CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE | SIENNA
It had been a week since I last saw or spoke to Ace and I had no idea what he was thinking or doing.
From the way we left things, it was highly likely that was the last time I would ever see him or hear from him. He seemed pretty mad.
Of course, he had every right to be. I’d kept crucial information from him.
Information that could change his life.
But I wasn’t lying to him when I said I was just trying to process it for myself before I told him. I was just confused and lost…I had no idea how he would react.
I just needed some time.
But now it was done.
Ace hated me and he had every reason to.
I was going to have a baby. Something I was definitely not prepared for.
It would mean a complete revamp of my life. I was going to have to seriously reconsider all my decisions.
Especially the ones related to my career.
As a mother, did I really want to be dressing up in elaborate guises and putting my life in danger every day to take down bad guys?
I’d finally made the decision that I couldn’t do that, I couldn’t continue with this job.
All this baby would have—would be me.
I couldn’t keep putting my life at risk every day while a child relied on me.
Besides, I was beginning to believe I didn’t have the stomach for this job anyway.
Not after what I found out about Kaplan.
So, here I was, at my office at seven in the morning, swiveling in my chair and taking in all the little nooks and crannies of this space I’d spent so long in.
I’d never exactly made friends with others in the office so this time of the day was perfect. There was nobody else in the office and I could make a smooth exit without any drama or having to say goodbyes.
I’d already typed out my note of resignation and I was pretty sure there would be several people in this office who would be more than glad to see me go.
People who believed I was interfering with their work and their extracurricular activities.
I sighed as I stared at my blank computer screen.
So much had changed since I met Ace.
I had no idea that night— when we drunkenly and stupidly got married at that wedding chapel—how massively my life was about to change.
And I’d justified it all by telling myself I was doing it for the job.
Now I was having his baby and he wasn’t even in the picture.
Could I have expected anything different from a man like him?
Why did I still hold out the hope that maybe it would all work out?
That I wasn’t wrong. That the connection I felt with him was real, and not some made up fantasy.
Who was I kidding? Ace wasn’t coming running back to me, especially not now with the burden of a child.
***
But I wasn’t just going to quit without leaving a blazing trail behind me.
Kaplan was going to pay, and even though I couldn’t stay to see the end of this, I was going to make sure my effort reached the right place.
I found a big manila envelope and slipped in all the essentials I’d collected over the past week.
A flash drive with all the redacted files, a report pointing out it was Kaplan who last fidgeted with the files. The photographs I’d taken of Kaplan at the casino flashing the playing card.
The case was out of my hands now and it was going to be up to the Gaming Commission to bring Kaplan to justice.
I wrote the commissioner’s name on the envelope. The only person I could trust now to make the right decisions.
And I was going to deliver the envelope to his desk personally.
Now that the envelope was ready and the resignation letter was typed up, it was time for me to go.
I wanted to make an exit out of this office quickly before people started showing up here and asking me questions.
I had no interest in explaining why I was quitting the job.
My phone rang in my purse, startling me. When I saw the number flash on my screen, I recognized it as my lawyer. It was pretty early for him to be calling me but I didn’t blame him, I never really answered his calls any more.
I knew exactly what he was going to say.
“Sienna, I’m glad I finally caught you.”
“Hey, Mac, sorry, I’ve been super busy.”
Even though I couldn’t see him, I could sense him rolling his eyes. Everyone was always busy. It was a pathetic excuse.
“You have to submit the annulment papers now, the petition is going to expire soon and if you fail to submit it by then, we’ll have to redraft the paperwork all over again. You’re going to have go out there and beg him for his signature again.”
I stood in my office—my ex office—listening to my lawyer give me sound advice.
If I knew what was good for me I would file the annulment papers right away. But I’d been holding on to them for the past week, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.
I just couldn’t stand the thought of not being married to Ace anymore.
“Sienna?”
“Yeah, I heard you Mac.”
“You’ve gotta file them.”
“Yes, I know, I’ll do it. Soon.”
“Good…” he sounded relieved, but I wasn’t.
I still wasn’t sure of what I would do. Or when I would do it.
My best guess was that Ace was already breathing a sigh of relief. He didn’t have to deal with being married anymore. He could wash his hands off all responsibility of a fake wife and a child he never planned for.