He makes his intentions clear

"It's very simple, Vanessa. I want to see how good you are." Brand's rediscovered grin was lecherous. He put one foot on the chair Cheryl had been sitting in, allowing his legs to spread. His meaning was all too clear.

Vanessa felt the worry that had wormed its way inside her belly grow, and start to stir in with anger. What. The. Everloving. Fuck. He had Vanessa, who was - if not technically his superior definitely his senior in the same company, by the proverbial balls and the best this asshole could come up with was something so crude, so base as that. Successful, handsome, and stupidly confident he could likely get a much younger woman, as attractive as Vanessa or if was particularly lucky on a given night even more attractive, to go home with him easily.

But he wanted her to... it didn't fit. Even from him, this was too much just humiliating. Where was the big play? Wasn't he too smart to ask for something so stupid? So unneeded? Or was he? Then, he had the evidence, it wasn't going away, maybe this was just the beginning... Vanessa had to test it. She pushed back against the anger and worry boiling in her insides, bottling it dangerously. She needed answers. She needed time to deal with this.

Vanessa unconsciously licked her lips, then cursed herself for that. "You can't be serious."

"I'm completely serious."

"You couldn't... wouldn't turn in all that evidence. Not over something like this."

"I could. I would. Just watch me."

"There has to be more to this."

"You're about to never find out whether there is or isn't. The clock is ticking on my offer."

"You're sick."

"You're stalling."

"I'm calling security."

"Good, I have something for them."

Vanessa balled her hands under her desk. Her nails dug into her palms painfully. She paused. She was running out of angles, so much more quickly than she wanted to.

"You... don't need something like that from me."

No! That sounded too much like... Vanessa knew that she wasn't winning. In fact she was slipping, losing ground with every word.

Brand laughed. "Duh. I'm asking for it, though."

God dammit! Vanessa wished she wasn't so... Goddamn... Angry! Here this smug bastard was threatening to destroy her life, to reveal her at her worst to the world, to the company that she helped build and that he didn't give two shits about, and he was as cool as... as... God dammit!

Vanessa was seeing red. From her diaphragm to her groin, it felt like a thousand angry wasps were trying to claw their way out, screaming at her Fight or Flight. Neither was an option. This happened too fast. He was prepared, she wasn't. One moment she was talking with Cheryl, and now... her panic and anger had no outlet, and they were turning on her.

"Fine!" The word burst out of Vanessa, out of the painful anger in her gut. She actually clapped her hand over her mouth - an additional humiliation, she realized, but it was too late. Brand's smile widened, and Vanessa realized just how easily she had given in, how flimsy her stance had been.

But then, he knew what he was getting the moment he came in. There was no way around it, not until Vanessa had time to think.

Just like before, when she had been **** into this mess years ago by her husband, she would do... what she had to do. The worst of the anger was gone, the hot stuff that boiled. It had released, having forged its own path out of her stomach at her expense, since she wouldn't use it properly - to attack this bastard like an animal and rip him apart. Only cold anger remained, glued to the back of her eyes, which shot a look of icy contempt at her blackmailer.

"Fine," Vanessa repeated at a low growl, "It looks like I don't have a choice."