The One He Never Held novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Paid Leave

Lionel locks Jo out of the company in front of staff. Lucille offers a million-dollar check in the café and Jo tears it up. Lionel invites her to Friday dinner.

I took Hailey upstairs to the flat above the café and put her in a dry sweater of mine.

She sat on Tim's old couch with a blanket around her shoulders and shook.

"Who is it, Hailey?"

"I can't say." She shook her head hard. "If I say it, he'll hurt him. Daddy doesn't shout when he's angry. He gets kind."

"Then I won't ask again tonight."

Her phone buzzed on the table. The screen said Daddy.

She went white and answered in a bright little voice I had never heard from her.

Ten minutes later a black car idled outside the café and she was gone.

I stood at the window and wrote the whole conversation in the notebook, word for word.

Then I looked across the street.

The shuttered pharmacy was empty. Damian had finally gone home.

On Monday I put on a grey suit and went to work.

I had not resigned from anything. Walking out of a lunch did not end my job.

The lobby of Deverill Sorensen was glass and white marble, and at nine it was full of people with coffee.

My badge beeped red at the turnstile.

The security guard looked at his shoes. Behind him, by the elevators, stood Lionel in his navy coat.

"Joanna, my dear." He came forward with both hands out. "There you are. I was worried."

"My badge isn't working, Lionel."

"That's my doing, and I'm sorry for it." His eyes were soft. "You've had a terrible shock. I've put you on paid leave for two weeks. Rest. Let us take care of you."

People were slowing down on their way to the elevators.

A junior analyst stopped with her cup halfway to her mouth.

"I'm fine," I said. "I have a meeting with legal at ten."

"Someone else will take it. Everything is covered." He squeezed my fingers. "This isn't a punishment. It's love."

I looked down at his hands on mine.

They were warm and dry and very steady.

"Reverse it," a voice said behind me.

Damian had come through the revolving door. He wore no coat, and his tie was crooked.

"She's my chief of staff, Lionel."

"And I'm the chairman, son." Lionel did not raise his voice. "If you want it changed, bring it to the board. Meanwhile, she rests."

"She's not sick."

"Damian," I said. "It's fine."

"It isn't fine."

"I'll go." I took my hand back, politely. "Everyone is looking."

A guard handed me a cardboard box with my desk things in it. Someone had already packed my plant.

I carried it out through the front doors with forty people watching.

Damian followed me as far as the steps.

"Jo."

"Not here."

"Then where?"

"I don't know yet," I said, and I walked down to the street.

At noon the café was full.

Tim was steaming milk with his sleeves rolled, and I was refilling the pastry case when the bell rang.

Lucille came in wearing a camel coat and a soft smile.

Every head in the room turned. A woman that elegant did not belong between our mismatched chairs.

"Joanna." She said it like a hug. "Can we sit?"

"I'm working, Lucille."

"This will take a minute."

She sat at the nearest table and took an envelope from her handbag. She slid it across to me.

Inside was a cashier's check made out to me, for one million dollars.

"It's for the inconvenience," Lucille said. "Lionel's lawyer will send papers this week. You sign them quietly, and nobody has to see you cry. I'm trying to help you, dear."

I read the amount twice.

Four years in her house, and she had never once asked me what I wanted.

I tore the check in half.

I tore the halves in half again. The sound carried across the whole room.

"Tim," I said, "do we have a bin for paper?"

"Compost's by the door," Tim said, grinning.

I handed him the pieces. He carried them across the café.

Lucille's smile didn't move, but her fingers tightened on her bag.

"You told me to be gracious," I said. "This is gracious. Your son asked me not to sign, so I won't."

"He's confused. He'll thank me."

"Maybe. Tell Lionel the answer is no."

She stood and tucked her bag under her arm. She looked at me for a moment.

"You were always so calm," she said. "I never knew what you were thinking."

Then she left.

Tim's shoulders slumped. The regulars at the window table gave me a small round of applause, and I pretended not to hear it.

My phone rang before I had sat down.

It was Lionel.

"My dear," he said, kind as ever, "Hailey hasn't eaten since yesterday. She says she won't touch a bite unless you're at the table. Come to dinner Friday. Please. For her."

I looked at the black notebook beside the register.

"Of course," I said. "I'll be there."

When I hung up, I wrote the date in it.

← Chapter 2 · All chapters · Chapter 4 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend