My phone’s ‘missed call’ count was growing by the hour. I wondered if there was a limit on a digital mailbox before it would block him. Just seeing the icon itself and watching as my silent phone lit up spiked my nerves and scratched away at my walls.

I can’t believe I had been right.

Sighing, I tossed my phone aside and turned up Netflix. At least it was the weekend, and by not doing anything I hadn’t officially quit my job yet. Not that I still wanted to work for a man who had willingly put me in risk without warning me. Who had openly lied to me about his operations. Who had dangled fake names in front of my face for weeks.

The shitty thing about all of it was I really enjoyed my job. I enjoyed getting to talk with him every morning. I enjoyed the kind of work I was doing. I enjoyed knowing I had a hand in such a large company. And I loved it when people called Maximus just to chew his ear off about how I had made their lives that much easier simply by existing in his headquarters. Not to mention, the pay was fantastic. I was making triple what I had been making at the craft store, and the medical benefits were top-of-the-line. From the outside, it looked like the perfect job. But from the inside, I was helping with the biggest damn drug ring the U.S. and its allies had ever engaged in.

But the one thing that was holding me back wasn’t what I figured it would be. And that was enough to contend with. Ironically enough, it wasn’t anything I had uncovered at the party. The only thing holding me back was fuel for the reason why I still wanted to stay.

It was the look on his face when I had confronted him. That far-off stare while his eyes stayed connected with mine. I knew that look. I’d seen that look many times before in my own father’s eyes. He looked like he was holding things back. Keeping things concealed even though he was feeding me the truth. But there were moments in his stare I also questioned. Moments where I could’ve sworn he looked almost relieved. Like he was relieved I’d found him out. The entire conversation had been confusing. Compliments laced with a confession that should’ve knocked me off my feet.

But it didn’t.

If anything, I was relieved myself that he didn’t lie. That he had chosen, in the pressure of the moment, to be an honest man. In that moment, he had chosen to be a better man than those I had ever come across, and it was enough to weaken me against his body when he pulled me into him.

I closed my eyes and conjured his phantom heat against my skin.

I started mindlessly at the television screen while thinking about him. His hand that wrapped fully around my arm. The strength of his chest when he pulled me into his muscles. The comforting palm that had stroked my back as I laid my head against his shoulder. What I wouldn’t have given to kiss him in that moment. Surrounded by the fireflies and the breeze of the city. Such conflicting emotions for such a conflicting moment.

And yet, the feel of his arms around me still make me shiver.

Pulling out my laptop, I set down my glass of wine and decided to see how secure he really was. It was obvious for reasons I couldn’t explain that the true nature of his business didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. I’m not sure what kind of person that made me, but that was another question for a different day. If I was going to stay working for Maximus Abbott, then I needed to know I was safe.

How much of a secret could he keep from the thousands of employees he had?

I pulled up my internet browser and began to type. ‘Maximus Abbott’ only brought up things like the company website and the few interviews he had given as the founder and CEO of Abbott Financial. ‘Maximus Abbott scandal’ brought up absolutely nothing. No information about drugs. No conspiracy blogs about who he was. Not even a jaded girlfriend on a social media rampage. Every entry I typed in I tried to keep as censored as I could. Just in case my laptop ever got confiscated. There was no reason to incriminate myself further simply because of my curiosity.

There were some good pictures of him at galas and fundraisers, and my heart fluttered at the sight of his face. I read through some of the articles on him and how the public thought he built his fortune. And every time a picture of him popped up, I thought of his arms wrapped around me. How warm they had been and how gentle he had been with me. He’d held me to his body like I was a thing to be cherished, and it only made me hate the gala more. What should have been the most romantic moment of my life had been devoted to digging out the seedy truth of Maximus Abbott’s life.

I looked through the search results, trying to clear my mind of his touch. Most of the articles centered around him donating to funds trying to stop human trafficking or helping with efforts to get aid to countries that were dealing with internal turmoil. It was ironic to see the humanitarian side to him after what I knew. In all of the articles and all of the interviews, he seemed like a genuinely good person. One article even said he’d ‘pledged a large amount in his will to fight child hunger.

Then, I came across it. The one headline I had been searching for.

Maximus Abbott: Drug Lord?

