Page 77 of Brassy Bigwig

I cock an eyebrow at her and she gets my meaning immediately.

“Perhaps we can have dessert after you chase whoever that is away?” she suggests, and I would like nothing more.

We head out to the lobby, and I see the young man from the mailroom halfway across the large space as I approach the trash can. I cast a sideways glance at him as he places the mail on the ledge of Chloe’s desk.

“Hey, Chloe,” he smiles at her, and it makes me want to rip his throat out.

“Hi, Sean, how are you today?”

She regards him sweetly, and casually looks over at me. I know the moment she notices my reaction because the smile melts off of her face. Without missing a beat, she turns her attention back to Sean and picks up the stack of mail he left.

“Good, thanks. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

“You too,” she offers as she takes her seat.

I don’t move until Sean is back on the elevator and out of sight.

“A friend of yours?” I inquire.

“No, not really.”

Chloe grabs her water bottle from her desk and takes a sip.

“Why? You jealous?” she challenges when she’s finished drinking.

Balling my hand into a fist, I squeeze it tightly as the need to claim her begins to take over. She smiles from ear-to-ear as she flips through the stack of envelopes that was delivered. The skin on her forehead puckers as she regards one in particular. She opens the envelope carefully as I get closer to her desk.

As she pulls the letter out and unfolds it, I notice bold lines shining through the other side of the paper, illuminated by the light overhead. Her eyes grow wide, and she turns white as a ghost which causes me to quicken my pace.

“What’s wrong? What is that?”

She doesn’t answer me, and she doesn’t hand it over, either. She just sits there, trembling, frozen in fear. Tearing it from her hands, I read the note written in scraggly handwriting:

I CANT WAIT TO SEE YOU AGAIN

“What the fuck?” I pick up the envelope from Chloe’s desk to inspect it.

There’s nothing identifying where it came from. It’s blank, other than her name. No stamp, no return address at all, which means someone must have delivered it to the building by hand.

“Fuck.” I drop to my knees in front of Chloe and force her eyes on mine. “You’re okay, théa. No one is going to set foot near you while I’m around. Do you understand?”

She barely nods.

I take a deep breath. I need to get down to the mailroom and see if they know where the fuck this letter came from.

“I’m going to go down to the mailroom and see ifI can find out where this came from.”

“N—no, no. Don’t leave me here, D. Please.” The terror in her voice absolutely crushes me.

“Okay, okay. I won’t leave you. Here, come into my office with me. I’ll call down there instead. Okay?”

As a lone tear crawls down her cheek, she gives me a weak nod. Helping her out of her chair, I wrap my arm around her shoulders, trying to comfort her as we walk. I direct her toward the sofa in my office, and she takes a seat. Removing her shoes, she tucks her legs underneath her.

I place the letter on the table before walking to my desk to make the call. Grabbing the receiver of my phone, I punch in the extension to the mailroom. After four rings, someone finally picks up on the other end.

“Mailroom.”

“This is Dimitrios Andino. Who am I speaking to?”

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