“Today is my sister’s birthday.” I refused to let it go. “Her. Birthday.”
“Did you call and give her a birthday wish already?”
“Yes.”
“And you bought her a present?”
“Yes.”
“Are you expecting me to do either of those things?”
“No…”
“Then I don’t see why you need to keep bringing it up to me,” he said. “It’ll still be her birthday when we get back to New York.”
“At ten o’clock tonight, barring weather.”
“Exactly, Miss Stone.” He looked at his watch. “So let’s spend our remaining hours focusing on your job, which is what I’m paying you to do.”
I bit down hard on my bottom lip and clenched my fists as the driver slid behind the wheel.
“Careful, Miss Stone,” he said. “That doesn’t have the effect on me you think it does.”
“What should I do to make it clear that I absolutely despise working under you, then?”
“I’m not sure.” He smirked. “But I’ll happily give you some suggestions on trying something else under me instead.”
“Sounds like I should hurry up and report you to human resources for sexual harassment.”
“Go ahead, so I can do the same,” he said. “All your skirts and dresses are four inches shorter than the dress code, and you only wear panties half the time, so… Want to make that trip to HR together?”
I felt my jaw unhinging and my cheeks heating all at once.
“That’s what I thought.” He smiled. “You can drive us to the next cafe on my list, Francis. Now.”
TWELVE
ANDREA
Day #40 of Company Takeover
“Andrea?” Everly’s voice sounded close, but I had to be dreaming.
The last thing I remembered was sitting in a late-night meeting at the office. I didn’t even remember getting home.
“Andrea…” Everly tried again.
“Maybe we should call 9-1-1,” Lisa said, closer now. “How long has she been lying stiff like this?”
“I’m not sure,” Everly said. “I just noticed it this morning. Let me see if I can make her move before we jump to conclusions…”
Something cold pressed against my back, snapping my eyes open.
“Oh my god! What is that?” I screamed, jumping up.
“See?” Everly held up a popsicle. “She’s alive.”
I groaned and flopped back onto the couch.
