Page 4 of Under Their Protection

“Sheisbringing Isaac, and youarecoming. We are going to talk this through as a family. It’s not up for discussion,” she says before abruptly hanging up.

I drop my phone to my desk before leaning back in my chair and closing my eyes for a second. Rowan is quiet as usual, but I can feel him staring at me.

“Need money for a lawyer?” Rowan asks. “Or a shovel to dig a hole?” I smile at his wit.

“No. Just caffeine,” I say as I open my eyes and sigh.

“What happened?” he asks.

“Well… Uber dropped me off and my sister was there,” I say. I go through the events devoid of emotion. I think I am becoming numb to it already.

“Wow… And your mom wantsyouto apologize?” he asks.

“Yeah, now I have no choice but to go to this stupid dinner and listen to them tell me that Harper and Isaac will get married instead of me and Isaac. They will expect me to be a participant, I’m sure. If I don’t show, they’ll blow me up until I do show up,” I say.

“Take Mia with you,” he suggests.

“I’ll probably do that,” I agree with his idea.

“Where are you staying?” he asks.

“A friend from high school until I can find a place,” I lie.

“I’m sorry that happened,” he frowns. “Let me know if you need anything, okay?”

“I will,” I lie again. It’s not in my nature to ask for help, especially from Rowan. Rowan is probably the sweetest man on the planet. I can’t take advantage of him. I’ll live in my car before I admit I need help. I guess I am already living in my car because I do need help, but I refuse to ask for it.

“Are you good for the meeting?” he asks.

“Yeah, I prepped everything on the plane last night,” I say as I grab my laptop and phone as I stand.

When we exit my office Mia is waiting. “Hi, sunshine,” she says as she hands me coffee. “It’s a day for double-fisting.”

“Don’t tell Harper that,” I say, and Mia giggles as we walk to the conference room. Mia, Rowan, and I are the last ones to walk in. I take a seat between Rowan and Mia at the front.

“Good morning,” Rowan says to everyone. “We are running a few minutes behind, so let’s jump right in.” Rowan goes over quarterly projections for sales for what we currently have in the process of publication. I recently took on a few big-name authors. Most of my clients are pretty easygoing, but Andrea Davis will be the reason I go gray at twenty-six.

She is constantly up my ass about every little thing. For as many books that she has published with us, you’d figure she’d have a bit more faith in me than reminding me of my own deadlines every other day. I realize I’ve zoned out when Mia nudges me and I notice everyone is staring at me.

“What do you have going on currently, Anika?” Rowan repeats for me.

“Sorry,” I mumble and sit up in my seat. “Next week, Andrea Davis has one book publishing and another going on presale that will be published in three months. Clay Jefferson is releasing a series of five today. The projections for that looked promising. I’ll have an update to give you and him in the next hour. Outside of that, I have a handful that have draft deadlines coming up,” I say without looking at my notes once. I don’t know why I even take notes considering I never look at them.

“That's great. Good job, Anika,” he says as he moves on to Mia. I glance at my phone to see Isaac texted me.

Isaac

We need to talk.

Me

No, we don’t.

Isaac

Why can’t we sit down and talk this through?

Me

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