Prologue
TIA
Itake one final glance at the now empty dorm room behind me. All that remains are two empty desks, two chairs and two stripped beds. The posters are gone, the personal effects, the laptops and everything that made the dorm room ours. I look at Louisa and give her a sad smile.
“I can’t believe it’s over,” I say.
“I know,” she replies. “It’s the end of an era. Four years sharing a room, and we didn’t want to kill each other once.”
“That in itself feels like more of an achievement than our degrees,” I joke.
Louisa laughs and nods in agreement. She links her hand through my arm, careful not to dislodge the box I’m carrying. All of Louisa’s stuff is already packed into the trunk of her car and this is the last of mine, the rest of it has also been put away in the trunk of my own car.
“Let’s grab lunch before we go,” Louisa says, and I nod my agreement gratefully.
I know I have to leave campus, and I know I should be excited to start the rest of my life, but I’m not. Unlike Louisa, who has a family to go home to, I have nothing. My mom died when I was in my first year of college and I’m an only child. Her parents died long ago, and my dad has never been a part of my life. The only thing that man gave me is a surname, something I would have been just as happy to get from my mom. I feel kind of lost now that my final year of college is over if I’m honest, and although having lunch with Louisa will only add an extra hour or so to my time here, I’m still glad for the reprieve.
We walk to my car so I can put my last box in the trunk and then we head to the student canteen where I order a cheeseburger and fries with a soda and Louisa gets a chilli dog with fries and a carton of juice. We pay for our food and find a table and begin eating.
“Do we have to be all grown up now and stop eating junk food after today,” I say, trying to keep the mood light.
Louisa snorts out a laugh. “I hope not,” she says.
We lapse back into silence, a comfortable silence, the kind that only true friends or soulmates can experience without feeling awkward.
“So, what now?” Louisa asks me after a few more bites of her chilli dog and a small handful of fries.
We’ve had this conversation several times leading up to the end of the year and I have always bluffed my way through it saying I haven’t decided yet, or I have a few options I’m considering. For the first time, I tell her the sad truth.
“I have no idea,” I say. “I mean I guess I’ll stay here in New York. I have a hotel booked for tonight and I’ll have to try and find an apartment and a job.”
“You don’t have anything lined up?” Louisa asks and I shake my head. “So why stay here in a city you no longer love? You have no one here anymore.”
“Thanks for the reminder,” I say.
“I didn’t mean it like that. I meant come to Chicago. It’s way cheaper to get an apartment there than here and there are tons of internships in IT,” she says. “You can stay with us until you can rent an apartment.”
I think about it for a moment. I have stayed with the Sanchez family a few times in the holidays, and they are lovely, welcoming people and I love staying with them. But if I do this, I will have to find an apartment quickly. I don’t want them to think I’m taking their kindness for granted. Do I want this though? I think for a moment longer and I realize that I can’t think of a single reason not to do it. I grin at Louisa.
“OK. Chicago it is,” I say.
“Correct answer. But first, let’s take advantage of that hotel room you have booked and have one last night in New York,” Louisa says with a grin, and I nod, my own grin spreading across my face as I feel a weight lifting from my shoulders.
Chapter
One
LUKE
Iwalk away from my car, where it’s parked in my reserved parking space, and I head to the entrance of the headquarters of Sold, an online auction website that I am the CEO of. I started Sold at just the right time and it took off more than I had ever even dared to dream it would, and the company is now worth over a billion dollars.
I enter the lobby and the receptionist greets me. I return the greeting and head to the elevator. The first five floors of the building belong to Sold and I ride up to the fifth floor where my office is. The lobby and elevator car are busy as it’s that time of the morning where the majority of people are coming in to work. I greet and am greeted by some employees and a few people from other firms who I’m now on speaking terms with after seeing them around the building so often.
The elevator pings to a stop on the fifth floor and I get out of it and head along the hallway to my office.
“Morning Mel,” I say as I duck my head around my PA’s door. “Any messages?”
“Morning,” Mel replies. “Only one important one. Enrique Sanchez called. He requested you call him back. He said it’s urgent.”