Ruthless Temptation Read Online Free Page A

Grim Gong and tell him to go to hell, and wanting to
shop for a red or royal blue dress to wear that evening.
    She
stopped at the park in the center of the city and sat on a bench, listening to
the fake seagulls in the distance and breathing in the fake scent of sea air.
They’d done their best to make this city sound and feel like a coastal city in
northern California, but anyone older than nine or ten would likely remember
what the ocean really smelled like, and what birds actually sounded like.
    Madison
understood what Viggo and the other Weathermen were
trying to do, and she supported it wholeheartedly. She knew their companies
made insane amounts of money but that the men also gave to charities, and they
each supported the Storm Troopers. They either had the hackers or were actively
looking for them, depending on which rumor you wanted to believe.
    Being
employed at HCS didn’t mean she was privy to everything going on, especially
not in her role. She relied on Ralph to keep her informed of the latest gossip,
but once more she wondered who he’d been talking to earlier this week, and what
she’d actually overheard. Had she misinterpreted it? No. She was certain of
what she’d heard, but now had no clue what it meant.
    What
if he and this unknown person were merely repeating gossip they’d heard about
the Weathermen? What if Viggo was right, and Ralph
was repeating inside information to someone he had no business telling it to?
    Ralph
had mentioned Dave Perry by name, and whoever he’d been speaking to either
worked at HCS and hated it, or didn’t work there any longer but once had. Ralph
had been commiserating with the person, and had said some very unflattering
things about the company that employed him. Ralph had also specifically
mentioned the article, the hackers, and the warehouse. She had not
misinterpreted that . And she also
realized she’d never told Viggo that part. Maybe she
should? Then he might not be so high-handed about her perceived loyalty.
    It
had been easy enough for Madison to find the article Ralph had mentioned and
read it for herself, but for all she knew it was nothing but speculation. She
now realized what little information she’d had when she’d talked her way into Viggo’s office.
    This
had been a half-assed plan, even if her boss had to be the worst investigator
HCS employed. She’d seen very little investigation in the month she’d worked
for him, unless you counted him watching old sitcoms on his work laptop.
    She’d
been thrilled to be offered this job, thinking she’d get to eventually use her
marketing background for a government agency, even though it was only a
satellite office. The job was a joke, and Ralph was useless.
    When
Madison made the decision to confront Viggo , she’d
only been trying to find out if she hadn’t inadvertently taken a job in a snake
pit. If HCS and the Weathermen were covering up important information the public
needed to know about the hackers that wasn’t right. She didn’t want to work for
people who played games with everyone’s lives.
    They
had all been underground for eight years now. Madison wanted to go home as much
as everyone else did. She’d stupidly thought she’d stumbled onto the secret of
the century, but realized now that all she’d managed to do was jump the gun.
    Worse
than that, she’d managed to piss off one of the Weathermen. And now if she
didn’t have sex with him tonight he’d probably get her fired. So much for her
budding career at HCS. The two Weathermen left who weren’t either engaged or
married were notorious for being players. They all had been like that, once.
And she’d fallen right into Viggo’s trap.
    She
read the tabloids online. Viggo Ingram and Blaine
Parker were photographed with different women every week, all of them looking
sleek, pampered, and confident. She wasn’t the kind of woman Viggo took out on dates. The only reason he wanted to have
dinner with her was so he could seduce her,