Page 6 of Unfaithful

She smiled back at me, and I felt my love for her overwhelm me again. My wife was stunning. Her shoulder-length brown hair framed her beautiful face perfectly, emphasizing her elegant features and the graceful curve of her neck, which I adored.

Sara always kept her makeup minimal, but she needed little. Her skin was flawless, her lips naturally pink, and her thick lashes made her blue eyes look effortlessly captivating.

"You too, babe," she replied and gave me a wink.

We both got out of the car and made our way to the building entrance, heading toward the elevator. We usedseparate elevators since they were grouped by floor, diverging our paths—I to the twentieth floor and Sara to the fifteenth.

As the door opened on my floor, I made my way toward my office, noticing Elsa was already waiting there. She stood by the door, a soft smile on her face as she looked up at me.

"Morning," she greeted, her tone cheerful, as if she hadn't tried—and failed—to suck me off the night before.

"Elsa," I responded, nodding slightly, narrowing my eyes in suspicion as I met her gaze.

She was on Sara's team.

I wondered what she was doing here.

CHAPTER THREE

Sara

"Do you know where Elsa is?" I asked my assistant, Dona.

She shook her head. "I've been looking for her all morning."

I glanced at Elsa's desk. "But she was here, right?"

"Yes," Dona said. "I saw her come in, but then she took the elevator. Probably heading to the lobby to grab something to eat."

"Yeah, that sounds like her. The baby probably demanded to be fed," I chuckled. "Let me know as soon as you see her, okay?"

"Sure thing, boss." Dona gave me a playful salute.

I glanced at my watch—9:40 a.m. Our office started at 9. What had Elsa been doing in the lobby for that long?

Frowning, I turned and headed back to my office.

Seated behind my desk, I opened my email. Thirty unread messages stared back at me, and for a moment, a wave of overwhelm washed over me. This was exactly why I needed Elsa, at least a third of these fell under her responsibilities. As my finance manager, she handled expenses and invoicing. She was supposed to help me sort through this mess.

I had no idea how I was going to manage when Elsa took her twelve-week maternity leave. My interior design firm wassmall—a subsidiary of Cole's real estate development company—with only a handful of employees. Losing my finance manager for that long felt like a looming crisis.

Sighing, I started reading the first email.

Everything had been going smoothly until I reached the eleventh email. That's when I hit a problem I couldn't solve on my own. Glancing at the clock on my laptop, I saw it was already 10:15 a.m.

And Elsa still hadn't come back.

Or had she returned to her desk, and Dona just forgot to tell me?

I got up from my seat and stepped out of my office, my eyes immediately landing on Elsa's empty desk. Still not here.

I noticed Dona, who was deeply engrossed in her typing, wearing her pink headset and unaware of my presence. I tapped her shoulder gently. She looked up at me, lowering the headset.

"Is Elsa back yet?" I asked.

Dona shook her head. "I haven't seen her. If she did, I surely would have noticed."

Yeah. Of course. Elsa needed to pass by Dona's desk to get to hers.

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