Fated to My Cruel CEO novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: Tomorrow

I didn't sleep at all that night.

I lay on the narrow bed in my apartment with the whole library card in my fist, and I made a list in my head.

My father had given me until Saturday.

He would tell Ansel about the laundry room whether I gave him the files or not.

I knew that.

Lowell Carrow had never once kept a bargain that didn't help him.

So the only question was whether Ansel heard it from my father in a hallway, or from me.

At six the next evening I walked into the Riverside Hotel in the same black dress and rode the elevator to his floor.

He opened the door in his shirtsleeves, with his cuffs rolled and a pen in his hand.

He had been working.

Papers covered the table behind him, and the shoebox sat on the sideboard with its lid closed.

"You didn't call," he said.

"I wanted to see you."

He looked at me for a long moment.

Then he stepped back and held the door open.

I went in.

The suite was quiet, with the river lights spread out beyond the tall windows.

I turned around.

I had practiced it in the elevator.

"Ansel, I have to tell you something."

"Is it about your father?"

"It's about that night."

He went still.

For a moment I thought he was going to let me.

Then he crossed the room, took the card on its chain between two fingers, and let it fall back against my skin.

"Tomorrow," he said.

"It can't wait..."

"It can. I've waited twenty years for most things. Tomorrow."

His voice was low.

"Tonight I would like one hour in my life that isn't him, or the plant, or the fire."

His thumb moved on my jaw.

"Can you give me that?"

I opened my mouth.

I looked up at his face, tired and open and fierce, and I knew I would be a coward and a liar.

"Yes," I said.

"Say it."

"I can give you tonight."

He cupped my face in both hands.

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