“He does not come after my staff,” Joaquin gritted out, infuriated by how petty Lorenzo was. He had no compunction against destroying innocent people if he could score a point against his son.
See?he wanted to say to Siobhan.This is what I’m shielding you from.
“Stay behind after this,” he ordered Oladele and quickly wrapped up the rest.
“Do you need me?” Siobhan asked Oladele, gathering her laptop and notebook into her arms as everyone else filed out.
“No,” Joaquin answered.
Siobhan flinched at his tone and flashed him a glance then haughtily turned her gaze on Oladele.
He kicked himself, especially when Oladele sent him a look of surprise as well before she answered Siobhan. “Head back to your desk. I’ll be down shortly.”
Siobhan nodded and moved to the door.
Joaquin took a single long stride to get it for her, feeling like a heel, wanting to at least catch her eye and let her know he hadn’t meant to be so rude.
If he hadn’t been right there, staring at her profile, he would have missed the way the rigidity left it and her eyelashes fluttered. He would have missed how her color leached away and her knees buckled. He wouldn’t have been close enough to catch her before she hit the floor.
“Wha—?” His heart lodged itself in his mouth as her dead weight slumped in his arms. Her laptop hit the carpet and her notebook splashed open.
Oladele gasped.
“Call first aid,” he barked.
Since he’d caught her and knew she wasn’t injured, Joaquin gathered Siobhan against his chest. “Get the door. I’ll put her on the sofa in my office.”
Seconds later, he eased her onto the cushions, heart crashing against the walls of his rib cage. Her eyes were already blinking open.
“What—?”
“You fainted.” He had rudimentary first aid knowledge and pulled her eyelids up to ensure her pupils were even, then pressed his fingertips to the pulse in her throat.
“First aid is on their way,” Oladele said from the door. “Do we need an ambulance?”
“No. I just stood up too fast.” Siobhan brushed his hands off her and sat up, forcing him to rise so she could set her feet on the floor.
He touched her shoulder to keep her seated, ready to catch her if she slumped forward.
“I don’t need first aid,” she said impatiently. “That’s embarrassing. I’m fine.”
“You are not. You were dizzy the other day.” Joaquin had let himself believe her when she had said it was a bug, even though a tiny seed of suspicion had arrived in his brain at the time, one he had dismissed before he allowed it to take root. It was too perilous. It would consume his thoughts if he let it, so he had brushed it away.
It was quickly growing too big to ignore, though. Or would. Over the next nine months.
No. He pinched the bridge of his nose, still wanting to believe it was something else.
“Do you have a headache?” He didn’t want her to be genuinely ill, but it was the only other explanation. “A cough? Other symptoms?”
“No.”
“I wish you had told me you weren’t feeling well.” Oladele flicked Joaquin a look of speculation that only landed on him long enough to blow up his shell of denial before she returned her concerned frown on Siobhan. She suspected the same thing, but she was too circumspect to say it aloud. “I don’t fire people for being ill, even if they’re new on the job.”
“I didn’t think you would. But I’m not sick,” Siobhan insisted. “This is self-induced. I’ve been burning the candle at both ends.”
“Did you miss lunch again?” Oladele asked.
“You’ve been skipping lunch?” Joaquin snapped before she could answer.
