken conversation with Ree.
Ellen retreated from the doorway. She couldn’t talk to Ree with him around. She’d have to save her rancor for another time.
She had almost escaped when Ned happened to look up and notice her standing there. He hopped up. “Oh, hello, Ellen. How long have you been standing there?”
Ellen narrowed her eyes at him. How dare he try to be nice to her after he ruined her whole life? “I’m not standing here. I was just about to leave.”
He strode across the room toward her, dropping a sheaf of papers on Ree’s desk on his way past. “I’ll leave you two alone. I have to meet someone in the lobby anyway. I’ll see you for lunch, Ree.” He squeaked by Ellen and disappeared.
Ellen did her best not to cringe away from him. Damn him, anyway! This was her office and her company. He had no right to waltz in here and push her aside, in business or in Ree’s life. She refused to let that happen.
Ree shot a glance over her shoulder, met Ellen’s gaze for a fraction of a second, and went back to staring out the window. “Come on in, Ellen. What do you want to talk to me about?”
Ellen clenched her teeth and braced herself. This was the moment she’d been waiting for. She was alone with Ree, and Ned wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon. She stepped into the office and shut the door behind her.
She barged over to Ree and planted her feet, squared off in front of her friend. “I want to talk to you about why you’ve been acting so strangely ever since Ned Lewis showed up here.”
Ree’s eyes slid away somewhere else. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, yes, you do,” Ellen fired back. “You’ve been out to lunch ever since you hired him. I don’t even want to know what you two have been up to together. I don’t really care if you fall head over heels with him. Heck, you can marry him for all I care.”
Ree’s cheeks flushed bright pink, and she refused to look at Ellen. “Be quiet. I’m not going to marry him.”
But her actions said the opposite. She was smitten with him. Anyone could see that.
Ellen propped her hands on her hips and leaned closer. She tried to keep her voice under control but heard it rising against her will. “I don’t care! All I care about is how much you’re letting the company slip since you hired him. You’re gone half the time, and when you are here, you’re out the window or cuddling up to him.”
Ree threw up her hands. “Okay. This conversation is over.” She picked up a file folder of documents off the coffee table in front of her and reclined back on the couch to read. Printed in big black letters on the cover read the words The Prometheus Formula.
Ellen swooped in and snatched the folder out of her hands. “Don’t you dare! I’m not letting you retreat into your hole until I get some explanation out of you.”
Ree’s eyes popped. “What is the matter with you, Ellen? I’ve nev
er seen you like this.”
Ellen brandished the folder in Ree’s face. “This! This is the matter with me. This project right here. This is the only thing that wakes you up out of this fog you’re in. What’s going on with you? If you don’t start talking right now, I’ll…I’ll quit!”
Ree started at her in wide-eyed horror. “Quit! You can’t quit!”
“You’ve quit already!” Ellen returned. “You built this company from a page of scribbled notes in your high school chemistry notebook, and now you’re turning your back on ten years of work, not only by yourself but by all of us. You’re slapping me and all the others in the face for sticking by you all these years—and for what? For a guy? For a worthless contract from City Council? How can you expect me or anybody else to put up with this?”
Ree collapsed back in her seat and closed her eyes. “Ellen! Don’t do this.”
“You’re doing it.” Ellen flung the folder into Ree’s lap, the papers scattering all over the floor. “You’re throwing this company down the toilet. I hope you’re happy. If you want to stare out the window, go do it at your apartment. Leave the rest of us alone to run this company, ’cause you’re not doing anything here but dragging the rest of us down. Go on. Take Ned Lewis and get out of here. You don’t belong here anymore. You’re useless to us the way you are.”
For one terrible moment, Ree and Ellen stared at each other in shock.
Ellen trembled at having let those words pass through her lips. She hadn’t realized she felt so strongly about this situation, but she knew now, and Ree knew too. She’d wanted all the cards on the table, and now they were. She panted for breath and choked down a lump in her throat. Faced with the prospect of losing the one person she’d trusted and relied on all her life, she truly realized how much her friendship with Ree really meant to her.
Ever so slowly, Ree dragged her gaze away from Ellen. She busied herself picking up the fallen papers and slotting them back into the folder, then made a big show of arranging them exactly and tapping them into place.
Ellen’s heart sank watching her. Her tirade hadn’t made a dent in Ree’s façade. Nothing ever would. She had already passed too far out of Ellen’s reach. She was long gone, and Ellen would never get her back.
Ellen let out a shaky sigh. It was all over. She might as well leave and go pack up her desk. She said she would quit. Now she had to follow through. She let her hands drop to her sides and spun toward the door.
Ned entered with his arm around another man’s shoulders, grinning at Ree and Ellen. “Here he is, right on time. What did I tell you? Oh, hello, Ellen. Are you still here?”
Ellen stared at the two men standing in the office doorway. They were the same height with the same broad, muscled shoulders, but the newcomer’s straight dark hair contrasted with Ned’s curls. Deep, dark eyes darted straight to Ellen and shot to her core.
The stranger wore khaki slacks that hugged his stout legs and narrow hips. He wore no jacket over his beige business shirt or any other sign of business attire. He didn’t have to. His imposing presence spoke for itself.
A trace of a smile touched the man’s lips unlike Ned’s mad-cap grin. This man observed everything from a distance of reserve that gave him an air of mystery and introspection while Ned’s energy dominated any room he entered.
Ree rose to her feet and squared her shoulders. “I’m glad you’re here for this, Ellen. I’d like to introduce you to Louis Kirk. This is the independent supervisor assigned to us by the City Council. He’ll be overseeing our procedures for testing the Prometheus Formula. I trust I can leave you to show him around. Mila’s already expecting him, and we’ll be starting this project right away.”
