ed into the bathroom. I was supposed to be at t
ld leave early, be composed, be the v
ir of trousers to another, with my
confusion. "You got a job as the secretary to the CEO. From the same St
ea
't feel weird t
slid into my heels at the same time. "All I know is, I'm the secret
Starlak. If
er straightened, ponytail tight, a gir
lia said. She had put down her phone; all her f
y of putting herself out there- bold, co
ftly and gr
*
econd I just stood there, the same glass and marble t
I whispered to my
ds. She stood by the receptionist desk l
you." Her tone was calm, the same as yester
told me I didn't get the position. Then hours later I get an ema
d. The board simply told me to send the offer. But you're here, an
ne.
is waiting for you. He doesn't tolerate lateness
and different areas. Half of me was listening, but the other was still wandering in the strangene
opped in front of a
to meet my boss, and as they; Fir
't wait for an answer bef
- half the walls white and clean, the other half f
ssed to his ear, tall, broad-shouldered. H
ped me cold. Just a few words, and I
my
rned
his is Ama Wellington
e. The man whose expensive suit I'd insulted, call
esk nameplate coated in black wit
LAK CORP
b
to run away. My fingers fussed
cleaning - slow, deliberate, head to heels - and I stood very stil
ordinary introduction. Between him an
r first im
the window-and that was it, a dismissal
could ring, a landline, a stack of forms and files to begin with. "One more thing," she
s name?" I
cus
against my chest. Marc
ing every version of how badly this could go. What if he already knows?
elf, though I didn't believe it. "Just
bag before I'd even
is(
d left Boston-not that night, not the next day. A month
Mo
hin, stretched. "You need to
just got a job, and New York is tu
oice made the hair
home... Boston is safe. It'
you. What is a trap? Nobo
t pleading this time, but frightened, in a way I'd never
don't have time to expl
ne wen
to my ear, the dial tone humming against
adn't done anything except get on a bus and try to build
k. Straight
again. S
gure out what she meant when the i
idn't feel. I knew it was Marcus calling, and I picked u
el
offi
ne wen
y phone
separate threats that had, somehow, in the space of one buzzing phone, starte
it was the only thing I could
" I muttered u
softly o
me
against my ribs a
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