She’d practically herded the girl toward the doors, watching with satisfaction as confusion and hurt flickered across that pretty face. The security guards had looked uncomfortable, but they hadn’t intervened.
Of course they hadn’t. Margaret had worked at Sullivan Enterprises for five years. She knew the rules—or at least, she knew how to bend them when it suited her purposes.
Now, ten hours later, the girl was still there.
Margaret pushed through the revolving doors into the cooling New York evening and paused, studying the figure across the street. The woman was swaying slightly, one hand pressed against the building’s stone façade as if she needed the support. She looked pale. Exhausted.
Good, Margaret thought viciously. Maybe she’ll finally give up and leave Mr. Sullivan alone.
She didn’t know why she felt such fierce protectiveness over a man who barely noticed her existence. Carter Sullivan was so far above her pay grade it was laughable, but she’d nurtured a careful fantasy over the years, one where he would finally look up from his endless meetings and see her. Really see her.
This woman, with her simple clothes and desperate eyes, threatened that fantasy in ways Margaret couldn’t quite articulate.
“Pathetic,” Margaret muttered, turning toward the parking garage. She didn’t look back.
Natalie Spencer’s vision was starting to blur at the edges, a gray fog creeping into her peripheral vision like an unwelcome guest.
She pressed her palm harder against the cool stone of the building behind her, willing her knees to lock, her legs to hold just a little longer.
Just until he comes out, she told herself. Just until I can see his face.
The baby—she couldn’t call it anything else now, not after seeing those two pink lines—was barely the size of a lemon, but it felt like it was already taking everything from her. Her energy. Her appetite. Her ability to stand upright for more than a few hours without feeling like she might crumble.
She hadn’t eaten since yesterday. The thought of food made her stomach revolt, and the anxiety had been so overwhelming she’d barely managed to keep down water. But she’d known she had to do this. Had to tell him.
Carter Sullivan.
Even his name sent a complicated tangle of emotions through her chest. Desire, anger, hope, despair.
The memory of his hands on her skin, the sound of his laugh against her ear, the way he’d looked at her like she was the only person in the universe—It all felt like a fever dream now. Something too perfect to be real.
