Abby
“It's always lonely at the top.” That's what her mother, Natalia Winters, had told her. Mother had been a Hollywood starlet, and was still tough as nails. She'd had to be, in that industry of snakes and backstabbers.
Anyone who thought a top actress' life was easy, or not fraught with personal and financial dangers, was deluding themselves. Her mother had shown Abby that on plenty of occasions. And, the moment you showed weakness, there was always someone there willing to take advantage of it.
Natalia had raised her to be hard, driven, and focused, but to still be able to entertain and dazzle.
“Be hard as diamonds, dear,” Natalia would tell her, “But never forget to sparkle like them, too.”
Accordingly to Natalia, a woman had to be everything to have it all. Not only did you have to be twice as tough as the competition, you had to hold up every ideal society shoved on a woman. To the point where people pointed at you as the ideal.
Of course, her mother had exemplified her own advice, especially when it came to raising her daughter. There was no affection in their home, no love, or care. Just cool distance. Cool as the diamonds she aspired to.
Now, as Abby closed her corner office door behind her and rested her head back against it, she took a deep, centering breath. She had to be strong, because she was just as alone at the top as Natalia had been. No man beside her, no friends, no family left, and no women to hold her up.
When she'd looked around the meeting today, she'd realized, not for the first time, that she was one of the only women in the room. Statistically speaking, it should have been a fifty-fifty split. Of course, life didn't always match up with statistics. Unless you were in the lab.
Abby went over to her big mahogany desk and dropped the files and paperwork on it. She settled down in front of her computer and tried to get the last of her emails read and answered before she left before the day.
Still, though, her thoughts returned to Zed Hesse, and his brother, Kai. Her heart went out to them both. One brother in prison, desperate to pin the blame on someone—anyone. The other brother grasping at straws, desperate to get him out.
Quickly, though, she squashed that sentiment. Her mother hadn't had empathy, something that many people would point to as weakness. Abby, on the other hand, saw the value in it. But the less you felt, the fewer chinks in your armor for an enemy to exploit.
Yes, it was lonely at the top.
But, still, Abby Winters meant to stay there, one way or another. And if that meant closing herself off from emotion and feelings when dealing with other people, so be it. She could live without a heart. Her mother had, hadn't she?
# # #
Zed
He realized a long time ago that the easiest way to get where you were going was to just look like you belonged there already. With that in mind, he'd shaven, brushed his teeth, and pulled on his best suit—the same suit he'd worn to Marilyn's funeral, and to all of Kai's court dates.
He strode through the front area of the building, hit the elevator, and rode it all the way to the top floor. Because where else would the CEO be, but at the top of the steel and glass spire? It was only natural that someone vaulted to the figurative top of a corporation would also sit at the literal one.
“Excuse me,” he said to the first office drone he saw as he stepped off the elevator, “I'm looking for Abby Winter's office. I have a one o'clock meeting with her.”
“Really?” the young woman asked, cocking her head to the side. “At one o'clock?”
“Yes,” he said, nodding emphatically. “One o'clock.”
“Well, I'm her assistant, Jacquelyn. Jacquelyn Robertson. I don't recall making an appointment for today. Are you sure? Did we speak on the phone already?”
“Well,” Zed said, smiling the broadest and most genuine smile he could muster with a pistol tucked against his shoulder, “I remember making the appointment. Do you not?”
Abby's assistant laughed, the sound a little uneasy and confused. “Well, maybe I didn't remember exactly. There's just been so much going on with this conference coming up and my own vacation time. Come on over to her office, and let's see if we can't figure out what the problem is.”
Zed raised his eyes to the heavens and silently thanked whatever was out there as he fell in line behind Jacquelyn and headed down the office corridor. A minute later she was circling around her desk and taking a seat as she pulled out her day planner.
“What was the name on the appointment, again?” she asked, as she flipped through the book.
“Zed. Zed Hesse.”
She twisted her lips to the side and bit them, concerned and confused that the appointment wasn't in the book. “Well,” she said, flipping back and forth between the pages, apparently trying to see if she'd written the time in on the wrong date, “I'm not finding you at all in here, Mr. Hesse.”
