CHAPTER 1
Present Day—LateOctober
There should have beena sign or some faint inkling that warned Ashley Bennett her well-ordered life was about to come crashing down like shards from a plate dropped on a tile floor. But nope. The powers that be were silent, content to let her go about her day, blissfully ignorant of the vortex of chaos lurking, waiting for the worst possible moment to destroy life as she’d known it these past twenty-three years.
Why was it dark? Was there a storm coming? With a frown, she glanced at her watch.
“No, no, no.”
Ashley jumped, knocking the mountain of paper from her desk onto the floor of her office and sending the chair rolling out the doorway, where it hit the pristine white walls with a bang. Cashmere coat dangling off one arm, she gathered up the outrageously expensive buttery leather tote, shoving papers haphazardly inside while peering across the hallway to stare out thefloor-to-ceiling windows. While she and Mitch each had an office, it was an interior office without windows. Only the big executives got views.
The darkness showcased fat white flakes striking the glass, suspended in time before each one died, turning into water and sliding down the window.
“I’ll never get a cab in this weather.”
Even worse. She was talking to herself. Out loud. Her coworkers would think she’d lost it…though by the looks of things, they’d done the smart thing and left hours ago.
This merger had taken over her life. Determined to make an impression and vault the corporate ladder, she’d put in sixteen-hour days, seven days a week, at the biggest hedge fund in the city, each and every day since she’d graduated. Top of her class, thank you very much. Though all those hours would be wasted if she didn’t watch her back.
The elevator doors shut with a hiss, reflecting her face endlessly in the mirrored surfaces. Instead of music, industry news droned on, and she half listened as she furiously typed responses to the emails not so patiently waiting in her exploding inbox. Something about the earliest recorded snowfall on record caught her ear. She hated snow. For that matter, she hated wind and rain too. Give her an artificially climate-controlled environment any day. Her heels echoed across the marble lobby.
“Miss Bennett?”
The night security guard waved. “Your cab is waiting out front.”
“Jonas, you’re a lifesaver. I figured there’d be about as much chance of me getting a cab as Jersey has of winning tomorrow.” She leaned on the high desk. “How’d you know?”
He pointed to the clock. “You’ve been working late ever since I started. Knew you wouldn’t want to ruin those pretty shoes in this weather.”
The designer heels she’d almost come to blows over during a super-secret sample show a few weeks ago seemed to glow in themuted light. Ashley admired the beautiful shoes. Just wearing them made her feel invincible.
“You’re the best. I would have been late to dinner.”
Jonas made a point of looking at the ornate clock again. “One day you need to slow down and smell the flowers. The work will still be there in the morning.”
“Flowers make me sneeze.” As she wrapped an oversized scarf around her hair, she arched a brow at the guy. He was still in school. Working as a security guard helped him pay for college. She rummaged around in her bag, came out with an envelope, slid it across the desk, and watched his face.
He peeked inside and blinked at her. “Are those Rangers tickets?”
“Two front-row seats behind the penalty box.”
He caressed the tickets then snatched his hand back.
“I couldn’t accept them.”
The cab honked. Ashley turned and held up a finger. “The cab tonight, pizza delivered for dinner last week, and a warning when Randy Andy was headed my way. You’ve more than earned them.”
Jonas held up the tickets, looking at them as if they were a supermodel rising out of the floor. “Tomorrow night, my one night off.”
The cab honked again. “I can’t use them, so enjoy. I have to run or I’ll be late.”
“And we know how you can’t deal with being late.” He pressed the button to unlock the doors. “Thanks, Miss Bennett. You’re the best.”
Ashley waved, Jonas already forgotten as the ping of the phone announced a message from her boss. She’d set up different sounds, assigning the higher-ups their own sounds so she’d never miss a communication. While she firmly believed in taking the extra thirty seconds to be nice to doormen, assistants, and delivery guys, knowing it would pay off later, she really didn’t like people all that much. More that she tolerated them, counting the minutes untilthey’d leave her alone to accomplish her plans and goals. Talking to people always seemed like so much work. Trying to figure out what to talk about and to listen, when she wanted to get back to her own work. Anyway, she had enough work as it was without befriending anyone.
Ensconced in the warm interior smelling faintly of cloves and feet, she gave the cabbie the address, using the time to return calls, check her calendar, and update her task list for tomorrow.
With two minutes to spare, she was seated at the table. First, as usual. Might as well put the time to good use. Busy reading through the report she had to turn in next week, she heard someone speaking to her.
