Chapter 5: She Works for Me

Nobody on the sixtieth floor breathed.

The receptionist had both hands flat on her desk.

Two men in suits by the coffee machine had gone perfectly still, mugs halfway up.

Bianca set the bakery box on the reception counter very carefully.

"Lucian," she said. "That's the woman from the hotel. The stalker. She followed Jake to our... to his room."

She caught herself a half second late.

Everybody heard it.

[Our room. She said OUR room. In front of her fiancé.]

[The female lead has the brain of a lettuce.]

"I know who she is," Lucian said.

"Then why is Margo carrying her things?"

"Because she works here now."

Bianca laughed.

It was a pretty laugh, and it went on a beat too long.

"You're joking."

"I don't."

She turned to me.

Up close she smelled like expensive vanilla, and her lip gloss was perfect.

"How much did you pay to get up here?" she said softly. "Or did you not pay in money?"

One of the suits by the coffee machine choked.

"I took the freight elevator," I said.

"Of course you did. Service entrance. That's where you belong."

She looked me down and up.

"You know he'll never look at you. He's marrying me in twelve days. You're a secretary."

"Accountant," I said.

"Same thing."

"Not really. Secretaries don't read your escrow accounts."

For a second something moved behind her eyes.

Then she slapped at me.

It was fast, and she put her whole arm into it.

It never landed.

Lucian's hand closed around her wrist a few inches from my cheek.