Free Step by Step Love: The Complete Collection by Emma Fox Page A

had taken to conceal their relationship, they would later know the repercussions of their actions.
    ***
                 
     

Ryan opened his office door and smiled at his stepsister, clearly unaware of the bad news that she was about to tell him. He closed the door behind her and his mood quickly changed when he saw the distraught look on her face as she sat down in the chair opposite his desk. Some of the papers from earlier in the day were still strewn across the floor and Veronica looked at them, making a face.
    “You should've cleaned those up,” she grumbled, wrapping her arms around her legs.
    Ryan frowned and furrowed his brow, approaching her with his hands in his pockets.
    “What is it, dear?” he asked, squatting down to look into her bright blue eyes. “What's the matter?”
    Veronica shook her head and averted her gaze.
    “I got an email from a woman named Claudette McDowell,” she said, swallowing nervously.
    Ryan raised an eyebrow and circled around his desk, sitting down in his executive chair. He cuffed his hands on his desk, twiddling his thumbs and looking at her, expectantly.
    “And?” he urged.
    Veronica sighed and closed her eyes, rubbing her temples.
    “She is a security guard here,” she muttered, “and she saw everything on the monitors. She has us on tape , Ryan. How could you not tell me there was a camera in here?”
    Ryan furrowed his brow and he tilted his head, confusedly.
    “There isn't,” he replied, carefully. “There is no camera installed in here. I wouldn't put a camera in my own office, Veronica. You have to know that.”
    Veronica opened her eyes and shot him an infuriated glance.
    “Well somehow one got in here, because she has us on video. Hell, she's probably watching us right now. She said we have to meet her before six o' clock when she ends her shift,” she said. “God, this is a nightmare. How could you not have known?”
    Ryan's heart began to race and he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.
    “Trower,” he murmured under his breath.
    “What?”
    “Trower!” he exclaimed, getting to his feet and angrily kicking his swivel chair. “He's one of my partners. He has a forty-five share. He must have had one put in here when he was investigating all the embezzlement fraud going on in here last month. God! Stupid, stupid me! I should never have let him be in charge of that!”
    Exasperated, he kicked the side of his desk and winced. Although it hurt, he was more focused on the bigger problem at hand. Veronica blinked in a patronizing manner and sucked on her teeth.
    “You done having your temper tantrum so we can take care of this?” she asked.
    Ryan gave her a dark look.
    “If you hadn't come in here and seduced me, this never even would have happened!” he shouted.
    Veronica leered at him and held her index finger to lips.
    “Shhh!” she hissed. “Does this really need to be everyone else's business? The entire bloody office is going to hear you! Let's just go and see her and pay her off. Anything she wants. We'll just make it go away. You can do that, right?”
    Ryan sighed and hung his head for a moment before looking back up at her and nodding, frustrated.
    “Yes, I can do that,” he breathed. “You're right. We have to get it over with. Pointing fingers isn't going to help anyone.”
    Veronica nodded.
    “You're right. It won't. We're going to go and say that we are going to lunch,” she explained. “If anyone asks, you're taking me to lunch because of all my hard work. That's entirely believable since you took Marge last week—”
    Ryan shook his head.
    “No, we're going to go down there separately,” he argued, sitting on the arm of the chair in which Veronica was seated. “We're already looking pretty suspicious. You're going to get back to work for the next hour. If anyone asks what I was shouting about, I was angry because you messed up some numbers while I was on my London trip and I just caught it. They'll all believe that