Read Online Trilemma by Jennifer Mortimer - Free Book Online Page B

move fast and with so few people.”
    â€œMore relevant is that Lane is from the South Island and the only people South Islanders dislike more than Aucklanders are Australians. Lane preferred your friend Heke.”
    â€œTom would be a good choice.”
Although not as good as me.
    â€œThe three of them ended up deadlocked. Dao, on the other hand, liked the look of you, Lin, probably in more ways than one. He said you would best represent the multicultural aspect of Hera.”
    A man with excellent judgment.
“Et tu, Robert?”
    â€œI thought any chance of meeting the deadline would be screwed if we lost momentum by bringing in someone new. And yet I wasn’t confident Heke could do it.”
    â€œSo?”
    â€œThen Lane realized he didn’t have enough support for Heke and changed his choice.”
    â€œAnd so?”
    Robert picks up the box of business cards I have on my deskand takes one out, examining the company’s logo. “I hate the color,” he says. “It’s so—purple.”
    â€œViolet,” I correct him.
    â€œI bet you had a hand in choosing it, Lin. Nothing too dull for you, eh?”
    I wait impatiently while he toys with me.
    He tosses the box into the wastepaper basket. “You’d better get some new business cards. The job is yours.”
    â€œCool,” I reply. But it is a warm sensation that fills my body, from my stomach out to the tips of my fingers and toes.
    â€œFor the next six months you’re going to have to eat, drink, and breathe Hera. No running back to lover boy.”
    Robert and I share stares. “I told you that was finished,” I say.
    â€œAnd if he calls to tell you he wants you back?”
    â€œ
I
don’t want
him
!” I reply. “It’s over.”
    â€œYou’ll be a target, you realize? A foreigner and a woman? If you have a weakness, they’ll find it. If you make a mistake, they’ll crucify you for it.”
    â€œI will be Caesar’s wife.”
    â€œThere’s always something, Lin, that can bring you down. Maybe in the job, maybe in your private life. The trick is to see it coming and get it before it gets you.”
    â€œI promise you,
nothing
will bring me down.”
    The management team gathers in the boardroom and Robert makes the announcement. They take it well, even Tom.
    He puts his hand on my shoulder and says, “Well done that girl!”
    Suddenly the glow dims a little. Then I tell myself,
all’s fair in love and war
and
the best man won
and other sad clichés to make myself feel like I didn’t just shit on him. But my intentions are good.
My intentions were good.
    I dress carefully in conservative black linen. When I enter therestaurant, five pairs of eyes observe me critically as I walk to the table. Lane stands and holds out his hand to congratulate me, then pulls out a chair.
    Dao gives me a smile and a small nod of his head. Hobb also nods but without the smile, and Stanton shows me his teeth.
    â€œWell done, Linnette, I’m sure you’ll do an excellent job.”
    Robert pours me a glass of wine and they toast me.
    I put on the polite smile, supping on the French chef’s filet and sipping on a single glass of Pinot Noir that smells of sweat and saddles, and leave them to their port when the jokes become too masculine and the laughter too loud.
    When I arrive home, I take out the bottle of bubbly and slip into the Jacuzzi. I lie in the steaming water, drinking my wine, smoking a cigarillo, and looking out over Wellington.
    Tonight the water and the wine don’t relax me. Instead the blood pumps fast through my arteries. Fantastic opportunity. Terrific challenge. Huge responsibility. Thud, thud, thud through my neck, my head, my brain. Eat, drink, breathe Hera. There will never be a chance like this again. Thud, thud, thud.
    Eventually, I clamber out of the water, pull on my robe, and sit down at the table. I open the