Chapter six

Chapter 6

Nicole

I made it to my car before I let myself breathe.

In. Out. In. Out. I did it until my heart stopped trying to climb out of my chest but my hands were still shaking on the steering wheel and I hated it. Ten years. I had built a whole life from nothing, I had become one of the best corporate lawyers in the country, and one fucking conference room with Kai Russo in it had me shaking like that nineteen-year-old maid who sat in her tiny bedroom waiting for a text that never came.

Someone knocked on my window and I almost screamed.

It was Kimberly, holding my files against her chest. I rolled the window down.

"Ma'am, are you okay?"

"No." I rubbed my temple. "I'm not."

"I've never seen you walk out of a meeting before. Did you mean it? What you said about him finding a new lawyer?"

I didn't answer right away. I looked at the building behind her, at all those windows, and I thought of the receptionist asking if she was going to lose her job. I thought of the head of sales who tripled the company's numbers and had no idea his name was probably already on a list.

Those people had bills and children and school fees. And I walked out on them because Kai fucking Russo called me a liar and my stupid temper couldn't take it.

Real professional, Nicole. Walking out on your biggest client in front of everyone, all because of a man who wasn't even worth the effort.

"I said it because I was angry," I told her. "But I'm not going to let my past make this decision for me. I'm going to be professional about this even if it kills me. I'm not going to stoop to his level and throw insults around."

"His level?"

"Never mind. Send me the letter from the staff, Kim. I'll write him an email right now."

"Yes, ma'am." She hesitated. "I'm glad you're not quitting."

She left and I opened my laptop.

"Dear Mr Raymond,"

It took me three tries to type that without wanting to throw the laptop out of the window. Mr Raymond. Like I didn't know who he was and exactly what he did to me.

I wrote it the way I would write to any client. I apologised for leaving the meeting suddenly, even though I wasn't sorry, and then I went through everything we had talked about, point by point. No insults. Nothing about the past. Honestly, very impressive.

Kim's letter came in before I finished. It was a formal plea from the employees he wanted to fire, with their years of service, their families, and a request for performance reviews instead of firing them out of nowhere. I attached it, read the whole email twice, and sent it before I could change my mind.

If the man had a heart, he would read it. I wasn't sure he still had one.

Then I started the car and let myself think about the only person who mattered. I wanted to pick Rose up from her new school myself and see her face and hear everything, but before I even left the parking lot my phone buzzed.

Carl: Already got her. We went grocery shopping. Don't rush. Come home when you're ready.

I smiled for the first time all day.

.

.

.

I heard laughter before I even opened the door.

The house smelled like butter and sugar. There was a cartoon playing in the living room and in the kitchen Carl had flour all over his shirt while Rose stood on a chair beside him with a spoon in her hand.

"Mummy!" She jumped down and ran at me.

"Rose, what did we say about running in the house?"

"Not to." She hugged my waist anyway. "But we're baking cookies!"

"I can see. Why is there flour in your hair?"

"Uncle Carl did it."

"She threw it first," Carl said.

I chuckled and rolled my eyes. I couldn't hold on to my anger anymore the second I saw that big smile on her face.

Rose dragged me to the counter and told me about her day. Her teacher, Miss Daniels. Her new friend Zoe, who didn't like peas either. She talked and talked and I listened to every word, and her eyes were shining the entire time.

Ten years ago I sat on a bed in the servant's quarters wondering what on earth I was going to do with a hundred grand. This was what I did with it. This right here.

But even with her sweet voice in my ears, my mind kept dragging me back to Kai. Taking over the entire space without even doing too much. He had no idea. He didn't even know she existed. He had walked away from all of this with a text message and a bank transfer, and then he had the nerve to look at me like I was the villain. My blood boiled all over again every time I remembered it, and I had to keep shoving it down because my daughter was right there.

When Rose finally ran back to her cartoon, Carl handed me a cookie.

"Try it."

I took a bite. "It's good."

"Liar. It's burnt."

"A little."

He smiled, then looked at me properly. "Rough day?"

"That obvious, huh?"

Carl nodded. "You're rubbing your temple. You only do that when someone has pissed you off."

Of course he noticed.

"I had a difficult client," I said.

"The new owner?"

"Yes. He's difficult."

I almost told him everything. Carl knew someone from my past had betrayed me. He knew I was alone and pregnant and broke. He just didn't know the name, and I didn't want to say it in this kitchen, with cookies in the air and my daughter laughing in the next room. That bastard's name didn't belong in this house.

"I'll handle it," I said. "I always do."

"I know you will."

"Mummy! Uncle Carl! Come and see!" Rose yelled. "The cat is dancing!"

Carl laughed and held out his hand. I took it, and as we walked toward the sound of my daughter's laughter, the knot in my chest finally loosened.

A few hours ago I stood across from a man who made me feel nothing but anger and pain, and now I was holding the hand of a man who made me feel safe.

"I like this," I said quietly. "Evenings like this. Our life like this."

Carl squeezed my fingers.

"Then let's have more of them, Nicole."