Just here to look around? Wheeler didn't buy it for a second. From the way Octavia barged in, it felt way more like she was here to catch her husband in the act.
All this suspicion reminded Wheeler of his own mess. He thought of his mentor, Fallon. He'd always figured Fallon and Latham were just old school friends. Nothing more, nothing less. That was until he started noticing how the two acted around each other, all these little moments that were way too intimate for just friends. They'd definitely crossed a line somewhere. Back then, it caught him off guard, left him stunned and honestly, pretty disappointed. Of course, Fallon gave her side of the story and claimed that all of it, whatever it was, was ancient history. She painted herself as the victim, saying Latham took advantage of her feelings. Wheeler wanted to believe her, but a part of him just wasn't sure. He understood why she couldn't let go, maybe even felt bad for her, but he really wished she would just move forward and stop letting the past hold her back.
So now, standing in front of Octavia, Wheeler felt oddly nervous for no real reason. He cleared his throat and tried to sound casual.
"Octavia, Latham's still in a meeting. It might take a bit longer. Would you like anything to eat? I can get the secretary to bring up some snacks."
But Octavia was way too lost in her own thoughts to notice his awkwardness. She shook her head, almost absently.
"It's okay. I'll just wait for him here. There's really no rush."
That helped Wheeler relax a little.
"Alright. I'll head back to my office, then.”
Octavia waved him away.
"Go on."
Wheeler had just reached the door when she stopped him out of nowhere.
"Wheeler."
He paused, hand hovering over the doorknob.
"Yes? Do you need something?"
She hesitated, then asked,
"Not really. I'm just curious. Has Latham been meeting any female friends regularly lately? Anyone you've noticed coming around a lot?"
The question threw him for a moment. Wheeler felt his heart skip. He was pretty sure Octavia was onto something.
"Latham has a lot of business contacts, both men and women. He meets different people almost every day.” His answer sounded safe, careful, like he'd practiced it.
But Octavia wasn't letting it go.
"I'm not talking about business partners. I mean actual female
friends-like the one I saw at the
hotel that day." She pretended tonet
think although it was obvious she already knew the answer. Actually, I ran into her again downstairs the other day. She said she was one of Latham's juniors from college. Do you know who I'm talking about?"
At this point, she was practically spelling it out. If he kept pretending not to know, it would only look worse.
"You mean Fallon, right?"
Octavia arched one eyebrow.
"That's her. Does she come by often?"
Wheeler tried to keep his tone even.
“She's been helping us out with translation work recently. It's just a part-time thing, really, so her visits are all work-related."
He probably sounded painfully honest, the kind of guy who couldn't lie even if he wanted to.
Octavia, though, immediately latched onto the details.
“Part-time? Doesn't your company already have professional translators? Why do you need Fallon?"
Her voice turned sharper, and even Wheeler felt a chill.
"Fallon's really skilled in this area. Our old translator quit a while ago, and the new person isn't quite as strong as Fallon." He still stuck up for his mentor because to him she was the best. Fallon really did have a talent for languages, no argument there. té FindNovel.net
Octavia narrowed her eyes, studying him.
“So that means Fallon's here all the time, working closely with Latham, right?”
Wheeler's gaze flickered.
"Honestly, it's just work. Nothing personal. If you want to know about anything outside the office, maybe you should talk to Latham directly."
A few months ago, Wheeler might've bent over backwards to defend Latham, gone on about how much
he loved his wife. But ever since he'd
discovered what really happened
between his boss and Fallon
everything he thought he knew
about Latham had just... fallen apart.