Page 1 of Don't Leave Me
1
New York City
Two weeks after the wedding
Ashleigh
In the elevator,I pushed the button for the top floor and forgot I needed my card to allow me access. I wasn’t running late, but I still felt a sense of urgency. Evan knew where I’d been today. If anything about my visit to see Marc ruined his plans for tonight, he might use it as leverage to not allow me to go anymore.
Not that Marc was thrilled to see me. I understood it was a pride thing for him, but when he told me I didn’t have to visit, it still hurt. I found the card in my wallet and pushed it into the designated slot on the panel. Then I hit the top floor button and felt the elevator start to move.
This penthouse in the city was where Evan spent most of his time. While I was content to be alone in his home in Harborview. He thought it appropriate people around town see me there, given he was considering running for office in New Jersey, not New York. As it related to our marriage, it would also appear I’d settled in. Making our home in New Jersey, despite him having properties all around the country. A villa in Florida. A beachfront mansion in the Hamptons, a pied a terre in Paris.
This way we each had our space, but I could still get to the city easily when he needed me to be on call. Like he did tonight. The elevator doors slid open and I walked down the hall to his door.
I didn’t have a key because I wasn’t given that much access to his life.
I rang the bell and waited. Glancing at my watch, I timed out how long it would take me to shower, do my hair and makeup, then dress. Evan would have already chosen what I would be wearing. He was ridiculously particular about that, and, since I couldn’t care less, I let him do it. One less decision I had to make. Calculating my time, I realized I had plenty. If anything, I was probably early, which sucked because it meant I might have to be in his company for longer than was absolutely necessary.
He opened the door with a scowl, and I noticed his hair was oddly out of place. I’d never seen him even slightly disheveled. Then again, I hadn’t seen much of him since the wedding.
He’d at least been accurate about that. He did his thing, left me alone, and I had significantly more freedom than I’d had when living with Arthur. Especially during that last month after returning from Vegas.
“You’re early.” He said it like an accusation.
“I didn’t want to risk being late.”
He scowled again, but pulled back the door. I stepped inside and was startled to find he had company. Was that why he was annoyed? Had I interrupted his affair? He had to know I couldn’t care less who he had sex with. I was about to say that, when I stopped and realized the person in the room wasn’t a woman. Her height had confused me, but when I approached her, I realized she was young.
Very young.
“This is Lisa, she’s my cleaning woman’s daughter,” Evan explained. “She just stopped by to pick up a check for her mother.”
“Hi, Lisa,” I said.
She tucked her hair behind her ear and offered a shy smile. “Hi.”
I looked around the penthouse, that was, in fact, spotlessly clean. “Your mother does excellent work.”
She shrugged. “Thanks. I guess.”
Evan had made his way down a hallway to what I assumed was his bedroom, or maybe his study, and a few seconds later, he returned with a check in hand.
“Tell her not to forget it next time,” Evan said as he handed over the check. “You dropping in like this was inconvenient.”
I watched Lisa’s expression. Pouty, sullen. The look of a teenager—I suspected she was no older than sixteen—after being slightly admonished.
She took the check and stuffed it into the back pocket of her jeans. Skin-tight jeans. A sexy, white top that exposed her midriff. She was dressed too old for her age, I thought, but she wasn’t my daughter.
“Yep. Sure. See you later,” she said. Then, in a huff, she left and shut the door behind her.
“I’ve laid out what you’re wearing tonight. It’s on the bed in your room. I’ll expect you to be ready promptly at six o’clock. A driver will be waiting downstairs to take us to the restaurant. I’ll be giving a speech this evening. I’ll need you to look at me adoringly.”
I gave him my best attempt at adoring, and he sniffed and moved around me, making his way toward the kitchen.
I wasn’t offered food or a drink. I didn’t expect any, either. I simply hiked my overnight bag higher on my shoulder and made my way down the hall to my room. I noticed his bedroom door was still open. The bed unmade.
Hair out of place, unmade bed. Lisa, picking up her mother’s check.
