Free The Whole Truth (The Supercharged Files Book 1) by Jody Wallace Page A

benefits package is.”
    Also not a lie.
    “You should also know you’ll
never get anywhere working at YuriCorp. Their business is soft, Miss Giancarlo.
They struggle to make ends meet. They don’t leverage their profits in a way
that benefits their employees. No doubt they’ll try to hide this from you.” He
smiled, not showing his teeth, and—yes—around his too-handsome face glistened
dishonesty. “If they can.”
    “The people at YuriCorp were
nice.” I widened my eyes and forced myself to hold his creepy gaze. “Would you
say most Psytech employees have a great deal of job satisfaction? I’m very
concerned about job satisfaction.”
    “I have a great deal of job
satisfaction,” he stated.
    “What about the rest of the
employees?”
    “We have the highest salaries in
our niche market.”
    “Money isn’t everything.” I
rattled my drink, down to ice cubes. “Does management maintain good relations
with employees?”
    “Psytech is an excellent
employer. Our attrition rate is minimal.”
    Bingo. Not true.
    When I hid a smirk by pretending
to sip my soda, he tried to dig his way out. “Every group has at least one
disgruntled bastard. We may have two or three. Most of our employees love
Psytech.”
    Not true.
    I grinned outright. So did John.
Samantha grabbed a napkin and started wiping the table between the plates.
    “Either way, Miss Giancarlo—Cleopatra—we’re
prepared to offer you a generous sign-on bonus and you can name your salary.
Give it some thought. We’ve got offices in Los Angeles, New York, London,
Nashville. You can live wherever you want. Even Chicago.”
    Some part of that was a lie, but
he was good. Not as good as John and Samantha, but subtle. Clever. I couldn’t
see any lip movement in his translucent mask. I wondered which part of his
spiel was untrue.
    “Come in and talk to us tomorrow.
Next week. Anytime. Our door is always open to a woman of your talents,
Cleopatra.”
    “I might decide to tell all of
you pushy freaks to go fuck yourselves,” I told him in my sweetest voice.
    Alex straightened, and a layer of
his oily charm dissolved. “That’s always an option,” he said. “Not one I’d
advise.”
    “It’s a free country,” I pointed
out.
    “Nobody at Psytech would force
you to do anything you didn’t want.”
    Lie. Scary, scary lie. I huddled
against Samantha, caught myself doing it, and put my elbows on the table to
cover my gaffe.
    “I’m sure you’d make your
stepfather proud with a career at Psytech.”
    Before I worked up the nerve to
ask if Psytech planned to blackmail me with Dan’s safety, he flicked a business
card onto the table. “Let us know when you get tired of living paycheck to
paycheck. Sam, I’ll call you. Thanks for the head’s up.”
    When Alex left, I asked Samantha,
“What did he mean about a heads up?”
    “I let him know I was back in
town.”
    Partial dishonesty strobed around
her, but I didn’t so much as narrow my eyes. I had a feeling her heads-up to
Alex had something to do with me. Considering what Yuri had cautioned about the
mole, I filed my suspicion away for later, even though she was Yuri’s
granddaughter.
    Being a blood relative didn’t
ensure loyalty or kindness. Look at my mother versus Dan. Mom, my blood
relation, had been a horror while alive, and Dan was awesome.
    There was no telling what my
biological father was like, though I could admit to a tiny, private
disappointment I couldn’t crack flying saucer jokes to myself anymore.
    “So your boyfriend works for Psytech?”
I smiled at Sam with fake sympathy. “That’s gotta be hard.”
    Samantha and John exchanged a
glance, and Samantha turned to me with the weirdest smile on her face. “It’s
not as bad as you think. Welcome to YuriCorp, Cleo.”

 
    Chapter 5
    The Dixie Mafia
Early Bird Buffet Eating Team
     
    A giant Batman head was
silhouetted against the grey skyline as John drove me back to my humble abode
after a tour of Nashville’s urban