Chapter 4

Simon didn't come looking for me again.

But my life fell into a new kind of trouble.

The next morning, the moment I got to work, my boss called me into her office.

Her face was pained.

"Andrea, I'm sorry. You may... not be able to keep working here."

I froze.

"Why?"

"Yesterday... your husband came to the office."

She sighed.

"He's friends with our biggest client. He put in a word, said that if the firm kept you on, he'd pull every contract."

My blood went cold, a little at a time.

"I'm sorry, Andrea. We're a small firm. We can't survive something like this."

I understood.

Simon was cutting off every road behind me.

He wanted to back me into a corner, force me to come crawling back to him.

I walked out of the firm and got a call from my landlord.

"Miss Henson, so sorry about this. My son's coming home to get married, so I need the place back."

"I'll give you three days. Please move out as soon as you can."

Here it was again.

The same familiar, flimsy excuse.

I didn't have to think to know it was Simon's doing.

He wanted me to have nowhere to stand in this city.

I hung up and stood there in the middle of the crowded street, the whole world spinning around me.

My phone rang.

Simon.

I answered.

"So, Andrea. How does it taste?"

There was a smug, cold sneer in his voice.

"No job, no place to live. Feels good, doesn't it?"

I gripped the phone tighter.

"Simon, what exactly do you want?"

"Come home."

"I'm giving you one last chance. Right now, this second, get back here."

"Or I'll show you what it really means to have nowhere left to go."

"In your dreams."

I forced the words out through my teeth.

"Is that so?"

He laughed.

"Let's just see how long you and that lover of yours can hold out."

"Oh, right. I forgot to tell you. Yvette's due any day now. Once she has the baby, I'll file for divorce immediately and marry her."

"And when that happens, don't expect to walk away with a single cent."

"I'll make sure you leave with nothing but that bastard of yours, and I'll run you out of this city."

Then he hung up.

I stood there holding the phone, cold all over.

Despair swept over me like a rising tide.

What was I supposed to do?

Where else could I go?

I crouched down on the ground, wrapped my arms around myself, and let the tears slide down without a sound.

I don't know how long it was before a pair of clean leather shoes stopped in front of me.

It was Terry.

He took off his coat and draped it over me.

"Don't be scared. I'm here."

I looked up at him through blurred, tear-filled eyes.

"I don't have anywhere to go..."

"Then stay at my place."

He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I've got plenty of rooms."

"No... I can't... it's too much trouble for you..."

"Andrea."

He crouched down, meeting my eyes at the same level.

"You're not alone anymore. You have to think about the baby."

"Until I find you a proper place, just stay with me. All right?"

His gaze was gentle and steady, and I couldn't refuse.

He helped me pack my things and moved me to his home.

It was a spacious penthouse.

He gave me a south-facing bedroom with a floor-to-ceiling window.

"Get settled and don't worry. I'll figure out the job and the housing."

Watching him bustle around for my sake, I didn't know what I felt.

"Terry, I don't know how to thank you."

"Then cook for me for the rest of your life."

He said it half-joking.

I froze.

He smiled and explained, "I live alone, and I always just throw something together for meals. If you can solve that problem for me, that'd be the biggest thank-you I could ask for."

I nodded.

"Okay."

And so I stayed at Terry's place for the time being.

He went to work and came home on schedule every day, his life as regular as clockwork.

We were like roommates sharing a lease, never in each other's way, and yet looking out for each other.

He'd remember to buy the strawberries I liked.

On the nights he came home late, I'd leave a light on for him, and a bowl of hot soup.

The days were quiet, like a dream.

Until the day I got a call from my mother.

Her voice sounded frantic.

"Andrea! Turn on the news, quick!"

"Something's happened to Yvette!"