Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 129084 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 645(@200wpm)___ 516(@250wpm)___ 430(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129084 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 645(@200wpm)___ 516(@250wpm)___ 430(@300wpm)
“Do you have access to yours?”
“Yeah. I work at home sometimes, so I pull from my cloud.”
“Yes,” I say, grinning. “That’s good. Send it all to your cloud.”
She’s typing while I grab a box of copy paper and dump it on the floor. I take her diploma off the wall and the knickknacks on the console behind her. She spins toward me and says, “Done. Now what?”
“Grab your stuff, and then I want you out of here. Go straight home and download everything from the cloud that you just uploaded to your laptop. Okay?”
“Okay?” She gets up, scrambling to go through the drawers and cabinets.
“I have business to handle with your father.”
“What’s happening, Noah?”
I shake my head. It’s not something I can answer other than I’m not returning to this office either. Until this plays out, I don’t know the repercussions of what will happen. I kiss her and then turn, but then turn around and kiss her again, cupping her face, and loving her through gentle stroking and our unbreakable connection. “I love you, babe,” I say, hoping she feels only that and not the fear beginning to fill her eyes.
“I love you.”
“Two minutes and I want you out of here.”
I leave her there, closing the door behind me, and go around the pit of cubicles to get to my office. Leanna stands. “Noah, what’s going—”
“I’m sorry. Not now.”
I rush to my desk and send everything I have on the Torres’s account through multiple emails to my personal account. The files are huge, so I stare, waiting until they show “sent.”
Leanna knocks and then walks in. “What can I do?”
My gaze shoots straight to her. “Nothing. I don’t want you involved.”
“Okay,” she says without hesitation. “That sounds bad, so I’ll stick to what you missed in the meeting. You and Liv are a couple, and Liv has a child.”
“She said all that?”
“She didn’t name you, but she didn’t have to for me. I knew. As for the child, wow. My mind is blown, but it makes sense. She left for that year. She was having to hide from these office piranhas. I feel terrible that I wasn’t there for her. That I couldn’t help in some way.”
“Sent.” I stand and start pulling out stuff from the drawers. I didn’t have much so I’m not worried about leaving most of this crap behind. A card from my parents, my Mont Blanc pen, and not much else. Standing, I say, “You don’t need to feel badly. Here’s the truth. I’m in love with her. We live together, and we’re raising our—”
“Olivia!”
Bancroft’s voice explodes in the distance, traveling through the open door. I throw the stuff on the desk and run toward the sound.
I blink, not understanding what I’m seeing; Cassandra holding Max in her arms, the stroller behind her. Liv yanks her arm from her father’s grip, dropping the box, and rushing toward them. As the entire office bears witness to this catastrophe in the making, everyone standing like witnesses to a car wreck, I run.
Liv’s cheeks are streaked with red lines from crying, she takes our son and hugs him to her. Max sees me over her shoulder and holds out his arms. “Dada.”
Time stood still.
And then collides us back to reality.
Audrina is the first to speak. “Dada?”
“Are you fucking kidding me with this?” Chip asks, “Is that my kid?”
Breathe. Just breathe . . .
Liv and Max are my priority, the ones I need to protect. When I reach them, I slide my hand around her lower back and kiss her forehead. “I’ll get your stuff. Take him and meet me downstairs.”
The silence around us is profound.
The heat of stares is like a spotlight set on fire.
I lift Max from her arms, hugging him to me and giving him a kiss. He’s not scared, which is good, considering the circumstances surrounding us. “Hey, buddy,” I whisper.
Smiling like his day has been made, he touches my face and blows raspberries against my cheek. “Dada, Dada.”
The light shines through my clouded view, my son reminding me of what really matters. I set him in the stroller and strap him in securely. “I love you.”
I look up at Cassandra, who is pale and her eyes distraught as she scans the room. She’s chanting, “I’m so sorry.”
Liv reaches out to touch her shoulder. “You didn’t know.”
I reply, “It’s okay, Cassandra.”
She nods and reaches for the stroller, but Liv smiles. “I’ve got him.” Leaning toward me, she lifts and gives me a kiss. “I’ll see you downstairs.”
Chip comes toward us. “Wait, if that’s my kid—”
The palm of my hand keeps him from progressing. “He’s not your kid. He’s mine.”
Yanking himself away, he goes to stand next to Bancroft and crosses his arms over his chest. “How’s he your kid? You just met her a few months ago.”