“I’ve finally lined up a real estate agent. I’m sorry the last two weeks have been nuts.”
“Is something going on?” she said.
He glanced at the office door then rose to cross to it. He closed it. When he sat down he looked at her. “Yes, someone has offered to buy the company. We’re in negotiations right now.”
“Does that take this long?”
That would mean he’d built and sold three companies. Boy, her kid had good genes. Too bad she wasn’t contributing anything that spectacular.
“It does. I like to take care of my employees. I can’t leave them to be fired when I’m gone.”
That was so Amedeo. “What will you do once it’s sold?”
“I have some ideas for another company. I haven’t done any real estate investment so I may go in that direction. We’ll see.”
He was so confident. She knew the sale of the company would make him able to be choosy about what he did next. She couldn’t imagine being in that spot. She had always lived freelance job to freelance job.
“I could take time off to be with the baby.” He shrugged the way a man who had options would.
“You’d do that?”
“Yes I would. My child will be important to me. My parents always made us a priority.”
She nodded, not knowing what that felt like. “That might make it easier for me. I’ll be back to establishing clients at that point.”
“Well, we’ll see. You can stay on here after your job is complete, but we can talk about that later.”
She rose. “You need to get somewhere?”
“I do. Sorry. Call me if you get spooked.”
“I’m not exactly sure who I’m dealing with. It could be an idle threat,” she said.
“Let’s not look at it that way,” he said.
She left him in his office and let the driver take her home. The gate was secured when the driver left. The alarm system was on. Amedeo had written down the password. She should feel safe, but part of her didn’t anymore.
This was her own stupidity. Was she really expecting the person to walk up to the front door? No, they might use the internet to take her down, but she had no possessions. No credit rating. Her identity wasn’t worth much.
She sighed, settling into leftover macaroni and cheese. She jumped at each sound. When she crawled into bed, she put on a movie so she wouldn’t have to listen to the sounds of the house as it settled for the night.
She curled up under the covers, her heart beating just a little faster.
Why had she been so stupid?
***
A week later, with no more threats sent to her, Violet finally settled down. There had been no further threats to her which made Amedeo think the first one had been an idle one. Her stomach was just beginning to pop and he liked to fall sleep at night with his hand on it.
The world felt right when he did that. Violet had been frustrated by not catching the hacker. She’d wondered out loud to him that maybe the hacker was just flexing his muscle and won’t come back.
When she came to Amedeo in his office that morning, her face was lit up with triumph.
“I’ve found your hacker. Well, I’ve at least caught him in a trap. I haven’t identified where he came from yet.”
“You’ll do that soon?”
“I’m hoping. I just need to walk away for a minute, so I decided to come tell you.”
He leaned back in his chair studying her. She was getting more beautiful as the pregnancy progressed. “Do you need more maternity clothes?”
She smiled at him sheepishly. “Yes, I do.”
“We can go after work tonight.”
“For home, just sweats, but for work I’ll need a few weeks of something until I wrap this up,” she said.
Carl wanted him to hire her. Amedeo knew he would have to broach the subject carefully. She’d be skittish, thinking that he was doing it out of pity. Maybe he should have Carl broach the subject. That way, she might not think it was coming from.
“Wait, we can’t shop tonight. I lined up a real estate agent to show us apartments.”
She plopped down on the chair for guests. “You did? I’ve been meaning to.”
He waved a hand. “I’m used to taking charge.”
“Yes, I know.”
“I’m not sure if you’re happy about that or not.”
She shrugged. “I guess in this situation I’m happy because I kept forgetting to do it. I’m usually so organized.”
“You’re pregnant, Violet.”
“I don’t like to use that as an excuse.”
“But it’s true.” He came around the desk, leaning his butt on the edge. “Hormones are crazy things.”