Her Unexpected Admirer Page 0,64
office, grab the last few things, say goodbye to my father and meet Mike at the airport,” she explained, referring to Davis’ pilot who was standing by. “He’ll then fly over to Denver to pick you up. I expect to see you before midnight, my man.”
He laughed, enjoying the carefree tone of her voice. “Kate, if he gives you any grief, I swear I’ll…”
“You’ll trust me to take care of this,” she said firmly. “I love you. Please be safe.”
“I will. I wouldn’t miss next weekend for anything,” he promised, referring to their wedding day which was in eight days.
She hung up with him and rode the elevator down to the street. Movers would be by to pick up most of the boxes. Some of them were labeled for charity donations. Davis had insisted that her entire wardrobe be given away, promising that if she ever wore one of those “hideous” suits, he would rip it off of her.
Kate didn’t mind in the least so she’d packed up the suits and labeled them for the thrift shop down the street. They didn’t fit her well enough, but someone could use them, she was sure.
The walk to the office was cold but she pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her head and wrapped her arms around herself. She felt like the world was sunnier today. She’d see Davis tonight and she would curl up in his arms. He would kiss her and her world would be perfect once again.
She was in such a wonderful mood, she stopped by the Godiva store and bought a small package of chocolate truffles. Smiling, she entered her old office building, almost skipping with excitement.
“Good afternoon, Joyce,” she said to the startled receptionist. “These are for you.” Kate handed her the chocolates. “I hope you have a good afternoon.” Joyce wasn’t the friendliest of receptionists, but she’d never been outwardly cruel either.
When she entered her office, she was amazed once again by the small size. Surely this wasn’t a regulation office, she thought as she pulled a canvas bag out of her tote. Filling the bag with only her personal items, she smiled to herself. Her mother’s picture was really the only thing of importance here. She had a few small items like chewing gum, a well-used stress ball and some pens that she’d bought in colors her father definitely wouldn’t approve of. It took her less than ten minutes to go through her desk drawers, then leave her laptop. She didn’t have anything personal on the computer. Her father had warned his staff often enough that he had a software program that regularly sweeps the laptops connected to the firm’s internet and flags him of anything that might be non-work related.
“So you finally returned,” her father sneered as they both met in the hallway as they walked towards his office, resignation letter in her hand. She stopped, facing him and wondered why he was such a bitter man. But really, did it matter? He’d put her through so much, she didn’t want to figure him out. She should be a good daughter and try to help him but she realized that he’d been like this all her life. She’d just been at school for most of his horrid attitude.
“I’m leaving, Father,” she finally said, handing him her resignation.
He snapped the piece of paper and pointed towards his office. “You’re going to fill me in on what you’ve been doing for the past two weeks.”
She followed him, only because she didn’t want to have this confrontation in the hallway.
Sitting behind his desk, he glared at her. “Okay, so fill me in.”
She took the chair in front of his desk, angering him because he hadn’t indicated that she could sit. He used that as a power play and she wasn’t giving in to his games. “I was right,” she told him. “The information I found was exactly what he was looking for. Over the past week, we’ve involved the lawyers and the police. They’ve rounded up the perpetrators and they are already facing criminal charges. Bail was denied since the two people at the head of the ring were flight risks.”
Her father sat forward, his eyes narrowing with anger. “You gave him the reports that I told you were wrong?”
She shrugged her shoulders, not caring in the least that he was puffing up, his temper about to explode. “Of course I did. I was right and you knew it. You just wanted to take credit for