“Zed, please,” he said, smiling again. “You said she had a conference to leave for?”
She nodded. “Yep, she has a flight to catch in just a few hours, and will be out of pocket for most of next week. Would you like to reschedule your appointment?”
“Would it be possible for me to just pop in?” Zed asked, trying that smile of his again. It had worked to get him this far, hadn't it? “Our matter should just take a few minutes to discuss.”
Jacquelyn looked up at him from the daily planner, and the look in her eyes was uncertain. “Well, let me see if she's available, since you came all the way up here. Worse she can do is say no, right?”
Zed laughed. “Right.”
Abby Winter's assistant grabbed the phone and dialed her extension. “Ms. Winters? I have a gentlemen named Zed Hesse here to see to you. He says he had an appoint-” She paused like Abby had cut her off mid-word. “Oh? Yes, ma'am. Should I just send him in, then?” She placed the phone back in its cradle and shrugged. “She said to go right in.”
“Thank you,” Zed said, grinning so wide his cheeks were starting to hurt.
He hadn't realized how stressful this would all be, especially after having confined himself to his apartment for the last few weeks. Of course, this was all spur of the moment, too. He was used to having plans—some sort of operational guideline when it came to life.
This was all off the cuff, and he was playing fast and loose with what he could get away with.
He just hoped he wasn't going to have to move to Plan B.
“Mr. Hesse,” Abby said, as he opened her door and stepped inside her giant corner office. She was busy packing up her leather briefcase behind her desk, probably getting ready for her out-of-state conference, “I've heard a lot about you already. Honestly, didn't expect to see you here today.”
Zed was stunned by her looks. The TV screen hadn't done justice to just what kind of presence she'd have in real life. Her eyes were large and striking, even from across the large office. As she glanced his way, he just felt his own eyes drawn to them. And, damn, that business dress hugged every curve on her petite body. Sure, she was small, but he could tell that she had a spirit ten times her size and a kind of strength you didn't find in every woman on the street.
“Yes,” Zed said, holding his folder down in front of him. She'd heard about him? Already? What was that supposed to mean? “Um, I was wondering if-”
“Mr. Hesse,” Abby said as she came around from behind her desk and brushed past him as she went for the office door. “I can't wait to hear what you have to say, but I'm on a timetable here. As a vet, I'm sure you understand. If you want to talk, we'll have to move at the same time.”
“Oh,” Zed said, nodding. “Yes, absolutely, Ms. Winters.”
“Abby, please,” she said offhandedly as her eyes gave him a once over. “Now, come on. Walk and talk, Mr. Hesse.”
“Zed,” he said as they walked out to her assistant's office, “Please.”
Abby smiled and flicked her hair behind her ear as she turned to her assistant. “Jackie, I'll be gone for the rest of the day. Everyone knows you'll be gone, too, while I'm out of town, so don't worry.”
Jacquelyn, or Jackie, stood, and the two women hugged. “Thanks again, Abbs,” she whispered.
“Don't mention it,” the CEO whispered back as they parted, “To anyone. They need to think I'm the Ice Queen, remember?”
Her assistant laughed. “It's just between you, me, and Mr. Hesse, here.”
Abby turned back to Zed, and he smiled again.
Her interaction with her assistant told him one thing, at least. She might have seemed tough as nails on the surface, but she still had a heart. He understood that. Part of being an officer was having to act like an officer, even if you didn't feel like one. She was a new CEO, and female to boot, so she had to project that persona as much as she could.
He'd had to do the same thing for the first couple years in the military. There were expectations from your commanding officers, your fellow officers, and from the men below you, that you had to meet and exceed. The moment you stopped being the best at your job and let your guard down in public, was the moment you stopped going anywhere.
“All right, Mr. Hesse, are you ready?” Abby asked as she started to move through the office at a quickened pace. “I walk fast,” she said as she glanced back over her shoulder, “So you've got to keep up.”
And keep up, he did.