Quitting this Family after Being Abandoned for Laughs novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: The Notice He Never Sent

Tara's POV

Colin stood in the middle of the lobby with a woman at his shoulder and a folder in his hand.

The board chair was still there, buttoning her coat by the doors, and so were two of her colleagues and half of my floor, who had come down for the lifts and stayed.

Declan walked out of the elevator beside me and did not take my arm.

"I'll be right here," he said.

"I know."

Colin saw us and put his smile on.

"There she is," he said, to the room. "I'm sorry to do this in public, but she's left me no choice. Tara Loomis, I'm serving you a petition for a protective order."

"On what ground?" I asked.

"Harassment. You have recorded my family without consent, you have stalked my business, and you used a stolen log to smear me in front of this company's board. A court will see a very disturbed woman."

The board chair stopped buttoning her coat.

I felt my pulse in my ears, and for once I was not afraid of it.

"You can serve it," I said. "Give me the papers."

He held out the folder.

I took it and did not open it.

"Mr. Beller," said a voice at his shoulder, "that isn't true, and I'm not going to stand here and let you say it."

It was the woman he had brought.

She was in her forties, plain and neat, in a gray raincoat, with a handbag clutched in both hands.

I had seen her once, in a photograph on Colin's desk, handing him a coffee.

His assistant.

"We discussed this on the plane," Colin said, and his voice went soft and dangerous.

"You discussed it. I listened."

She turned to the room and cleared her throat.

"I'm Mr. Beller's executive assistant. I have worked for him for six years."

Nobody moved.

"On the afternoon of the call, he told me to send a maintenance notice for the tower over Tara's field. I drafted it. He told me to leave it in drafts."

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