Free Flashes of Me by Cynthia Sax Page B

selling price if they weren’t using the information in some way.” Miss Yen’s gaze flicks to me and she scowls. “I don’t know. Figure it out.” She slams the phone down on her desk.
    Miss Yen’s office is similar to Henley’s except that locked filing cabinets line the walls and vertical blinds cover the floor-to-ceiling windows. There’s only one screen in the room and it’s set on her desk, facing away from us.
    “Purple, what did I tell you about your suits?” Miss Yen’s lips twist.
    “You told me not to wear the lavender suit again,” I answer. “This suit is yellow, Miss Yen.”
    She glares at me. I stare back at her, maintaining a serene smile and a blank expression. “Lord help us all,” she mutters. “Sit.” She waves at her guest chairs.
    As I’m taking responsibility for our adventures in the stairwell and will likely be in the office the longest, I choose the chair farthest from the door. I sit, cross my feet primly at the ankles, and rest my hands on my lap. Camille plunks into the chair beside me, her ass smacking against the seat.
    Miss Yen paces behind her desk, moving back and forth, back and forth. “I’ve been informed of the stairwell incident. What do you have to say for yourselves?”
    Camille looks at me.
    “It was all my idea, Miss Yen,” I chirp, continuing to play the dumb blonde. “Taking the stairs is good for the glutes. Men like perky rears.”
    A strangled sound comes from Miss Yen. “They also like breasts, which I understand you flashed, Yellow.”
    “I didn’t know the cameras were functional.” I smile.
    “And why would that make any difference?” Miss Yen shakes her head as though trying to clear it. “Never mind.” She sits down. “I don’t want to know. Both of you are to review the employee handbook and stay out of the stairwells. Green, go back to your desk.” Camille hops out of her seat. I rise also. “Yellow, you stay.” I lower myself once more. Camille gives me a pitying look as she rushes out of the office, shutting the door behind her.
    Miss Yen gazes at me. I gaze back. Silence stretches.
    She takes a deep breath. “When I was your age, I had huge student loans. I was pretty and a rich man took an interest in me. I thought he was kind. He wasn’t.” Miss Yen touches the long thin scar on her cheek. “By the time I figured that out, he had isolated me, separating me from my friends, from my family. I was trapped.”
    Unable to maintain my airhead façade, I stare at her, horrified. “How did you get away from him?”
    “A large, some might say monstrous man helped me.” Miss Yen meets my gaze and I know this large man was Henley. My chest warms with pride. “I’ll do anything to protect this man, including drawing up an airtight prenuptial agreement between him and a financially strapped young woman. She won’t get a dime of his money.”
    I must be the financially strapped young woman she’s referring to. “Good.” I beam at her. “Henley deserves your protection and he deserves a woman who truly loves him.”
    Miss Yen tilts her head and narrows her eyes. “I’m serious, Yellow.”
    “So am I,” I reply. Miss Yen doesn’t realize I’m serious because she doesn’t know who I am. She doesn’t know the buyout she’s negotiating between Blaine Technologies and Volkov Industries will make me an extremely wealthy woman. She certainly doesn’t know I never wanted to be the recipient of this wealth.
    I want to tell her the truth, to be as honest with her as she is with me, but I can’t. I’m not ready yet. I’m not strong enough to say the words, to deal with her reaction.
    “Henley takes his responsibilities very seriously.” I try a different tactic. “Would he jeopardize the people and the company he cares about by aligning with a gold digger?”
    “Henley would never jeopardize the people he protects,” Miss Yen reluctantly admits. “If you’re not a gold digger, who are you, Yellow?”
    I’m a liar,