Part 31 (1/2)

”Where have you been? You leave me a note telling me not to worry, and then you completely disappear?”

”You're not calming down. I will be home in ten minutes. Tell the SWAT team to stand down.”

”Where were you?”

”I'm fine. Everything is fine, I promise.”

Connor dropped me off down the street. As much as I wanted to see Clay and his friends jump Connor, that wasn't really in the spirit of peace I was trying to cultivate with Daniel. I approached the entrance of the apartment building. Blake was pacing like a mad man, spouting heated words to Clay and another brawny man dressed in black.

As soon as his gaze landed on me, he started toward me. I was expecting him to start yelling and freaking out, but instead he trapped me in a hug that left me breathless it was so tight.

He released me enough to look me in the eyes. His face was tense, his skin tight over the angles of his beautiful features. His hand trembled slightly as he caught my face in his palm. ”Don't ever leave like that again. Promise me.”

I nodded and swallowed hard, feeling less brave and more guilty with each pa.s.sing moment.

”Promise me, Erica.”

”I promise. I'm sorry. I had to see him and set things straight.”

His eyes widened slightly. ”What? Who?”

”Daniel.”

He stepped back and shoved his hands through the fine strands of his hair. ”You're kidding me. Please tell me you're joking.”

”Everything is fine now. I reasoned with him. He was p.i.s.sed of course, but I think I finally got through to him and made him understand where I'm coming from. He's going to leave us alone.”

”How do you know? What if he was just appeasing you? What if he'd... Christ, Erica. I can't even believe you did this.”

I thought it over for a second. My meeting with Daniel could have gone all wrong, completely different from how it had. Blake would have never forgiven himself if something had happened to me.

”He's my dad, Blake. He's horrible sometimes, but he's not going to hurt me.” I sighed, grateful that I could finally believe that. ”We came to an understanding. He promised to back off.”

”And you believed him?”

”I believe him.”

I spent the rest of Sat.u.r.day regurgitating my conversation with Daniel to Blake, trying to get him to believe that we were going to be okay. He was still skeptical, but I had at least convinced him that he didn't need to release any damaging information to the public for now. I made him swear on our relations.h.i.+p that he wouldn't.

Risa and I agreed to meet at Mocha on Sunday morning. She'd suspect something was wrong, but I had to see her face to face. It was my best chance to get more information on what she and Max were up to behind the scenes.

”Hey.” She slid into the seat across from me, looking fresh and sweet, as usual.

I canted my head to the side and stared at her, as if I were seeing her for the first time. In a way, I was. I was seeing the person she'd been the whole time, knowing what I knew now.

”I'm pretty disappointed, Risa. That's what's up.”

She paled a bit. ”What do you mean?”

”I'm curious. How long did you plan on pretending you were a part of our team before you cut loose? Was it just whenever the opportunity struck, or did you and Max have a long-term plan?”

She hesitated. ”I'm not sure what you're talking about.”

”I saw that you sent Max the files, so you can start being honest now. What I want to know is how you went from loving your job and caring about my company to sharing confidential information to a third party with a vengeance, because I seriously don't get it.”

Her countenance changed, a bitterness was.h.i.+ng over her features. ”Really? What don't you get, Erica? You've been a nightmare to work with from day one. Everyone thinks you're this great visionary who's built the business, but where would you be without people like me? I've been busting my a.s.s for you, and for what? So you can take all the credit?”

I frowned. ”Sorry, isn't that your job?”