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“Just wanted to give you a little FYI. Don’t come to my side of the floor this afternoon.”
“Why’s that?”
He did the annoying hedging thing—the head tilt combined with “Ehhhh.” He finally used his words. “Don’t worry about it. Just avoid.”
“You know that’s an unacceptable answer.” My hands dropped to my desk, and I leaned forward, pinning him with a stare. “Why do I need to avoid your office?”
“Reasons.”
I palmed my desk and pushed to standing, not breaking my gaze. “Trace.”
“Axel.”
“Fucking spill.”
He blinked, and I could see the gears turning behind his dark eyes. “There’s someone coming you would rather not see.”
“Who?”
His eyes narrowed. “Cora.”
Silence stretched between us as we engaged in an intense eye war. I trusted he could feel all my questions via my gaze alone.
In case he wasn’t clear, I followed up with, “Why thefuckis she coming into our building?”
He expelled a burst of air. “Listen, I know it’s weird. But she asked me for some private financial advice after the showing last week. And…I dunno. It seemed urgent. I got the message, if you know what I mean.”
All sorts of reactions flared to life inside me. Exasperation. Regret. Just to name a couple. But what won out was jealousy. “What message is that? Do you know what I’ll do to you if you even look at her for too long?”
Trace groaned. “Jesus, Axel, notthatmessage.”
I flumped backward into my seat, a scowl settling into place.
“She sounded like she needs help. And what are we if not a bunch of patrons for charity cases?”
“Even my ex-fiancée?” I said, more than a note of challenge in my voice. “Who has access to all the resources in the world.”
“Yes. Even her.”
I couldn’t go on, though, because I knew what he was talking about. I knew why he did it. If I could see past the hurt, I’d agree with him. But for now, I couldn’t. All I could admit was that I was curious.
“What time is she coming?” I asked, clicking the nearest pen I could find. “So I know when to avoid.”
“In forty-five minutes. She’s slated for an hour, but it might take less. I can let you know when the coast is clear.”
I nodded, sniffing. My mind spun. Though I was thankful for the heads up, I knew I’d be able to think of nothing else until that woman was gone from the building.
Trace retreated to his own side of the building, and I was left stewing and pacing.
I’d always envisioned so many possibilities for my life, despite the setbacks.
But one that would never materialize was husband.
After Cora, I didn’t have it in me to let anyone else get even remotely close. Mirabella was the closest anyone had gotten, and I still didn’t know anything about her family. I preferred it that way.
Between what happened with Cora and what I’d lived through during my childhood, I didn’t have it in me to let anyone get that close ever again.
I started out a normal lower-class kid—two parents who loved me, my older brother Damian, and my two younger sisters. One present per birthday. Always dinner on the table, even if it took every last cent to put it there. Then when I was eight, my parents died in a car crash while they were out trying to find Christmas gifts for us. Yeah, we were the sad case of the kids whose parents died the day before Christmas.