The article caught my eye on the eleventh page of search results, and I clicked it immediately. I never dug this far down into search results. I wasn’t sure if anyone did. But it didn’t stop me from clicking the link at lightning speed. The site that opened, however, wasn’t what I expected to see. Instead of that one incriminating article that would’ve made me nervous, the entire website looked like one of those cheap shock-driven websites whose sole purpose was to try too hard to get pay-per-clicks on their advertisements. Still, I skimmed the article, seeing if it was based on any fact I had come across in the past week.

But, it wasn’t.

Not only did it have the countries he was importing and exporting from wrong, it also implied that he and his twin brother were secretly the same person. So, when his business was finally found out, the grand plan was to simply ‘live as his nonexistent twin brother’.

A breathless giggle fell from my lips as more relief coursed through my veins.

It wasn’t that I didn’t think drug-running was bad. It was more along the lines of me not wanting Maximus caught. I wanted him to be safe. Deep down, I wanted what was both honest and good for him, regardless of what he’d done and what he had chosen to do with his life. At least he was able to keep his mouth shut, which made him less of a risk.

Which gave me more of a reason to go back to my job.

My phone lit up again with another call, and I wanted to throw it through my window. I wanted to block Maximus’ number, so he couldn’t reach me anymore. But, I wanted to answer it and give him a piece of my mind. Which only made me more frustrated. I picked up my phone and looked at the screen, hellbent on making sure Maximus knew exactly where I stood, only to see a Colorado number called me instead. In fact, the last four missed phone calls I had were from the unknown Colorado number.

That definitely wasn’t Maximus.

I answered it, feeling a little idiotic for assuming he would blow up my phone that way all night. He had a party to throw. To maintain. To indulge himself in. What did I expect? For him to stand out on the balcony and call me until I answered? I figured whoever it was had a good reason for trying to get in touch with me. Either that, or it was a wrong number and they hadn’t figured it out yet.

I figured I could use it as an excuse to get Maximus off my mind again. If that was even possible.

“Hello?” I asked.

“Yes, is this Miss Christie Evans?”

“It is. How can I help you?” I asked as I took a sip of my wine.

“I’m sorry to be calling you so late, but it’s an emergency. My name is Maxwell Carter. I’m a nurse at St. Francis Medical Center. Your mother’s been in an accident, and she has you listed as her next of kin in some of her medical documentation,” he said.

My heart stilled, and my glass of wine went tumbling from my hand. It splattered against the floor as the glass shattered, and the droplets of the cool crimson drink brought me back to reality. I shot up from the couch, not knowing where I was going or what I was going to do. But I couldn’t sit down and have this conversation.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Your mother’s been in a car accident,” the nurse said. “And it’s pretty bad. We’ve tried stabilizing her on several occasions, but we aren’t sure if she’s going to make it through the night,” he said.

He continued with the one-way conversation, but the details were lost on me as I pulled my laptop onto my thighs. I opened my browser back up and closed anything having to do remotely with Maximus and booked the next available ticket to Colorado. The nurse jabbered away in my ear as my fingers flew across the keyboard, trying to find the quickest flight I could from the city into Boulder. Tears filled my eyes as my heart stopped in my chest. The thought of losing my mother made my legs wobble.

I had to get to her.

By the time we disconnected, my face was soaked and I was trembling violently. I dropped my laptop onto the couch and picked up my phone, then raced into my bedroom and began jamming things into my purse. Clothes. Underwear. My phone charger. My toiletries. I stuffed my oversized purse as full as I could get it, then pulled out my phone and looked at the time. The next flight wasn’t for another four hours, which meant I wouldn’t get to her for eight hours. And that idea broke my heart.

I felt myself panicking. Drowning in the situation. So, I picked up my phone and called the only friend I had.

“Well hello there, gorgeous. Sorry we weren’t at the grand party for Abbott Financial. Sebastian and I got a little tied up at work.”

“Scarlet,” I said through my sobs.

“Christie? What’s wrong?”

I drew in a shaking breath as I caved against the wall in my bedroom.

“It’s Mom. She’s been in a—in a car accident.”

“What kind of car accident? How is she? How do you know all this?” she asked.

“I’m flying out tonight to see her,” I said as tears rushed my face. “A nurse from the hospital she’s in called me. Scarlet, they’re saying she might not make it through the night.”

I couldn’t hear a word Scarlet said over the phone. My sobs rumbled in my ears and heaved my chest. Soon, the failed party and Maximus’ admission and all those stupid articles and the feel of his arms faded away from my mind.

This wasn’t the kind of distraction I had wished for.