Page 46 of Prey

"Today." I don't look away. "I'm not coming back to this office. I'm not sitting at that desk while people whisper behind my back. I'm done."

There's a long silence. Then Cassidy nods.

"I'll have legal prepare the documents. They'll be ready by noon."

"Thank you."

I stand. Cain stands beside me. His hand is still in mine. I don't let go.

"We're leaving," Cain says.

"Mr. Micheals," Cassidy says. "I will need your signature as well."

"Fine."

He doesn't wait for her response but pulls me out of the room. The hallway is empty. The office is waking up around us. I can hear phones ringing. Keyboards clicking. The muffled sounds of a normal workday that I'm no longer part of.

We go back to his apartment. His home, my home, now, if I am allowed to call it that. The silence is heavy. I'm standing by the window, looking out at the city I'm about to lose access to. The buildings. The streets. The life I built from nothing.

Cain is behind me, I can feel him waiting.

"I know what you're going to say," I tell him. "Don't."

"I was going to say I'm proud of you."

I blink. "What?"

"You walked out of there on your terms." He steps closer. "That took more courage than anything I've ever seen."

"I just quit my job, so you don't have to pretend that it’s a good thing."

"I'm not." He's close enough to touch now. "Do you know how many people in that building would do anything for a seat at that table? Any position. Any title. They'd chew their own arm off for a corner office and a decent salary. And you walked away."

"But the video."

"I don't care about the video."

"They all saw me."

"I don't care about what they saw."

I shake my head. "You're supposed to be angry. You're supposed to be..."

"Supposed to be what, Grey? Angry that you quit your job? Angry that you protected yourself? Angry that you refused to be humiliated?" He reaches out. Touches my face. "I've never been less angry in my life."

His hand moves to my shoulder and squeezes.

"I don't need you to keep me safe," he says. "I need you to keep yourself safe and that's what you just did."

"Rose is still out there."

"She'll get what's coming to her. I promise you that."

"Your job."

"Is mine. No one's taking it from me. And if they try, I can always build something new somewhere else."

I laugh.