Page 87 of Sheltered

She hesitated a moment, considering her answer to that question. “Uh, well, what do you have as your next available?”

After giving her hair another look and deciding how much time I’d need to do what she wanted, I glanced down at my calendar to search for an open spot. “I’ve got an opening on Friday, two weeks from now. Could you come in at two o’clock that afternoon?”

“I think that should work. Let me double-check my calendar,” she answered as she reached into her purse. She pulled out her phone, tapped on the screen a few times, and inspected it. “Yep, that looks like it’s perfect. You said that was for two o’clock, right?”

I nodded. “Yes, that’s correct. I just need some information to get you in my schedule here. Can I have your name?”

“It’s Laura.”

“And your last name?”

Silence filled the air, forcing me to glance up. As I did, I noticed Laura had her eyes narrowed on her phone. “Oh, you know what? I don’t think that Friday is going to work for me.”

“That’s not a problem at all. I can look at what’s available the following week,” I assured her, flipping my calendar to look at the spots I had open the following week. I scanned the open spots and shared, “I’ve got that Monday at either ten in the morning or three-thirty in the afternoon. I can also do Tuesday at eleven. And I have Thursday at one. If you’d need a Saturday appointment, I wouldn’t have anything open until the Saturday one week after that.”

“That’ll definitely be too far away,” she replied.

I offered a slight nod in return. “I completely understand. I just wanted to toss that option out there for you. Would that Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday would for you?”

She sighed. “I wish they would. Unfortunately, I think they’re all going to be a problem.”

“Oh no,” I said, feeling bummed that it just didn’t seem to be working out for this potential client. “The only other option I could offer you would be to take your information down and reach out to you if someone needs to cancel and reschedule their appointment.”

Laura dropped her phone back into her purse and said, “That’s really kind of you. Unfortunately, even if you could get me in tomorrow, I get the feeling it’ll be too late.”

My brows pulled together. If that was the case, why would she have initially said the first appointment I offered would have worked for her? “Oh, I’m sorry. Do you have a trip you’re leaving for?”

She shook her head. “No. No, I guess I should clarify. I think the reason that nothing is really going to work for me doesn’t really have anything to do with me. It’s more about you.”

I straightened up from where I’d been bent over my desk. “Me? I don’t understand.”

As she nodded, a sinister look washed over her face. Following a beat of awkward, tense, and very uncomfortable silence, Laura revealed, “No other day will work, because you’ll be dead.”

The second the words were out of her mouth, my phone rang. But I couldn’t bring myself to look down at it, because my body was frozen to the spot as my blood ran cold.

I was in serious trouble.

TWENTY-FOUR

Harlow

There was no amount of deep breathing that would work to calm my nerves.

My mind was racing, my belly was trembling, and I could feel my palms instantly beginning to sweat.

Without her saying another word to me, I knew who this woman was.

Granted, I didn’t know exactly who she was, but I knew enough to know she was the woman Blaze and his team had been trying to locate for weeks now. Or, well, she was one of the people they were looking for.

My phone rang again, and for the first time since Laura had indicated she was there to kill me, I tore my attention away from her to glance down at the phone.

It was Blaze.

God, I hoped he knew something was wrong and was desperate to reach me.

Just as I thought I’d reach for the phone, Laura spoke. “Don’t touch it.”

Normally, I’d never allow someone else to tell me what I could and couldn’t do, but considering Laura was now pointing a gun at me, I thought it was wise to heed her warning.

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