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