Ellen’s gaze snapped to her friend’s face. For the first time in weeks, Ree returned her stare with perfect poise and confidence. Whatever was going on between Ree and Ned, this new man had something to do with it.
New man! Those words said it all. In all the years since they’d started this company, only a handful of men ever set foot in Primary Industries. Most of them came in as temporary computer techs and maintenance men, not consultants and supervisors. Primary Industries was a woman’s game. It always had been. Men had no place here. And Ellen liked it that way. It was a safe space, lacking the sexual tension and constant battle for dominance that came with working with men. She’d never had to compete with the “boy’s club” for her success. She’d never had to feel objectified at her work. She’d even kept men at arm’s length in her personal life, never finding anyone strong enough to respect and admire her strength.
Ellen shook those thoughts out of her head. That was ridiculous, wasn’t it? Trying to keep men out of a company just for being men amounted to reverse sexism. Still, she couldn’t escape the creeping sensation that these men were moving in to take over her company—hers and Ree’s and their friends’.
Ree held the folder on the Prometheus Formula out to Ellen. “Here. You better take this and bone up on the project. You and Mila will be in charge of it, and you’ll have to answer any questions Louis has for you.”
Ellen stared down at the folder with its big black lettering, then raised her eyes to Ree’s. They were up to something, these three. She couldn’t figure out what it was, but if she didn’t make sense of it pretty quick, she would have to quit. She couldn’t be part of an underhanded scheme. She couldn’t work with a bunch of liars, no matter how much Ree meant to her.
In a flash, a mysterious power took over Ellen’s being and repelled her from these people. She couldn’t stay in the same room with them another instant. Quitting the company she worked so hard to build would be easy compared to continuing this masquerade of half-spoken untruths and varnished motivations.
She spun away and stormed out of the office, giving none of the three a backward glance, and she never deigned to look at that folder again.
Chapter 2
Ned jerked his chin at the door after Ellen walked out. “What’s wrong with her?”
“She suspects,” Ree replied. “I told you this would happen. I’ve never kept anything from her before in my life. Now she sees me drifting away from her and the others and drifting closer to you.”
“What do you want to do about it?” he asked.
Ree sank down on the couch with a sigh. “She just threatened to quit.”
“Quit!” Ned cried. “We can’t let her quit.”
Ree shrugged. “Maybe it’s for the best. We can bring in someone who doesn’t know a thing about the project. They’ll accept whatever explanation we give them.”
Louis leaned on the back of the chair facing the couch and said, “I’ve got a better idea. Let me talk to her about it.”
“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” Ned asked. “You don’t even know her.”
“Just give me a chance,” Louis replied. “It can’t make the situation any worse.”
Ned collapsed on the couch next to Ree and waved his hand. “I won’t try to stop you.”
*****
Louis migrated out of the office, leaving Ned and Ree alone. He didn’t know his way around Primary Industries, but that didn’t matter. He meandered between cubicles and past offices where women talked into their phones and tapped at their computers. Observing all these determined, industrious women hard at work made him smile.
Their reputation preceded them as the best in the chemical business. Primary Industries was still small enough to maintain the quality that earned them their position in the marketplace. Their small, committed core of executives inspired the rest of the staff to excel.
He walked downstairs on his way to the lab, exited on the fourteenth floor, and checked the map near the stairwell. He passed down a long corridor lined with workstations when he heard voices talking behind a corner. He withdrew out of sight to listen.
He recognized Ellen’s voice right away. “I’m telling you, Vic, something fishy’s going on.”
“Are you sure it’s that bad?” another woman answered. “Sh
e must know what she’s doing.”
“Haven’t you noticed how bizarre she’s acting lately?” Ellen asked. “She’s out of her head, and now this new supervisor is coming in to oversee the Prometheus tests. I don’t like it at all.”
“The City Council assigned the supervisor,” Vic countered. “Ree didn’t have anything to do with that.”
“I don’t believe it,” Ellen hissed. “You didn’t see him with Ned just now. If I didn’t know better, I’d say the three of them were all in on it together.”
“But you do know better,” Vic replied. “They couldn’t be in on it when the guy came from the City Council. I swear you’re getting paranoid in your old age, Ellen.” She gave a high, twittering laugh.
Ellen’s voice didn’t soften. “Are you seriously telling me you don’t have any doubts about this Prometheus project? Have you seen the files? This is the strangest project I’ve ever seen.”
Vic’s tone changed in an instant. “You’re right about that. I was talking to Mila about it earlier. Ben Harris at the City Council mentioned it to her in passing, but when she got the documentation, she found out the project was nothing like what he said. He said this supervisor guy will be overseeing safety testing, but the documentation looks more like building a formula.”
“Take a look at this list of ingredients.” A shuffling of papers followed. “Brandywine tundra beetle, eldervane, wicknot root? Have you ever seen or heard of any of these before?”
“I haven’t heard of them, but take a look at the budget,” Vic replied. “The project memorandum assigns considerable funds to research. I guess we’re supposed to spend some time researching the ingredients and their properties before we proceed.”
“What about this?” Ellen asked. “This says the original formula was developed by Allied Chemical.”
“What!” Vic cried. “They’re our biggest competitor, and they’re trying to buy us out.”
Ellen lowered her voice to a confidential murmur. “I’m not convinced of that anymore, either. After the way Ree acted around their CEO at that negotiation, I doubt Allied ever intended to buy us out.”
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