AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You look pale, tired,” he fussed. “All that sugar can’t be good for you.”
I exhaled. “Which is why I will be going to the gym at lunch.” His gaze softened, and I turned away. “I should be off. David is waiting for me downstairs.”
“Yeah. I know,” Gregor said, his tone cool. It was a subject we had agreed not to discuss anymore. “How is the Salomé funding coming along?” Gregor asked, changing the subject.
I turned back to him and lifted my shoulders. “Not the best this year. But the bonus helps cover my pledge. So thank you again for that.” I plastered on a smile.No pity.“Some students have volunteered, but we have a quarter of the participants we had this time last year.”
He patted my shoulder. “How about I send an email around the office? That could help some.”
I smiled genuinely. “You can’t do that. It would go against our policy of soliciting….”
“So, I’ll make a new rule. That’s what being boss means,” Gregor said and winked at me. “Maybe the first week of every month we could allow everyone to send out emails on their charity organizations and information on donating to their causes.”
I could see the wheels turning in his head. I stared in admiration. Gregor was a lifesaver.
Although Ms. Parker had mentioned she was able to raise funds through the phone-a-thon, we were still far behind the funding we had received last year. I would have to do something to bring in more money, and soon, or it would be a struggle to continue the program next year. His offer of promotion could be beneficial.
“Thanks, Gregor.”
I walked past him and headed to the elevator. My eyes glazed over, not focusing on anything or anyone until I reached the lobby, where Olivia stopped me at the reception desk.
“You had this delivered today,” she said with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
Eyes that were studying me. She had been scrutinizing me like this ever since she’d seen my bruised face after the attack. Our once easy acquaintanceship had suffered.
I shifted my gaze away from her and onto the small bouquet of tiger lilies. I quirked my brow.Jonas?
“Thank you,” I said.
I grasped the little envelope sticking out of the front and walked a few steps away, where I placed the packages on one of the magazine tables in the lobby. My hands trembled as I pulled out the message and read it.
I love you, Tiger Lily. Forgive me. Declan.
My heart constricted at the mention of my nickname, Tiger Lily, given to me by my parents. The name came from a brave and loyal princess that played a brief part in J.M. Barrie’s book,Peter Pan, which had come to have special meaning for my family. They’d told me I was brave and loyal, and I’d believed them. Until their deaths. Until Declan.
I grimaced. When would he ever leave me be?
“Would you like someone to bring the flowers up to your desk?” Olivia sung out, calling me from my thoughts.
I lifted my chin. “No, thanks. Would you mind keeping them down here?”
“I can put them in the conference room on the third floor if you’d prefer?”
We looked at each other and in that moment I felt understood. Less alone.
“Yes. That would be great.”
I collected the packages and braced myself for the cold weather as I left the building. Still, I shivered. The icy blast of air hit my face and stole my breath. New York was still in the midst of winter weather and, from the grey clouds overhead, maybe more snow. I shook my head as I walked across the stone courtyard, passing a couple clusters of smokers from the offices who shivered without coats in front of the metal caddies outside the building. They were crazy to stand out in this freezing afternoon. I noticed the Bentley waiting for me at the curb. David must have not yet caught sight of me, or he would have been out to greet me.
We had our own uneasy relationship. From the past, he had been Jonas’s personal spy, watching over me. Now, Dani Crane had placed him in the position as co-conspirator, watching over me once more, only now not telling Jonas what was going on. This made things uneasy for both him and me. In the last week, I had found my bruises gone, but the stain of them still clung to all who had seen them.
Closing in on my goal, I caught movement fast approaching out of the corner of my eye and paused. What filled my vision made my body tense and my mouth go dry.
Declan’s beefy frame was bounding up to me. His wispy strawberry blonde hair was messy around his face, and he had stubble on his round chin. He wore a checked shirt and dark slacks. He never was one to care too much about his appearance, but something was different. Alarming. The steel calm he had on approach had my hair on end. Then realization hit me. For the first time in all the times I’d encountered him, and even the times he’d physically attacked me, I was actually scared of him.
“Where the hell have you been?” he asked, his voice elevated. “I called your phone a bunch of times, but it just goes dead. Did you block me? I can’t reach you at work. I came all the way up here and delivered the flowers myself, but I wasn’t allowed inside the building.”
I backed up from him, my arms crushing the packages. “You’re supposed to be in rehab.”
