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The elevator reached the parking garage and the doors slid open. But Lorna just stood there slumped against the wall, eyes closed. I silently reached out and held down the button to hold the doors open. The last thing I was going to do was rush her.
After another few seconds, she took a deep breath, opened her eyes and pushed off from the wall. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“No problem,” I told her as I fell beside her. As we walked to the big black Mercedes that would take us to the speech, I could feel the adrenaline starting to flow. Part of me was glad we were leaving the office, even though it meant she was more at risk. Out here, at least I could do some good.
We climbed into the car and the driver pulled away. As we sped through Manhattan, Lorna dug out the notes for her speech and stared at the neatly-printed cards. But I could tell she wasn’t really seeing them. Her fingers crumpled the edges and she kept glancing at the window as if she was ready to jump through it to escape. The poor woman was terrified.
“You okay?” I asked.
It was a dumb-ass question but I’ve had enough scared rookies in my squad to know that you ask you okay because it gets them talking.
“I—” She licked her lips, took a breath, then blurted it. “I want my dad.” She shook her head. “That’s so stupid, it’s like I’m ten.”
“It’s not stupid,” I said firmly, twisting in my seat to face her. “It’s normal. Especially when you’re scared.” I wanted to just wrap her in my arms and pull her to me.
She shook her head and straightened up. “I don’t have time to miss him.”
That damn near broke my heart. Because I knew where she was heading if she went down that road.
I leaned closer. Waited until she looked at me and pinned her with a look. “You gotta make time,” I told her. “You gotta grieve. Only way to heal.”
She swallowed and nodded. But I saw something else, a flicker of concern. She was wondering how I knew this stuff.
I knew I should tell her about Jillian and Max. It would help to know that I’d been through it. But then she’d try to comfort me. She wouldn’t understand that my loss was different. I deserved to be in pain.
Luckily, at that moment we swept through the gates of the construction site and pulled up beside a crowd of reporters. Lorna jumped as camera lenses pressed against the window like monsters hunting for a way in. Flashes lit up the interior as they tried to get shots of her through the tinted glass. Bastards! Couldn’t they see she was scared?
“Easy,” I told her gently. “Wait for me to come around.”
I got out of my side and pushed my way through the reporters, none too gently. Then I opened Lorna’s door and took her hand, guiding her out while blocking the reporters with my body.
“Miss McBride, how’s the company’s debt looking?”
“Lorna, do you feel you have the experience to be—”
“Lorna, what do you say to the shareholders who are worried?”
“Lorna, over here!”
“Lorna!”
They descended on her in a flock. They were used to this game but she wasn’t. She was too polite, stopping and turning when her name was called instead of no commenting and pushing past. I put a hand on her back and propelled her forward, using my other arm to clear a path. The reporters were relentless: a few even snapped pictures of me and asked Lorna who’s the guy? I ignored them.
As we walked, I looked quickly around. The temperature had dropped since that warm day at the marina: the air was bitingly cold and clear and I could see for miles. Jesus, we couldn’t have picked a worse place for the speech. The site of the new hospital had been bulldozed flat, making a big open space with no cover at all. And all around it was an old industrial area, a maze of twisting pipes where a whole army could hide. The site had a couple of security guards but they didn’t even have guns.
Doubts started to creep in. Should I have called in the team? I’d feel a hell of a lot better if we had Cal on overwatch, and Kian with his bodyguarding experience, and Colton ready to tussle any attackers to the ground.
No. I wasn’t going to drag them into my problems.
I kept Lorna moving, heading towards the Portakabin that served as the site office. Another ten feet and we’d be safely inside.
Then a reporter lunged in from behind Lorna. He was about twenty, some vlogger looking for his next bit of clickbait. He shoved his phone’s camera in Lorna’s face. “Is it true you only got the job because some woke PR firm wanted a woman in charge?”
