Chapter Twenty-Two

I gape.

I mean… Of course, I do.

Jameson is neither surprised, nor fazed by my instant and unchecked reaction to his “news.” He continues as though he hasn’t just torn through my life in cyclonic force and caught my house in its spiraling center. So that I’m literally dizzy and must ease into a chair in front of his mammoth, glass-topped desk, so I don’t fall over as my knees threaten to buckle.

“We leave this afternoon. If you have pets to arrange care for or delivers that need to be accepted, Mari will handle personal details for you. She’ll have someone water your plants and clean your apartment. Take out your trash, if you don’t have time. Whatever.”

I have no words.

So ironic, considering I was wholly fixated on the ones Mari had said not more than five minutes ago, when she’d come to collect me.

Mr. Richards wants you in his office, Nikki.

It’s difficult enough to not fantasize about a different subtext for that summons.

But now I have to wrap my mind around this unexpected twis