AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The NYPD, the FBI and the State Department all got involved and we sat in interview rooms answering their questions all night. As dawn broke, JD finally put his foot down and told them that I was only a few days out of the hospital, that I needed to rest, and that I could answer anything else once I’d slept. Cody was already asleep on a couch, curled up under a blanket and watched over by Gina.
We stumbled out of the FBI building into a blindingly bright dawn. The storm had passed and the sky was electric blue: it was going to be a beautiful day. But there was something else…the buildings all looked extra-shiny, the yellow cabs extra-colorful.
Then I realized what it was: I wasn’t in danger anymore. I took a breath and it was full and deep: that iron band around my chest was gone.
The rest of the team headed back to the hotel to sleep. JD, Cody and I went to the hospital to check on Danny and to try to persuade Erin to get some sleep. When we crept into his room, we found her curled up asleep on his bed, warmly snuggled to his side. Danny groggily opened his eyes, glanced down at Erin and grinned, then mimed shh. We nodded and backed silently out.
Our next stop was the penthouse, to pick up some clothes and other essentials before we joined the team at the hotel. When we’d each packed a bag, I stood in the living room for a moment, looking around at the devastation. I kept a firm hold of Cody’s shoulders, paranoid about him wandering too close to one of the gaping, empty window frames.
JD put his arm around me. “Sorry,” he rumbled. “Must be tough, seeing it like this.”
I looked up at the hole where I’d fallen through the ceiling, at the drifting grains of safety glass being blown around by the wind. “It should be,” I mumbled. “It should be, but…” I shook my head. I couldn’t put it into words. Then I looked out at the rising sun and my stomach lurched. “Crap,” I said. “It’s morning.”
JD looked at me blankly.
“Today’s the day the company runs out of money,” I told him. We couldn’t pay salaries. We’d have to close down and let everyone go.
“Someone else can handle it,” JD told me firmly as he guided me into the elevator.
“It’s my responsibility. I should be there.”
JD put his hands on my shoulders. “You need to rest,” he growled.
“It’s not your fault, mom,” Cody told me.
But it felt like my fault. I should have been better, smarter, more ruthless. I was about to go down in history as the CEO who took over a world-renowned company and ran it into the ground in a matter of weeks. The least I could do was give all those people a face to yell at.
We reached the parking garage, the elevator doors opened and we started forward. Then we stopped short. Right in front of us was a Rolls Royce…and standing beside it, Van der Meer. JD glowered and started towards him.
Van der Meer put his hand up. “No need for that.” He came a little closer. His skin was still pale and he looked exhausted but he still had that arrogant swagger. He looked at me for a long time, as if weighing things up, then sighed. “The bank has reopened your credit line.”
I felt my eyes bulge. We could pay everyone. We’d survive until the money came in from the dam. I stared at him, bewildered. “Why?!”
He sighed again and frowned. “Because you saved my life. And I might be cruel but I’m not a complete asshole.” He turned around and got into his Rolls Royce and they swept away.
“Does that mean everything’s gonna be okay?” asked Cody.
“Yes,” I said, my voice shaking and my eyes beginning to shine. “Yes, that means everything’s going to be okay.”
At the hotel, I made some calls to the senior executives to reassure them that we weren’t going out of business, that the threat to me was over and that everything was going to be fine. Then JD plucked the phone from my hand. “Now handle things yourselves for a few hours,” he told them. “The woman needs some sleep.” He ended the call and slid my phone into his back pocket. “You can have it back later,” he told me in that voice that I couldn’t disobey. “Right now, you’re getting your ass into a hot shower and then into that bed.”
I relented. A hot shower chased the chill out of my bones and the smell of diesel smoke from my hair. I pulled on a nightshirt, then fell into bed and was out before my head had stopped bouncing on the pillow.
When I woke up, it was past noon. “Where’s Cody?” I asked.
