Page 39 of Tough Luck

Out here, high above the office and the city noise, there was just the quiet hum of the summer night and the absolute certainty that I had everything I ever wanted right in my arms.

“Is it bad of me to not want the weekend to come to an end?” She turned in my arms and held onto me.

I chuckled. “No, I feel the same way.”

I held onto her while we watched the rest of the sunset from the windows. I couldn’t get over how comfortable this felt. How right it felt being with her.

I’d had two serious relationships in my life. Both had ended in just under a year. There had been issues from the start that I had overlooked. Holding Sofia later that night as the moonlight flickered across the bedroom ceiling, I couldn’t think of one thing wrong, other than the fact that we were keeping what was between us, well, only between us. I knew it was past time to change that.

Chapter 16

Sofia

Spending the weekend at Rick’s place was just what I needed. While Saturday had been filled with sun and outdoor activities, Sunday was perfectly ordinary, with beautiful laziness.

We dragged ourselves out of bed late and ate blackberry French toast with Cool Whip, which Rick made on his back deck. Drinking coffee out of oversized mugs, we watched three white-tailed deer grazing quietly near the tree line of the yard.

For lunch, we ordered Chinese takeout from the place downtown and sat on his living room sofa to watch whatever live sports were broadcasting. We cheered on our favorite teams and bet against the next plays, something I had always done with my family. Rick got into the challenge, but I smoked him with most of my predictions.

At the end of the night, we were tangled in blankets watching an old thriller movie. It was the most normal, perfect Sunday I had ever had.

Then, Monday morning crashed in.

The transition from Rick’s peaceful sanctuary back to the chaotic grind of work was jarring. Rick had dropped me off at my place to change into work clothes, and I arrived at my office early. Thankfully, the office was still mostly dark and quiet when I stepped in. I set my iced coffee down, kicked off my heels under the desk, and booted up my computer.

I waited as my inbox populated, the little numbers ticking upwards until I wanted to pull my hair out. When it was done, I skimmed past the internal design notifications until I locked onto a subject line that sent a sudden, icy shock straight down my spine.

From: [email protected]

Subject: You haven’t won!

You think you’re so fucking smart? You think you can completely humiliate me and take credit for my vision? You have no idea what you’ve started with your lies. I am going to do everything in my power to make sure you lose everything. And don’t think that I’m only coming for your career. I personally guarantee you are going to regret ever crossing me. Watch your back, bitch.

Reading his words, my breath caught in my throat. My fingers were frozen over the keyboard, and my heart was hammering violently against my ribs. This wasn’t just a bitter corporate email. It was a vicious, unhinged personal threat. Leonard was crazy.

“Hey, I grabbed those app analytics you wanted…” I jumped as Nova opened my door. Then her eyes landed on me and she frowned. “Whoa. Sofia? What’s wrong?” Nova rushed over to my side, worry filling her eyes. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. What happened?”

Without a word, I pointed a trembling finger at my monitor.

Nova leaned closer, her eyes darting across the screen quickly. As she read Leonard’s email quietly to herself, the color drained from her face. Almost instantly, it was replaced by a look of pure, protective fury. “That absolute piece of shit,” she said, her voice turning dangerously low. “He’s lost his mind.”

“I… I should,” I stammered, my instincts screaming to run down the hall to Rick’s office. Into his arms for safety and comfort.

“Hey,” Nova said firmly, grabbing my shoulder. “I’ve got you. I’m calling HR and legal. They are trained to handle things like this better than we are. We have to protect you first. Physically. Legally.” She squeezed my shoulders lightly. “Got it?”

Before I could even protest, she grabbed my desk phone and dialed a three-digit extension. “Brenda in HR is a bull when it comes to this stuff. Brenda? This is Nova. I need you and David from legal in Sofia’s office right now. Leonard just sent an unhinged email to Sofia, threatening her.”

Was he actually threatening me? I looked to the screen again, but my eyes stung and blurred to where I couldn’t read the text. Pull it together, I kept telling myself, but I just couldn’t seem to do so.

The next half hour passed in a surreal, clinical blur.

Brenda from HR and then David from legal took over my office, treating the email with the absolute gravity it deserved. Because Leonard had been terminated and then threatened a current employee, David said he had to take over. This wasn’t an HR problem but a real legal and police matter.

“This crosses the line into criminal harassment and intimidation,” David assured me, his face grim as he printed out three copies of the email. “I am notifying the police immediately as well. We need a formal police report on file, and I will make sure that security will bar him from the building. Something that should have been done from the moment he was fired.”

“Should we call Rick?” I asked, my chest tightening. I hated the fact that he was completely out of the loop while the police were being called from my office.

“Rick is currently in a quarterly projection meeting with Jax and the regional directors,” Brenda answered. “I will fill him in when he gets out. Let’s let David and the police see what they can do first. Don’t worry, we will do this by the book.”