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36|Vanished
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Save Him 37|Options-Part 1
The hand-me-down microwave had finally given up.It was already in a pretty sorry state when Natalie inherited it from her landlord. But there was a very real chance it could have been one of the many casualties of her meltdown when she went on a warpath and trashed her place.It was hard to believe it was just yesterday. It felt like a lifetime ago.Natalie didn't remember touching it, though. No way she would have had the strength to pick it up. But then again, she was high on meds, rage and adrenaline, so anything was possible. Hell, she ran down nine flights of stairs without pausing to think what it would do to her already battered body.And now, as she watched Emily pour two glasses of red wine, she wished she'd listened to her when she warned her against taking the stairs. Her midsection was on fire. The blinding pain was unlike anything she had ever felt before. If she was dying, she wished it would happen quickly."Nat? Are you okay?" Emily asked as she looked up from the kitc
Save Him 38|Options-Part 2
Alone in her cramped living room, Natalie pulled the blanket closer, curled herself into a small ball and absently watched the show, her mind racing over her chat with Emily.If her friend had made 15K just by allowing a client to suck her toes, then maybe Dreams was her lifeline, after all, and the only way out of her financial hole. Depending on what she did, she could raise all the money she needed for Jamie within six months, and then she'd get out.But what would she have to do?How far was she willing to go?How much was she willing to give up for Jamie to have a fighting chance?Would she take another beating?Worse, what if she vanished like Paul's previous companions?No. Natalie mentally shook herself. She couldn't—shouldn't—go there. She'd just had a very real, hair-raising incident with the man and was very lucky to have come out of it with her life still intact.Besides, she argued, Amber would never forgive her. Jamie, too, would never be okay with taking money she'd made
Save Him 39|Push Her Too Hard
The email popped up in Levi's inbox at 2:00 AM.Lounging in the situation room in his penthouse and contemplating all the clues littered on the whiteboard, he almost fell back from his chair when he saw the sender and subject line."No fucking way!" he whispered as he read the message.Natalie Taylor was so grateful for his donation, and because of him, they could cover Jamie's treatment for a couple of months. Maybe more. She was almost positive Jamie would love to come to Rock Union to see the Ravens play. She thanked him again for his kindness and wished him well.He still didn't have Natalie Taylor's personnel file, but his gut told him she was Noelle—his Noelle. The woman he wanted to take home to meet his mom. His future. His love.His heart felt lighter at the thought, as if someone had reached deep inside his chest and pulled out the heavy rock he'd carried around since Noelle—no, Natalie—ran from him on the rooftop.Her email didn't require a response, but he sent one anyway,
Save Him 40|Impulse
Amber had always warned her against making decisions when she was tired or angry. But after reading Levi's last email, Natalie was tired and furious.For a while, she just sat in her chair, simmering in her anger, unable to believe he'd tried to use his boss card on her.Sure, they desperately needed his money, but she didn't appreciate how he had tried to back her into a corner and force her to cancel her lunch engagement with Lennie.Levi's sense of entitlement to her time simply because he'd donated a ton of money to her brother's fund did not sit well with her.His pushiness had killed the last shred of warmth her traitorous heart had still held onto, even when she knew nothing would ever come out of her silly crush.Not pausing to think about the consequences of her actions, Natalie hit the refund button, bitter disappointment burning hot in her throat as she watched the balance in the fund drop back to five thousand.They were back to square one. But it was better this way. The
Save Him 41|Into The Flames
Still irritated with Natalie for ignoring his mails, Levi wasn't exactly brimming with joy while he stood on stage and addressed the impressionable crowd of young graduates.He would have preferred to be back at the office, squaring off with the woman he'd quickly deemed to be the number one threat to his peace of mind.But he was a professional, so he pushed his personal turmoil aside long enough to deliver his best performance yet.For ten minutes, he said all the right things and quoted all the pioneers of innovation and entrepreneurship. His impassioned speech would have inspired even a rock.Halfway through his address, Levi noticed Angela, sitting in the front row, frantically typing away on her laptop. The grim look on her face told him something was wrong. He figured it was some schedule conflict or a crisis with the dev team, and he trusted her to have it under control by the time he wrapped up his speech.Twenty minutes later, after a Q&A session about Chassis and an imprompt
Save Him 42|Two Broken Pieces
Angela was back in five minutes, her perturbed expression matching Natalie's.Bringing her in was no easy task, and Levi wouldn't have expected anything less. He knew she was going to be a handful, a spitfire of a thing, the moment she tried to kick him off her balcony.He sipped his Americano and nodded at his assistant. "Thank you, Angela. You can leave. I'll be up in a bit. Cancel my 2 o'clock.""Yes, Mr Van Holt." She smiled sweetly and left the room.Alone at last with Natalie, Levi could only stare at her. She was breathtaking. More so in the daylight, away from the glitz and glamour of The Empress and without all the makeup.There was so much he wanted to say to her, so much to ask, but first, he had to make sure she was okay. But before he could even decide on his approach, Natalie took charge of the situation, flipping the script on him with her businesslike attitude."Mr Van Holt, you asked to see me?"Levi was taken aback by her professional and somewhat aloof tone. After ev
Save Him 43|Ruined Me
Long after Levi left the third floor, Natalie was still in the meeting pod, replaying their chat.She thought she knew heartbreak in the backseat of Paul's car, but whatever that feeling was, it didn't come close to the searing ache in her heart.As she looked through the contents of the bag Levi had left her, she felt like someone had plunged a knife deep inside her chest and twisted her heart out.Each item in the bag had been carefully chosen— from the OTC medication to the Band-Aids and sweets and chocolates. Nobody had ever shown her the level of attention and care Levi had put into his version of a self-care bag.How could she have been so wrong about him?Could her run-in with Paul have twisted her sense of reality about all men?From the moment she met him, Levi had been nothing but kind to her. But she'd repaid his generosity with lies and arrogance, and self-pity.He never found her pitiful, not even once. Well, maybe not until she made herself pathetic in his eyes.She brea
Save Him 44|Open Wound
Forty minutes after leaving Natalie on the third floor, Angela knocked on Levi's office door, pushed it open and lingered on the threshold.He looked up, snapped his laptop shut and beckoned her closer."So?" he asked, an expectant look in his eyes as he leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers."She finally left the meeting room, sir," she reported, dispelling all the tension from his body with her announcement.Immensely relieved at his assistant's words, Levi picked up his now cold coffee and drained it in one go before throwing the empty cup in the bin under his desk.He was still so angry— no—he was beyond fuming with Natalie. But the last thing he wanted was to hurt her. So when Norah called him minutes after leaving the third floor, demanding to know why the star of her department was a mess in the meeting pod, Levi had made Angela check on her every ten minutes.Still worried he may have said too much and pushed Natalie too far, Levi asked his assistant, "has she stop
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