Page 110 of The Reluctant Hero

“Good,” he mutters, his usual flirting put on the backburner. “I’m liable to be grumpy today. Don’t take it serious, ok?”

“Ok,” I whisper back with a tight smile. “We’ll get through this. One day. It’ll be ok.”

“I said that once,” Cade mutters and brushes past me. “Itnevergets better.”

He sounds like he’s speaking from experience.

“I’ll start the plan rolling,” Jake says and puts a finger to his lips. “Play innocent little imp.”

“Ok,” I nod and look at Ace again. “Is there anything I can do? I can’t just sit there.”

“He ain’t gonna be up to toleratin’ anythin’ today,” he tells me and sighs.

I nod and straighten myself up. I look down at my jeans with a wince.

“Pretend it’s another day,” he kisses my forehead and then abandons me too.

I share a pained wince with Vanessa and pretend it’s another day. With laryngitis. No talking.

The phone rings again, and we both look down in dread.

“He can’t fire me,” she whispers to herself in determination and then answers the phone in her usual snooty voice.

I hurry into the office and softly shut the door behind me. Mikael shakes his head when he sees me, and I nod. The agreement relaxes him.

Cade lays out his plan to an oblivious Gabriel, collects Mikael and Gabriel’s phones and hands them to Jake. Then he takes Jake’s phone and hands it to Mikael. I hope this works.

Jake gives me a wink as he walks past me to leave. I take my spot at my desk, praying Gabriel doesn’t look up and notice me freaking out over here.

He doesn’t. For hours. He’s staring at the wood grain as if he’s seeing the future and trapped in the vision. He doesn’t even pretend to do paperwork even though his pen is in his hand. It’s the strangest and most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever seen. All I want is to get up and give him a hug.

When Ace sees me chewing my nails in the corner, he glares. It startles me into a flurry of highlighting. All the lines are shaky today.

His mom was murdered in front of him. Did they catch the guy? Is he or she in prison rotting away? Dead and six feet under? God, I hope it’s the second option. And that every day for that person they get to experience exactly what Gabriel is going through right now. Every damn day for eternity.

No one is talking. The TV isn’t on. I think we all have our phones turned off or set to silent. I don’t dare play any music. It’s a funeral in here. I wince at the thought.

“Where is she?”

The scream of rage comes from beyond the closed doors and startles me bad enough that I drop my highlighter.

Oh shit.

Highlighters.

“Don’t you shush me! I want to know where that bitch isright now!”

My horrified eyes meet the glares of the three guards left. I shake my head helplessly. I can’t exactly defend myself. I’ve been waiting for Sarah to come up here and throw a fit for a week now. I planned on pulling the headphones out of my purse and putting them on to watch Gabriel suffer with my middle fingers raised.

But nottodayof all days!

My mouth works as a sharp scream echoes down to us, and my eyes slide to Gabriel.

His eyes are squeezed shut and he’s gripping his all-important pen so hard I’m afraid he’s going to snap the metal.

I can’t just sit here. I have todo something. Even if it’s wrong.

I bounce out of my seat quickly and yank my purse up to grab the headphones. Then I snatch up the highlighters spread everywhere, even the ones Gabriel bought. Before Ace can take a single enraged step forward to stop me, I hurry by him to drop the headphones on the desk and gasp out, “Put these on. I’ve got this.”

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