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He waited at the security desk in the lobby while they called up to tell Ella he was there. After a few seconds on the phone, the security guard had Logan write his name in the visitor’s log and handed him a guest pass.
Logan rode the elevator to the sixth floor and stepped out into a generic lobby that might have been in any office in America, complete with a greeter’s desk, neutral chairs situated between two potted palms, and a coffee table strewn with magazines.
He introduced himself to the receptionist and she rose to her feet, came around the desk, and led him down the hall.
The office was busy, people walking back and forth in a hurry, clutching file folders and phones, all looking focused and purposeful. Some of them did a double take as he and the receptionist passed, probably because the D.A.’s office didn’t get a lot of visitors.
It wasn’t hard to imagine Ella here, to know this was her place of business, one of many things she’d conquered. She’d been focused even as a kid, always the first to tackle her homework, enjoying it while Hawk, and to a lesser degree Logan himself, had put it off as long as possible.
She’d been better than them, and he’d known even though she never spoke about it that she had plans she’d held close and secret.
He’d just always assumed he was a part of them.
They came to the end of the hall and hooked a left, then started down a smaller, quieter hall. About halfway to the end the receptionist stopped at a closed door.
She opened it, and Logan took a deep breath, bracing himself for the impact of seeing Ella again after all these years. He’d seen her in the news of course, and in the photos Jude had compiled for the dossier, but that had been removed, like seeing a celebrity in a magazine.
“I have Logan from Imperium,” the receptionist said to someone Logan couldn’t see.
To Ella.
He walked past the receptionist and into the room, but he didn’t register a single thing about the office. There was only Ella, standing behind a large desk littered with manila folders and paper, her eyes wide.
She still wore her dark hair long, styled and arranged in soft curls around her face. But instead of eyes shaded with ambition, they reflected resignation, maybe even sadness. The ripe beauty of her youth had given way to something else, something more lush and mature. The promise of it had been there when he’d last seen her, but now it had come to fruition, a garden that blossomed year after year, growing more wild and beautiful with the passing seasons.
“Logan…”
He nodded, hoping it didn’t show on his face what it did to him to see her again. “Ella.”
“I didn’t know… security didn’t say…”
“Will there be anything else?” the receptionist asked Ella.
She blinked, like she’d forgotten the elegant older woman was in the room. “No. Thank you, Muriel.”
“Open or closed?” Muriel asked, referring to the door.
Ella hesitated. “Closed.”
Muriel closed the door behind her and Logan was sealed inside the room with the woman who’d once held his heart in her hands.
Ella seemed to wake up. A mask dropped over her face, and her expression turned stony. He wondered if this was the expression she wore when making her case in court.
She smoothed her skirt, tailored over her long legs, and gestured to the chairs opposite her desk. “Please have a seat.” He sat down, wishing he had the strength not to stare. “Thank you for coming. I didn’t…” She shook her head.
“You didn’t think it would be me,” he said.
“Hawk didn’t say, and security only mentioned that someone from Imperium was here.” She paused. “I assumed you wouldn’t want to come.”
I didn’t.
I had to.
He left the words unsaid. “Hawk’s fiancee is pregnant, or I’m sure he would have come himself.”
“I heard about that.” She smiled. “Who would have thought. Is he happy?”
“Very. He’s almost not a dick most of the time.”
