Chapter 3

“New company. Triple the salary. Are you in?”

Rachel stared at me for three seconds. Then her eyes filled with tears.

“Yes! Of course! Claire, you’re… I don’t even know how to thank you!”

I looked at the message on my screen.

Claire, name your terms. —Lorenzo Vitale

Over the years, I’d passed up countless better opportunities because I felt I owed Grant for saving my mother.

Somewhere along the way, I’d forgotten what I was worth.

Rachel was so excited she could barely get the words out.

“What about Ethan? Ethan in cash management—”

“I’ve already asked. Their finance department needs people. Anyone who wants to come can. Lorenzo Vitale, the owner, has agreed to take us.”

Two knocks sounded on the office’s glass door.

Grant’s assistant stood outside, looking uneasy.

“Claire, Grant wants to see you.”

Had he finally realized we were losing the rebate? Was he about to ask for my help?

Then I saw Vanessa standing beside his desk, her eyes red again.

So much for that.

Grant pressed his fingers hard against the bridge of his nose, looking disappointed and exhausted.

“Claire, do you have a problem with Vanessa?”

“She got back from her business trip last week, and you still haven’t approved her expenses. Why are you holding them up?”

I glanced at the transfer screenshots, restaurant receipts, and handwritten slips scattered across the floor. Some didn’t even identify the business that had issued them.

“Vanessa, these don’t meet our documentation requirements. The policy is clear. You can’t claim a business expense with just a payment screenshot. We need an itemized breakdown and a business purpose. These receipts don’t even say what you paid for.”

Vanessa looked wounded.

“But… I really did spend it on the company. Those clients like private clubs, and the club didn’t give me an itemized bill… Besides, the whole trip only cost twenty-three thousand five hundred dollars. That includes round-trip business class, the hotel, and entertaining clients.”

I almost laughed at the sheer nerve of it.

Only twenty-three thousand five hundred dollars.

Last month, Grant had sent an expense report back three times over a fifty-cent discrepancy.

We barely had enough cash as it was. After reimbursing another twenty-three thousand dollars, we might not.

I turned to the second page of her expense report.

“Our hotel limit is two hundred dollars a night. Your business-class flights cost three thousand dollars, and you spent a week at a five-star hotel. The room alone was five thousand two hundred and fifty.”

“That’s well over the limit.”

Tears spilled down Vanessa’s face.

“Grant, I wasn’t just throwing money away. I was trying to land that big client… I was doing it for the company…”

Apparently, being challenged in front of her was more than his ego could take.

“Claire, do you think you’re going to marry me someday? Is that why you’ve decided you can control my money?”

The office and the hallway went silent.

I frowned. “Grant, I’ve never wanted that—”

He gave a derisive laugh. “Haven’t you?”

“You think I don’t know what you’re after? Eight years. Did you think hanging around long enough would make you Mrs. Caldwell?”

“Let me be clear. I’m not interested in old women like you. Do your job and stop fantasizing.”

Stifled laughter came from the hallway. Heat flooded my face and spread down my body.

This was ridiculous.

Vanessa gave me a smug look.

“Claire, I know you’re upset because you don’t have a chance with him… But that’s personal. Don’t take it out on me at work.”

Grant put an arm around her shoulders, gave her a reassuring squeeze, then tipped his chin at me.

“Reimburse her. Right now. The full amount.”

I took the expense report he’d signed and gave him a calm smile.

“All right.”

It wasn’t my money. This time, I wasn’t going to worry about it.