Great Exploitations (Crisis in Cali) Read Online Free PDF

so much as asking himself if he should consider it for one hot second. All I’d had to do was name the time and place. So simple. Such an easy thing for him to agree to, yet the repercussions would be far-reaching and stay with him forever. After meeting Mrs. Wallace and gleaning my first impressions of Mr. Wallace, for some strange reason, I’d found myself hoping he’d be the one who wouldn’t stray. The one who wouldn’t take one look my way or step into the trap I’d manufactured for him. I wanted to believe there was still some measure of loyalty left in the world and that no was still a word the male species could utter in the face of a propositioning woman.
    I could want to believe until the world ended, but it didn’t change the fact that Mr. Wallace had agreed to meet me the next night at one of the more prestigious hotels close by. That was probably why I was in an extra-sour mood that morning at work. At Callahan Industries work. That I had to specify which job I was presently busy with amped my sour mood up another notch.
    I’d texted Mrs. Wallace the information to relay to her Contact and had been trying to mentally prepare myself to close yet another Errand, but something wasn’t switching over. The switch that reminded me this was all business and that the ends justified the means. That what I did didn’t define me, that the reasons behind what I did defined me. That switch between the Eve I’d made myself into and the Eve I truly was had tripped a fuse or something because no matter how many times I tried to force it over, nothing worked.
    I couldn’t separate the two Eves, and that was dangerous. So dangerous, that was the only thing I’d been focused on all day when I should have been accepting upcoming progress meetings into my calendar and replying to the dozens of emails in my inbox and inspecting the lab to ensure my team was all, as Henry had put it, properly fed and watered.
    Henry. Of course he was the real issue, the reason why I’d never been so conflicted going into a Sheet night. I’d let my feelings for him grow, and tonight felt more like a betrayal to him than to myself. Which was absurd since he was nothing more than a job, an assignment, an Errand. He was an ex-lover who’d betrayed me in the worst kind of way. He was the man I should be champing at the bit to even the score with.
    So why was he the only thing on my mind as my work day at Callahan Industries drew to a close? Why was his face the only one on my mind when I should have been preparing to go into my other job as an Eve? The job that mattered.
    I was in the middle of trying not to answer those questions when a rap sounded on the other side of my door, followed by it slowly opening.
    “Why does it feel like you’re always here?” Henry’s voice came from behind me, but I’d known it had been him before he said a single word.
    I held back the sad sigh that begged to follow. “Because I always am.” When I heard him approaching, I didn’t swivel around to face him. I wasn’t sure if I could.
    “We should talk about what happened the last time we were together.” He paused, giving me a chance to whip my head from side to side.
    “No, we shouldn’t talk about what happened. We should never talk about what happened.” In my lap, I felt my hands trembling.
    “Why not?” He was getting closer.
    My eyes narrowed at the computer in front of me. Why, when my confusion levels were at their highest, did Henry Callahan have to show up? “Because.”
    “Because why?” He was right behind me.
    I felt his nearness, and at the same time I wanted to run away, I wanted to run into his arms. “When a person answers a question with ‘because,’ that’s a subtle hint that they don’t want to get into the particulars. So why don’t you leave it alone and leave me be, Henry?” My voice didn’t shake, but it was one word or touch from him away from it. My willpower was gone, my confidence shaken, my sense of right