The elevator takes what feels like years to arrive. When the doors finally open, the mirrored walls inside reflect a woman I barely recognize. My eyes are too bright. My mouth is pressed thin. My hair looks wild.
I press the lobby button and the doors slide shut. The car begins to hum. I finally breathe. I said it. It’s out. It’s in the real world now. The relief is so huge, I could wrap my arms around it. But there’s fear and anger and shame and worry and everything else.
The elevator doors open, and Bogdan is waiting for me in the lobby. I’m soon in the back of his car as he pulls out onto the road.
“Jesus,” I whisper to myself. “What am I doing?”
I think of the baby. A small, flickering life. I put my hand over my stomach the way he did and close my eyes.
This is all that matters.
CHAPTER 9
GABBY
It’s morning, and my apartment’s a total mess of color-coded files and half-packed boxes. I can’t believe I’m actually leaving. This was supposed to be my home base; the place I’d launch my little empire from. Now it looks like a war zone.
Sasha says it’s for my protection, but it feels more like losing the little bit of autonomy I’d fought so hard for.
I’m standing there, my hands on my hips, trying to process everything that’s happened.
“Alright, a little moving fuel.” Angie sidles in through the half-open front door, an iced latte in each hand. Bogdan, our escort for this little mission, is right behind her.
“Ah, perfect.” I take the latte she offers me and lift it to my lips.
She cocks her head to the side as I drink. “I still don’t get this decaf thing. Seems like, if caffeine was made for anymoment, it’d be the morning you finish the proposal and then move, all before noon.”
“I’m jittery enough about all of it. I don’t need the caffeine,” I say. “No coffee for you?” I ask Bogdan.
“I prefer tea.”
“That makes it a grand total of ten words you’ve said this whole morning,” Angie says to him. “Keep it up, and you’re on track for a couple of dozen by noon.”
He grunts, squatting down to hoist a stack of boxes to take down to the van.
Once he’s gone, I sigh. “I still can’t believe this is happening.”
“Think of it as an adventure. Besides, you said this would be the best way to get the work done, right? Shack up with the boss for a while, hunker down and finish.”
That’s the story I’ve told her. Ineedto tell her the truth about the baby. But I’m not ready just yet. In the meantime, she thinks Sasha’s doing this so I can work on the merger in peace for a few weeks. Flimsy excuse, but it’s working for now. Still, I feel like a total asshole for keeping the truth of my impending motherhood a secret from my best friend.
“And hey, you might find out for sure if the rumors about him are true.”
“The rumors? You mean the mob stuff?”
She shrugs. “That’s what they say.”
“I bet it’s not like that at all,” I say, folding a shirt and slipping it carefully into the open suitcase near me. “I mean,maybe he’s got some connections, but I doubt it’s anything serious.”
Angie pulls a strip of tape over the top of one of the boxes, then dusts her hands. “Maybe. But I could see it. He’s got the intensity. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s killed someone.”
“Angie! You said that so nonchalantly.”
“Might’ve been what happened to the person you replaced.” She lets out a wicked laugh, setting her latte on top of the box, then lifting it.
“God, don’t tell me that. I’m already thinking he’s on the verge of pitching me out the window of his office every time he looks over the latest work I’ve handed to him.”
“That’s one way to save on commute time. Come on, just a few more to go.”
