Page 90 of Unexpected Redemption

She cuts off the water and shakes her hands over the sink. “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with us, Lettie. We’re all a little kinky here.” She winks.

A shocked gasp fills my lungs as my jaw falls. First Shep and Kri, and now Mia and Klein? I’m too shy to look at her full-on, but I catch sight of her grinning at me with my peripheral vision.

“What do you call him if not sir? Master? Daddy?” She snort-laughs. “Guess that’ll be even more appropriate soon.”

Through a barely restrained laugh, I answer truthfully. “It’s boring. I call himbabe. He let me pick, but it’s all that ever felt right.” Doing more of the over-sharing thing, I add, “He once called meloverand then confessed to knowing the Taylor Swift song of the same name. Naturally, I was gone from that point forward.”

“How could you not be?” She reaches for the paper towels, passing me a few. “Honestly, Lettie, I love how happy you make him. From my first day here, I knew he was a good guy. I hoped he’d find the right woman toseehim like you do. I’m thrilled for you both. I know it hasn’t been easy, but with love as strong as the two of you have, I suspect you’ll be just fine.”

Other than a tight nod, I’m unable to reply through the emotions clogging my throat.

“I can see I’m embarrassing you. My bad. But one more thing...” She tosses her used paper towel into the trash. “I can’t wait to see him become a daddy. You two are gonna have the cutest babies.”

“Gah. Stop. You’re trying to make me cry, aren’t you?”

“I’ll stop.” Her neck slopes to the side. “After one last thing. Lettie, don’t ever doubt how one person’s love can change someone for the better. According to everyone here, he’s been thought of as a robot for a long time. I don’t know his past, but I imagine it wasn’t easy. And now? He’s so damn happy. Even with all the shit going on, he smiles and laughs. You’ve brought out something beautiful in him. In case no one else has said it,thank you for loving him. He deserves it.”

Well, damn. She didn’t let up one bit. The cute little ginger doubled down. Now, I need to dry more than my freshly washed hands.

“Sorry.” She hands me another wad of paper towels. “It had to be said.”

After drying my hands and cheeks, I inch toward the exit door with her. “How’s it going down the hall?”

“A bit crazy, but nothing we can’t manage. I said it earlier, but nice job with the doll thing. That was impressive.”

My chest fills with a sticky feeling.Pride, I think. “I’m sure one of you would have figured it out soon enough.”

“We’ve got so much shit happening. Who knows when any of us would have analyzed it the way it needed to be?”

“Taking down the Mafia ain’t easy, huh?” I chuckle. “Did you figure out what was on the slip of paper inside the doll?”

In a whisper, she answers, “It’s an email address written in Greek.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It’s generic, so it doesn’t tell us much about who might be on the other end. We’re still investigating. We added it to the ever-growing list. If shit keeps piling up like this, we’ll need another wall.”

“Did you send an email to it?”

Her lips pull back, revealing her pearly whites slammed together in the physical embodiment of the cringe emoji. “We’restill discussing what to send. Need to do more research first, but I doubt we’ll find much. There’s typically sparse info out there about random email addresses.”

We linger just outside the exit to the restroom. I’m enjoying getting to know Mia in these tiny doses. I see why Tomer likes her.

“Speaking of weird emails,” I start, twisting my fingers together and wondering if I should’ve deleted it when I first saw it.

“Yeah?”

“I got one that’s a little sus. Although I didn’t open it, I did let it sit in my inbox. Is that bad? Should I delete it? Is it too late?”

“It can’t really do anything unless you click on links or attachments. But it’s probably best to delete it if it’s suspicious.” She tips her head in the general direction of my desk. “Wanna show me?”

Like a bobble head doll on a dashboard, I nod like crazy. “Gosh yes. Thank you. It was driving me nuts.”

My little squirrel is gleeful as heck to have a resolution coming to that pesky email that’s been invading my thoughts all damn day. The curiosity and temptation were wrecking my mojo. It would have kept me up tonight. And with Tomer so busy today, I wouldn’t have ever gotten to ask him.

Mia to the rescue. I should get her a little cape.

Once we get to my desk, I take my seat, unlock my system, and show her the email.

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