Page 6 of Secret Desire

She waggled a finger at me. “Don’t look at me like that, I’m fin—”

Suddenly, her knees buckled, and she grabbed the edge of the desk, slumping over.

I jumped to my feet, dashed around my desk, and reached her before she fell. I steadied her with my arm around her waist, feeling far too many ribs. When had she lost so much weight? “Mrs. Barnes! What’s wrong?” My voice rose an octave with worry as I helped her to the chair.

Sweat beaded the brow beneath her gray hair. Her face was blanched out, her natural olive-toned glow faded. “I’m alright. Just age catching up with me, I guess.”

I kept forgetting how old she was. Apart from the graying hair, she still looked radiant for a woman in her mid-seventies. She didn’t look a day over 59.

I hovered near her, unsure how to help her. “Go home. Take the day off.”

“There’s too much to do. I have to set things up for the new intern. I haven’t greeted her yet or given her a tour.”

“That can wait. I’ll handle it.”

“You?” she asked with a shaky laugh, so unlike her regular boisterous cackles, sending another wave of worry through me. I had never seen her like this before. This wasn’t good.

I rubbed my wrist, my thumb sliding under my watch and digging into the ridges of my scar. “I’ll have Andrew take care of it. Go home…no, on second thought, go see Dr. Lewis at the private clinic.”

“I don’t need a doctor. I’ll go home and rest for a couple of hours and come back after lunch.”

I bit back a roar of frustration. “Stop this nonsense, Aunt Mable.” I stared into her green eyes, pleading. They were almost identical to Mom’s.

Mom and Aunt Mable had looked so much alike that people mistook them for twins. I wondered if Mom would have aged as gracefully as Aunt Mable had. Would she have looked this way today, had she still been alive?

I couldn’t lose the only family I had left. “It’s an order, Aunt Mable. I’ll get you a cab.”

“Don’t call me that at work, silly boy. No one knows we’re related. Can’t have people thinking I got this job out of nepotism.”

“I don’t care what people think. You’ve been my assistant for twenty years. You’re the only one I trust with my secrets. What’s the extension for the security desk?”

“You still don’t know after all this time?” She sighed, her body slumping with exhaustion. “5555.”

I called security and had them order a cab. “Come, Aunt Mable. I’ll help you downstairs.”

“Don’t treat me like an invalid. Besides, you can’t keep the chair waiting. I’ll manage.”

“Screw the meeting. You’re more important.”

“Stop fretting.” She patted my hand, her warm touch on my skin soothing my nerves. “I’ll be fine.”

I called security again and had them send a guard to help her to the entrance.

“Hurry, Steven. You’re late already.”

I texted my doctor, then put my hand on her shoulder. “Go straight to the clinic. If you don’t, then I’ll come to your house and drag you there myself.”

She waved me away. “Fine. Fine.”

John tapped my foot twice under the conference table at the board meeting. Two taps. The code to shut up. So I wrapped up my presentation with an impressive financial projection that was sure to convince everyone this deal would be lucrative. “Bottom line is that this merger will increase our profits by 35% while increasing investor returns by 67% over the next three years.”

Some of the board members nodded, seeming impressed. I nodded back. And I ignored those who had doubt plastered all over their faces, when what I really wanted to do was tell them how stupid they were. They obviously kept forgetting I was never wrong. Idiots.

John took over and turned on his charisma to the max, schmoozing the old farts around the table by babbling about corporate image and brand awareness. I don’t know why he bothered. Wasn’t he listening when I spoke about profits? How was the discussion still going on when I had clearly given conclusive evidence that there was only one possible decision?

I drowned out the useless conversations around the table relating to subjects that had nothing to do with the bottom line.

John kicked me once under the table. My turn again, but I knew John wanted me to suck up. He should have known better. “You’d be an idiot to pass up on a merger like this,” I said to the chair.

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