Page 70 of Unexpected Redemption

Rinse. Repeat.

Fifteen minutes of this damn breathing, and I’m still a wreck inside and out. From the stomach ready to wretch to the nails I can’t stop nibbling on.

Not because of whatever is happening downstairs with the interrogation or torture or whatever the hell it is. It’s officially time for me to video chat with Stella. And Freya. But mostly Stella.

In fact, I’m five minutes late. No big thing. I can blame my ADHD time blindness. She’s used to it.

Peggy left a half hour ago, heading home to pack and get out of town on the first flight in the morning. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be to take over for her until she returns. Which is to say, minimally. At least I have her phone number and can call her when shit inevitably goes wrong.

How hard can it be, right?

I crack myself up.

Propping my phone up on the table, I stare at it for a month of Sundays.

“Oh fuck it,” I huff out loud, despite being alone in the conference room.

Tapping the three buttons on the screen, I place the call.My camera turns on, and I primp my hair and pluck my cheeks so they look less ashen.

Hmph. What’s my thought process with that?

If I look a certain way, she won’t want to rage at me for taking back a man who lied to me for a year?

Dang it all to heck. It sounds horrible when I say it that way. Not sure how I could word it to make it sound better, though.

“Lettie bear!” Stella trills gleefully as soon as the call connects.

Despite my mounting anxiety, a genuine smile overtakes my entire face.“Hey, Stella Bella.”

“Is that her?” Freya yells from somewhere in the background.

She comes running from behind the back of the couch in our apartment and plops down beside Stella. The motion causes Stella’s positioning of the phone to wobble, giving me yet another bout of nausea at watching it bob and weave while they get settled.

I blink to clear my vision. When I refocus, Freya’s beaming at me. “Hey, girl.”

For some unexplained reason of dorky origins, I bring my hand up for a shoulder-height wave.

We make pleasant chit-chat for the first few minutes before they start asking questions that I can’t answer without lying.

“What room are you in?” Stella squints, bringing her face obnoxiously close to her phone screen.

Rip it like a bandage. Here we go.

Channeling a hand model, I gesture around the room in a grand motion as if displaying a prize on a game show. “This,my friends, is a conference room.” I force a swallow. “At Redleg Security.”

“Yay,” Freya exclaims with unbridled enthusiasm swirling through her voice.

At the same time, Stella’s reaction is the opposite. “Oh no.”

Freya throws a side eye at Stella before asking me, “Are you getting to know your father?”

Stick to the truth, Lettie. You got this.

“Sort of.” My damn voice cracks like a twelve-year-old boy. “I will be spending more time with him. I’m working here. Temporarily.”

“Beggin’ your pardon?” Stella’s accent makes its appearance.

I’m fucked.

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