Page 92 of Sexting His Assistant

His lawyers’ names come up.

That is when I’m done.

I step backward once, then turn and walk down the side corridor before anyone can stop me. My heels sound too loud against the floor. My hands are cold. My face feels hot. I pass Meredith, who takes one look at me and wisely says nothing.

I make it to my desk.

The diary is sitting in the locked drawer.

For one hysterical second, I think of opening it and adding a note.

Alina Karelin — pregnant. Possibly Luka’s. Likes public ambushes. Avoid eye contact unless emotionally bulletproof.

Instead, I sit down.

My computer screen is still open to the acquisition file. There are unread emails in my inbox. A message from catering. A revised security protocol. Three calendar alerts. His world still expects me to function.

I put both hands on the desk and breathe slowly.

In. Out. In. Out.

It doesn’t help, at all.

Through the glass, I see movement near Luka’s office ten minutes later. Alina is there now, sitting in one of the chairs across from his desk, one hand pressed to her stomach, the other holding a tissue. She looks hysterical in the controlled way rich women often do, like she has been trained to fall apart without ruining her makeup.

Two lawyers stand near the window.

Grigori is one of them.

The other is a woman from external counsel whose name I always forget because she looks like she has never once forgiven anyone.

Luka stands behind his desk, one hand braced on the edge, injured shoulder stiff beneath his suit jacket. He is calm. Perfectly calm. Cold enough to freeze the room from inside the glass.

Calm is his cruelty.

Calm is how he tells women they are not his girlfriends, tells staff they are safe, tells doctors he is fine, tells me nothing happened while everything inside me burns.

I open my drawer.

The resignation letter is already printed.

It’s been printed for three days.

I told myself it was only to make Misha stop worrying. I told myself I would keep it in my bag until I decided. I told myself I was not a coward for hesitating, because leaving a job is complicated and I had responsibilities and maybe things would settle after Luka returned.

That was before Alina Karelin walked in with a baby announcement.

Before I realized I was becoming another stupid woman in the story of him.

My hands shake when I take the envelope out.

I stand. Nobody stops me.

Why would they? I’m his assistant. I enter his office all the time. I carry files, signatures, private documents, excuses for women who should have known better.

The lawyers are still talking when I step inside.

Luka does not look up immediately.