“You’re welcome,” Dani said, as she stood and cleared the table. “I’ll see you around. I hope.”
Ash smiled and took her seat.
“Sorry I slept so long,” he said. “My body just crashed as soon as I hit the pillow. Then I spent some time talking to Hope before getting up.”
He paused and looked at her. “You’re still serious about keeping us. Me and Hope?”
“If you want to stay, yes.” She stretched her hand across the table. He grasped it.
“And you have a plan?”
Did she? Not really, not yet, but they’d figure it out. “Working on it,” she said. “I usually focus on one rescue every few months. Not three in a couple of weeks.” She laughed.
His return smile was half-hearted. That was okay. She’d make a believer out of him.
Chapter57
Ash steppedoff the executive elevator, regretting every decision that had brought him to this point. But his one-sided conversation with Hope this morning had brought clarity. If he wanted to start a new life with Taryn and with his sister, he had to make peace with his old one. He could only hope that Taryn would understand if this all went wrong.
He’d received a few funny looks when he’d entered the Tremaine building, but no one had stopped him, so maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as he thought.
Yeah, right.
The executive elevator opened at Portia’s floor and he wiped his sweaty palms on his pants before exiting. He’d stopped to change clothes before facing Portia because he’d need every advantage if he wanted to come out of this meeting little worse for wear. Of course, he’d also grabbed his copy of the potential cure for Hope.
Head up, shoulders back, he faked confidence he didn’t have and strode right past her receptionist. She didn’t even look at him, her attention obviously focused on the network. Over the last two weeks, he’d spent so much time up here, he was a regular visitor.
Ash watched her work for a moment, resisting the urge to rub his own port. It was still healing. Plus, he didn’t want anyone to know that it was active again. The back of his shirt carefully covered the newly opened port.
“Go on in.” She didn’t even check the calendar first.
He stepped around the receptionist’s desk and crossed to the big, metal doors. They were still impressive, but they didn’t intimidate him the way they once did. The woman behind them still did, though.
Portia looked up sharply at the interruption. “You have a lot of nerve showing your face here.”
“We need to talk.” Refusing to be intimidated, Ash dropped into the seat across from her with a casualness he didn’t feel.
“Have a seat.” Portia’s laugh was bitter rather than amused.
Ash studied the woman across from him. He’d known this conversation would be difficult, but now that he was here, he didn’t know how to start. How did you blow up your own life and hope to come out the other side unscathed?
“I’m surprised to see you here.”
“Why?” He didn’t want to give her more ammunition. Not just yet.
Her blue eyes bored holes in him. “You disobeyed my orders, disappeared for two days, and created a door in our network security big enough for the enemy to slide through. Am I missing anything?”
Ash swallowed hard and didn’t respond. Yeah, she was missing a few big pieces of information.
“And now you have the nerve to stroll into my office without the courtesy of even knocking.”
“I can explain about the attack,” he started.
Portia cut him off. “Oh, don’t bother. I know you’d do anything for your precious sister, up to and including betraying me.”
Ash blanched. Deep down he’d known that Portia would see his behavior as a betrayal. It absolutely was. But he’d forgotten there was a living, breathing woman behind the Ice Queen. One he liked and respected. Once again, in trying to save his sister, he’d left a trail of carnage for Portia Tremaine to deal with. And that was why he was here. To repent.
“You’re right. I had to get my sister away from Caspar.” His forced “employment” at the Tremaine Corporation had sucked, but being forced to work for Caspar in return for Hope’s safety would have been worse.
