Page 29 of Cruel Fate

Hey, I message her. I don’t know if she found the cell phone in her desk, or if she knows how to use it if she did. I threw her to the wolves today, but she seemed to be able to handle herself with Harper’s help.

There isn’t much I know about her besides the generic information HR is required to find out about a new hire during a routine background check. I think briefly of asking the PI to do a little digging on her, too. It couldn’t hurt. I should knowwhat I’m getting into before I fall any further. I can’t live through another loss.

Hey, she responds, and I smile.

I’m sorry I didn’t see u after work,I type.

That’s okay, I know you’re busy.

She types out all her words.

Can I see u tmw?I’ll see her at work but walking past her desk isn’t enough.

Yes. Goodnight, Zane.She cuts me off.

Itislate, and she’s probably tired.

Sleep well.

She doesn’t respond, though the message shows delivered and read.

In the end, I can’t sleep, and I go over paperwork until the sun glimmers in the sky.

Zarah’s already gone when I stumble downstairs. I fell asleep for a couple of hours, and that hit me harder than if I would have pulled an all-nighter.

Lucille made coffee and she’s frying bacon. When we heard the news about Mom and Dad, she’d been afraid we would let her go. Though she doesn’t have as much to do now, she’s still a part of our family, and seeing her face comforts me. I can tell she wants to hug me, but she only hands me a mug of coffee and shoos me upstairs to shower and dress.

I do and munch on bacon in the elevator. I’m stepping onto the executive floor by nine.

Stella and Harper are hunched over her computer, and I don’t bother to interrupt them to ask Stella what my schedule is for the day. Until I learn more of what’s been happening inmy absence, meetings will fill every second of my every day. I’ll need time, but Denton and Cramer will bring me up to speed, and they snag me ten minutes after I sit down. We’re stuck on a conference call until lunch.

Denton asks if I want to work through, but I’d rather see Stella and I say no. We plan to reconvene after the lunch hour, and I head to Stella’s desk.

She’s typing, and she’s so elegant doing it. She sits, her back ramrod straight, and she’s adjusted the monitor so she can stare directly at the center of the screen.

I don’t know what she’s working on.

“Stella? Do you have time to eat lunch?”

She smiles at me, and it steals my breath. I forget how pretty she is, how sincere. She would never lie to me.

“Yes. Let me save my progress.”

I step behind her chair, my hands resting on her shoulders, and glance at her screen. “What are you doing?”

“I’m taking software classes. I don’t know how to use most of what’s on this Mac,” she says, logging off. “Harper showed me the MI 101 classes. It’s a wonderful opportunity, and you should make them available to all your employees.”

I’ve never heard of MI 101, and I hate feeling stupid. They’re obviously training classes of some sort, but I had no idea we offered them or how much they cost. “They aren’t?”

“No. I couldn’t sign up for them in payroll.”

“I’ll fix that.”

It seems simple enough, but she beams at me.

My fingertips linger near her lower back as she and I walk into my office. I ordered our lunch from the restaurant on the first floor and asked for it to be sent up. Two covered plates wait for us at a table near the windows that overlook King’s Crossing, but the minute I close the door behind us, she’s in my arms and my mouth is covering hers.

Something loosens inside me, and I can breathe.

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