Page 45 of Hold on Tight

Which meant the only good and right thing he could do was grab his gym bag, swing his door open, thank her again, and get the hell out of there.

Chapter 13

Mira’s phone vibrated on the wide conference table. She was in a meeting with the team that was working toward the handbags and belts launch. It felt like it had been going on for days, instead of hours. She knew she was supposed to feel grateful for this opportunity, was supposed to feel like it was the pinnacle of what she’d been working toward, but to be honest, she was having trouble concentrating at all. She reached for the phone, grateful for a diversion.

It was the babysitter, Cindy.

She got up and went into the hallway to answer it. “Hello?”

“Mira?”

The tone of the babysitter’s voice made Mira’s heart pound. It was whispered, faint, hysterical.

“What’s wrong?” Adrenaline surged in her blood.

“I’m so, so, so sorry,” the babysitter said. “I would never call you if it wasn’t serious—nothing’s wrong with Sam. God, I should have said that first.”

Mira drew her first full breath since she’d heard Cindy’s voice.

“I’m so sorry,” Cindy said again.

“Is it the house?” Mira’s heart pounded. She didn’t like the way Cindy sounded, as if she didn’t want to be heard. What if it was a home invasion? What if they were being held at gunpoint?

Calm down. She would have called the police, not you.

“It’s not the house,” Cindy said. “It’s my stupid ex-boyfriend. He’s here. And he’s drunk, and I can’t get him to leave. We’re in the upstairs bathroom with the door locked.”

Oh,God. Sam. “Do you think he’s dangerous?”

The silence on the other end of the phone was too long.

“Cindy?”

Cindy was crying, small, almost silent sobs. “He’s never hurt me, but the stuff he’s saying—it’s pretty crazy, and he’s got a foul mouth, and—this is all myfault.” Her voice rose to a wail, and Mira felt herself wanting to shush the girl.Shhh, quiet—don’t let him know you’re on the phone with me.

“I’m calling the police,” Mira said.

She heard sniffling on the other end. “He’s got a possession record. They’ll—”

“I’m putting you on hold,” Mira said. She called the police and explained the situation, giving her address and her cell number.

She kept picturing some huge enraged man rampaging around her house, threatening her son, scaring the crap out of him. Police barging in, a showdown, scaring Sam even worse.

She’d never felt so helpless in her life.

She switched back over to Cindy. “I’ll be right there,” she said, but as she said it, she knew it wasn’t true. Even if she left now, she was on the east side and it could take her, assuming normal traffic, as much as forty-five minutes to reach them.

Haley poked her head into the hallway and gave her a meaningful look.We need you in here.

Her head felt like it was going to explode. Her anxiety about Sam had crowded out everything else, but she knew how much Haley wanted her to impress the other people at this meeting. For Mira’s sake, and for Haley’s own, because—as she’d reminded Mira many times over the last week—she’d gone to bat for her with these people, and this meeting was Mira’s chance to make Haley look brilliant.

Not that that mattered when Sam’s well-being was at stake, but it sucked.

“Can you put Sam on the phone?”

There was a shuffling noise and Sam’s breathing.

“Hi, Sam.”

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