Thumps of someone climbing up the staircase of my apartment building echoed through the thin walls. Every sound could be heard from within my 400 square foot studio. My wrenching sobs left my chest aching, but the tears had finally subsided to the point that I just lay under my blankets breathing wretchedly. A loud bang vibrated my door and I gasped. Slapping my hand over my mouth, I cut off the sound. The bang came again. I curled my fingers around the edge of my blanket, peeking over my toes under it as I watched the door across from my twin sized bed.
“Nina.”Hismuffled voice came through clearer than should be possible with a wall between us. My muscles clenched like they wanted to bounce up and run toward him. “Open the door, Nina.” The order hinted at an Alpha Bark and I sat upright before I forced myself out of my instinct to obey.
How did he learn which was my apartment? I yanked the blanket over my head. The doorknob rattled, and I stayed silent, laying as still as possible under the blankets.
Who was I kidding, he had information at his fingertips with the sort of power he wielded. Another vibrating thud of the door. If he kept this up, my muscles would all cramp like this. “Nina. Please open the door.” His voice softened, but even so, the command in it remained. He jiggled the doorknob. I closed my eyes tight, hugging my fuzzy pillow to my chest.
A door creaked. “Excuse me?” A woman’s frail voice shrilly exclaimed. “Stop the racket or I’m calling the police.” She sounded familiar, it was the elderly neighbor who lived with her young nephew. “Wait a minute, you’re one of them Astor’s. I saw you on the news.”
Footsteps thudded. “Hey, where are you going?” she called. She’d successfully scared him away. Tension floated off my limbs, but my heart was left hurting. My phone vibrated and I slipped my hand out of the comforter, searching under the pillow until I found it. I yanked it to my face, and the bright light made me wince.
I’ll be going to Singapore for a meeting. I’ll be gone for a week, can you please let me in? I need to see you.
I cinched my eyes shut. The phone vibrated in my hand again. Relief mingled with agony. He would be gone, I hiccupped.
Please. The NDA was a mistake. I asked him to draft it right after meeting you.
I didn’t answer. Nor did I answer the thirty phone calls after that.
Chapter Nine
She blocked me out. Only a few minutes left, and we arrived at Astor Industries. I kept drumming my fingers on the door handle, waiting for the moment to open the door to spring out.
Not seeing her for a few days made me physically ill. I couldn’t focus on the meetings. I’d put the Singapore merger in danger. I wasn’t functioning on any level. So, I booked a flight home.
“Mr. Astor?” More than a hundred calls I’d made in the last three days, and she hadn’t answered one of them. But at least she hadn’t blocked me. “Mr. Astor?!”
“Yes?” I forced myself to the present.
Judy sighed. “As I was saying, her replacement should be in tomorrow?—”
“Wait.” I’d missed most of what she’d said. She couldn’t be speaking about Nina. No, she wouldn’t make such a massive move without me. “Repeat that.”
She startled, the electronic pad slipping to the floor of the car.
“I-I.” She cleared her throat. “Nina’s replacement.”
“Replacement,” I snarled. Her hand shook and she stopped mid grab of the device. “She will not be replaced. She is staying put.”
“She’s already submitted her resigna?—”
“No.”
Her mouth finally shut, cutting off the blasphemy. The car rolled into the roundabout, and I opened the door before it came to a full stop. Billings screeched the car to a stop, but I was already storming inside my building. Finding her was my goal. I yanked my phone out, dialed Judy, and pressed it to my ear.
“Text me Nina’s exact location, now,” I barked.
“H-how?—”
“Figure it out. You have surveillance’s contact.” I hung up. I’d fire Judy if she didn’t work fast. I strode to the restroom on this floor. I pressed my palms against the sink, bent over, and breathed in deep. She would not leave me.She would not leave me. A text buzzed my phone.
Cafeteria.
She never went to the fucking cafeteria. I careened to the left, away from the elevator lobby and crossed the main entrance. The large cafeteria provided breakfast and lunch for all employees, but in all the time I’d been obsessed with my Nina, I hadn’t seen her enter once. The marble table-tops reflected the overhead light, conversation floated across the expanse. Iimmediately narrowed in on her sitting in the middle row and stormed in her direction.
She looked up, and her eyes widened. She sat with . . . a man? My knuckles popped.
“Y-yes, sir?” She breathed, eyes flitting back and forth.
