Page 29 of Reluctant Surrender

“Patryk is very good at not being seen.” He winked. “I’ll pick you up after. What time do you get off?”

“Five.”

“I’ll see you then.” He gulped down his coffee with a speed I had to admire considering it had been freshly brewed before he came downstairs. He gave me one more glance before he sauntered out of the kitchen.

A dark thought formed as I heard the front door shut.

He didn’t deny that once Bertonelli was dealt with, I’d be on my own again. This was nothing but a short-term fling to him.

I needed to remember that fact. Men like him didn’t stay, they had more important things in their life. I would never be it.

Chapter 14

Lukas

It was almost six by the time I made it to Maggie’s office. Aside from the usual bullshit, traffic crawled across the city. I didn’t like her working so far away from home, and the part of town she worked in didn’t have the best security. Why the hell had she insisted on moving to the shitty part of town and working in a dangerous part of the city?

Most of the buildings had metal cages around their windows. When I entered her office building, an old man sat slouched at the security desk. He buzzed me in but didn’t blink twice at me walking through the small lobby to the elevators. What the hell was the point of having a security guard if he didn’t at least ask where I was headed?

I checked my watch on the elevator ride up to the third floor where Maggie worked. She’d always been good with numbers, so it wasn’t surprising that she worked for an accounting firm. Or that she could so easily wipe the floor clean with anyone playing against her in a card game.

“She’s in a meeting with her boss,” Patryk greeted me when I entered the accounting firm’s office.

I checked my watch again. “I thought she said she’d be done by five.”

He frowned. “She was, but since we were waiting for you, her boss had some things for her to do.”

“Anyone give you trouble today?”

He grinned. Even with having to stuff him into a nice suit for his task today, he looked nothing like a businessman. He wasn’t paid to shake hands and make deals; he was paid to keep debts paid and wandering men in line.

“No. All under control.”

I raised my brows. “I’m sure it was.” I glanced across the open office space filled with gray cubicle walls and metal desks. Maggie was too colorful of a spirit to work in such a drab place.

“You got her now? I’ll take off if you don’t need me.”

“Yeah, go. I’ll take her home. But be at the house in the morning so you can bring her in the morning.”

“Got it. I’m on babysitting duty until further notice.”

I heard a door slam from the far corner of the office. “What office is Maggie in?”

“That corner, behind that plastic plant.” Patryk gestured to the fake fern sitting on the top edge of a cubicle wall.

Glancing around the empty space again I realized the entire office was emptied out already. There was no one working late except Maggie and her boss. A heaviness filled my chest as I started walking toward the office in that far corner.

“You okay?” Patryk asked, while he waited for the elevator.

“I got it. Go on.,” I answered, keeping my eyes firmly on the closed door. If the office was empty, and it was just them, why would the door need to be closed?

As I passed the fern, I heard voices.

“Of course I don’t want to be an administrative assistant forever. I have a degree in accounting, and by the end of the year I should have my CPA license.” Maggie’s voice was firm, but there was something else, a tiny shake of her tone.

“Well, then I think you really should consider what exactly it is you’re willing to do to get ahead in this firm.”

My gut twisted at the sickening cliché.

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