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I really,reallywas glad for Patricia. I remembered the bleak, tear-filled conversation where Kellen and I had explained that we’d never be able to give her the biological grandbabies she so desired in too-vivid detail.
It was my fault.
It wasme.
I was the problem.
But back then, Kellen loved me too much toeverphrase it in such a way. We put my body through the ringer to try every possible method, traditional and otherwise. It wasn’t happening.
But ultimately, we were still happy… I thought.
Apparently, a child with his DNAwasmore important to him than I was, because he’d certainly had no issue rubbing its existence in my face. Which only made it more surprising that he hadn’t taken the time to make sure his new family was taken care of if something happened to him. It wasn’t as if he was trying to hide them from me – he’dflaunted it.
But… one thing I’d learned very early in life was that a man who was reckless enough to conceive a child outside of his marriage couldn’t be counted on to do what was right. Whether it was a celebrity with a “break baby”, my own husband, or my own father.
And…fuck.
I’d tried so hard not to end up with a man like my father.
All that trying… fornothing.
As the elevator hummed down to the parking garage, I soothed myself with the conclusion that this unpleasant ordeal was my chance to pay my own undeserved favor forward. Once upon a time, a woman who should have held nothing except contempt for my very existence had been generous to me. Not selflessly, but that was fine. She did something for me that unquestionably set the stage for… just about every good experience of my adult life. Her gift to me had a price, as did my gift to Kellen and Crystal’s child.
The price I paid?
Never come back here again.
The price Crystal would pay?
Knowing that I, the wife she’d despised, had done more for her child with a single check than she ever would.
Huh.
I guess that gives Crystal some commonality with my mother.
The elevator chimed to let me know it had arrived at my floor, and I sucked in a breath as I stepped out, quickly making my way through the elevator bank and out to the parking garage. My phone started ringing as I slipped between a row of cars, and I dug into my bag for it as I kept moving toward where I was parked.
My fingers closed around the phone at the same time I spotted my Mercedes – not exactly the place of refuge I needed, but it would work for now. I glanced to make sure nothing was coming before I stepped out to cross the driveway, then looked down at my phone as I moved, frowning at the unknown number.
Suddenly, the bright glare of headlights enveloped me in the dim garage, blinding me for a moment before common sense kicked in, and I bolted out of the way of the fast-approaching car.
“Watch for pedestrians asshole!” I screamed at the back of the car, even though it had already whipped around the curve and disappeared. Flustered, I took the last few steps to my car and quickly located my keys, locking myself inside once I’d gotten in.
I couldn’t decide if getting hit by a car would have been a good or bad way to end this day.
“Boss lady… yousureyou don’t want to call it a night?”
Instead of looking up from my computer, I pushed a sigh out through my nose before I responded. With my eyes still focused on the screen, I told Kim, “I’m not going anywhere. But, I’ve already kept you here past eight. If you want to leave, you can.”
No response came, but I could still feel her lingering in the open doorway to my office. When I looked up, she was watching me, with palpable uncertainty in her eyes.
She was smart to be worried.
Three days after Kellen’s funeral, I’d sat down with Renata fromFive Star Techto hear what she referred to as a status report. Listening to her explain just how methodically some unknown person had run roughshod over my security had sent me through a wild range of emotions. Rage, humiliation, disgust. And when I found out that formulas had been altered, quality reports falsified, inventory logs misrepresented, all without my knowledge… all I wanted to do was vomit.
It was a fuckingmess.
A mess that, as far as I was concerned, shouldneverhave happened. The day after that meeting, I had my ass back in my office, grieving period be damned. The processes we had in place shouldn’t have even allowed for it, and as my executive assistant, Kim should’ve been able to tell me this had gone wrong before someone else had to. Was itallher fault? Of course not. But she knew what her role was in this company – making sure I had what I needed to fulfillmyrole.
