Free THE GREAT BETRAYAL by Millenia Black Page A

MBR manager, stopped by when you were at lunch, Leslie. He wants to know if you can squeeze a brief meeting in this afternoon. Personnel issues.” Nichols was Crystal Clear’s newest employee. Hired as head of the Medical Bill Review department, he’d been with the company only a short while.
    “What’d you tell him?”
    “Well, I know you’ve got your hands full with the reports for legal, but I told him I’d see if you could give him ten minutes.”
    Leslie smiled. “I should’ve known. My bleeding-heart assistant. What, are they giving him a hard time already? He’s only been here a few weeks…”
    “Well, he didn’t elaborate, but he looked pretty uneasy when he came in, so I said I’d see what you could do. Be nice.”
    Chuckling, Leslie moved toward her office doorway. “Call down and tell him to come up at four thirty.”
    Monica nodded. Then she called out, “Oh! Almost forgot to mention the package that came for you today, in case you didn’t notice it. It was addressed to you, looked personal, so I put it on one of the chairs in front of your desk.”
    “ Okay, thanks, Mo.” She entered the large office and closed the door.
     
    • 
     
    Leslie Cavanaugh was now the director of human resources at Crystal Clear. The last several years had been more than kind. Her dedication and hard work had paid off, and though it was a demanding post, Leslie truly enjoyed her work and the unique opportunities it provided to help others attain gainful employment, and to also build and steer careers internally.
    This day had started off just like any other day. She’d gotten up and made a quick breakfast for Luke and Kate. This morning it had been cheese omelets and English muffins.
    It was her turn for the carpool. She’d rushed Kate through the door so she could make the rounds and avoid being late for her eight-thirty meeting.
    By midmorning, Luke had called to say he’d found the Neiman Marcus bags she’d left in the trunk of their BMW. He was pissed. So she knew exactly what squabbles awaited her when she finally made it home that evening.
    As usual, she’d gone out for lunch with Dawn, who was now the head of the finance department (the HR gang had long since dispersed, as Melanie’s and Shirley’s jealousy had grown in direct proportion to her friendship with Dawn), and they’d chatted about plans for Thanksgiving, which was that coming weekend.
    Yes, it had been a pretty normal day. As normal a day as any could be for Leslie Phillips Cavanaugh—because if she dared acknowledge the truth, she hadn’t had a “normal” day in fifteen years.
    But when her eyes caught sight of the medium-sized brown box in the armchair, the air in the room stilled immediately, all illusion of normalcy permanently shattered.
    Instinctively, Leslie knew. Even before looking at the postmark, she knew it was from Memphis.
    Her knees nearly buckled.
    It was from Ingrid Armstrong. Upon seeing the name printed on the label, Leslie knew it was all over.
    The past…had finally come to pull the plug.
     
    • 
     
    What had been slated as a ten-minute squeeze-in wound up eating up over an hour of her time. Once Harvey Nichols finally left her office, Leslie glanced at her watch. Five thirty-eight.
    She rose and walked over to the door. She locked it. Monica had gone for the day, and the staff still working were in their respective offices.
    The package was sitting there, begging to be opened, but she’d been avoiding it all afternoon, keeping busy.
    Now Leslie placed the box on the top of her desk and slowly cut it open with a letter opener. There was a plain white envelope inside, on top of a compact plastic container. Her name had been printed in blue marker across the envelope.
    Leslie Cavanaugh.
    Her name.
    For a moment she just stood over the box, staring at the envelope.
    What lay inside? What would it say?
    It wasn’t sealed, so she simply lifted the flap, and a photograph slid out. It landed atop the container