Page 54 of His Obsession
“Yes. Believe it or not, I do understand how serious the threat is.”
He eyes me. “You did walk into your house after someone broke in.”
He lifts both hands in surrender before I can argue. God, I wish he weren’t right.
“I’ll stay here,” I say, forcing the words out before pride gets the better of me. “For as long as it takes to find Adrian and deal with him.”
Sebastian tilts his head like he can’t believe what he just heard.
“I’m not asking for details,” I say before he can respond. “I don’t want to know what taking care of him means. I can guess well enough.”
His expression doesn’t change, but something in his eyes hardens. “Okay.”
That’s all he says.
I look back at the ultrasound pictures on the dresser. Still facedown, tucked halfway under my purse. I should pick them up and put them somewhere safe, but I can’t force myself to touch them.
“I hate this,” I say.
Sebastian doesn’t ask what I mean. Again, I get the sense he knows me better than he’ll say out loud.
“I know.”
My eyes burn, and that pisses me off even more. I don’t want to cry in front of him or dwell on the terrible thing that happened outside that office. Most of all I don’t want to bring up past trauma.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I tell him.
“Then we won’t.”
He comes into the room slowly. When he reaches me, he doesn’t pull me against him or tell me everything is going to be fine. He just holds out his hand. I look at it for a second before I take it. For the first time since the parking lot, I stop pacing.
The next morning, I sit at Sebastian’s dining table with my laptop open, ginger tea going cold beside me, and tell my team over a video call that I’m stepping back for a few weeks.
Tessa starts to tear up, which I hate. If she cries, I’m going to cry, and I don’t think I have any tears left.
“It’s temporary,” I tell her through the screen. “A few weeks, tops. You and Lila can handle the Miller walkthrough on Thursday. I already sent over the vendor notes.”
Tessa nods too quickly, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. “Of course. We’ve got it.”
“I know you do,” I tell her. “When I get back from my leave, I’m promoting you. You deserve it.”
“You don’t have to do that,” she says, voice thin. “I just want you to be okay. You’re the best boss I’ve ever had.”
I take a deep breath and try desperately not to let the tears start. This is so stupid. These stupid pregnancy hormones make me cry at the worst possible moments.
“I’m not disappearing,” I tell her. “I’m just stepping back from in-person meetings for a few weeks. Veronica has the updated catering notes, and I’ll sit in on the Turner tasting by video.”
Lila nods from her little square on the screen. She looks concerned, but she’s always been better at compartmentalizing than Tessa, who lets out a shaky laugh and wipes under her eye again.
“We can do this.”
“I know you can.” I take a breath and force myself to look directly into the camera. “I’m serious about the promotion, Tessa. You’ve earned it.”
“Thank you,” she says. “That means a lot.”
“I’m still going to be annoying by email so you won’t really miss me all that much.”
That gets a better laugh out of both of them.
