“That’s impossible.”
“We’ve checked all his accounts. And Mr. Ivers gave us access to all his online data.” And they’d found nothing. More and more she started to believe that the tip the SEC had received was bogus. Zach didn’t behave as if he was guilty, nor had they been able to find evidence of such guilt. “He’s clean.”
Yochum jumped up from his chair. “You wouldn’t by any chance be succumbing to Ivers’ well-documented charm, would you?” He narrowed his eyes and glared at her. “You wouldn’t be the first.”
Rochelle jumped up, outraged. “What are you trying to accuse me of?” With trembling hands she straightened her skirt. “I do my job without letting anybody influence me. I’m working according to the rules.”
Her boss walked around the desk. “Sometimes you have to bend the rules a little to get what you want.”
Automatically, she took a step back and felt the back of her knees press against the chair, preventing her from avoiding her hotheaded boss. Now he stood in front of her, entirely too close.
“The department needs a win. We have to give the public a conviction. After the way the last case went, we can’t afford to fail. Everybody’s watching us.”
She nodded automatically. The evidence they’d had for the last case had been picked apart by the defendant’s attorney and he’d been acquitted as a result of it. The SEC had been publicly embarrassed. “I understand, but I can’t find something that doesn’t exist.”
“It has to exist,” he insisted. “He’s just hidden it too well. Somewhere there is proof that he’s the one behind those trades. And you’re going to find that proof.”
“And how do you expect me to do that?”
“Put him under pressure.” Yochum huffed. “You always have your methods when you want something… or don’t want something.”
His words were like a slap in the face.
His annoyed gaze only underscored his statement. He still held it against her that she’d never given into his attempts to get her into bed.
Her hands curled into fists in order to resist the urge to slap him. The only reason she hadn’t filed a sexual harassment complaint against him was because Yochum had the power to destroy her career. One word and he’d drag out an old case and make it look like she’d acted against the rules in order to get a conviction. In fact, it had been Yochum himself who’d forced her to ignore the law to get sufficient evidence against the suspect. And then it would be his word against hers.
“Unless you’ve changed your mind. Then maybe I’ll be more lenient.”
She felt bile rise at the thought of Yochum touching her. She would never stoop that low. This man made her sick to her stomach.
She had no choice. If she didn’t want to lose her job then she had to deliver Zach Ivers, because the other alternative was out of the question.
And as much as it hurt her to bring in the heavy artillery against a man whom by now she believed to be innocent, and whom she desired beyond all reason, she had to do it.
She’d just this week emptied not only her savings account, but also tapped into her retirement fund to help her brother out of his predicament. If she lost her job now, she wouldn’t be able to stay afloat for even a month. She needed this job.
“If there is evidence of his guilt, you’ll have it on your desk in a few days.”
Yochum nodded. “Then we understand each other.”
Rochelle turned on her heel and rushed out of Yochum’s office. When the door fell shut behind her, she sucked in a breath of air.
She suddenly knew exactly how she could force Zach’s hand so he would reveal what he was hiding—if he was hiding something. But she also knew that doing so would deepen the rift between them and draw Zach’s rage onto her.
16
“Send Miss Wright into my office. Right away!” Zach ordered his assistant and slammed the receiver back on the phone.
He was fuming and could barely keep himself in check. Bad enough that the investigation was dragging on over a week already, but now the SEC had gone too far. What they were doing now was an infringement on his rights and his ability to run his business. He couldn’t let anybody get away with this. Not even Rochelle.
A knock at the door made him bark, “Come!”
The door opened.
“Mr. Ivers?” he heard Rochelle ask. “You wanted to see me?”
“Come in, Miss Wright,” he ground out from between clenched teeth. “And please close the door behind you.”