Picking up Dale’s phone, I nervously punch in the numbers and wait until it starts ringing. My heart’s leapt up into my throat, and my anxiety is making me tremble with fear and uncertainty.
“Hello,” Liam answers.
“Hi, um, Liam.”
“Yeah, who’s this?”
‘It’s me, Lily.”
“Holy shit. What the hell? Oh my God. SHAYNE!” he yells.
I move the phone away from my ear when he screams for Shayne. I put the phone back and hear Liam telling Shayne I’m on the phone.
“Lily, how are you? Are you okay?” she says without even taking a breath. I burst into tears again, I’m so ashamed I have to stoop to calling Shayne for help. “Oh my God, where are you, Lily? I’m coming to get you.”
I can’t seem to make the tears stop, but through the uncontrollable sobs, I finally manage to say, “I’m at work, up in the boss’s office.”
“Stay there until I come get you. Liam and I are on our way.” She hangs up before I can say anything else.
Moments later, Dale comes back into his office holding a folder. “Here, I have some of your personal information so you can use it to go to the bank. I’ll come with you, if you like,” he offers.
“Shayne and her husband, Liam are coming here to pick me up. I’ll go with them.”
“Anything you want, Lily. Now, about work.”
“Do I still have a job?”
“Well, actually…no.”
I huff and let my shoulders slump. “Okay.”
“Not downstairs, but Candice, the CEO’s personal assistant is leaving next Friday, and I know Peter hasn’t replaced her yet. He told me to keep an eye out, and I think you’ll be perfect for the role.”
“But I don’t know what to do.”
“Don’t worry about that for now, take the rest of the week off. Call me or come in and see me on Friday and we’ll talk about it then. But for now, just don’t even worry about work. You’ll always have a job here.”
“Thank you, Dale.”
We sit and chat, and I can tell Dale’s trying to drag my mind away from my marital situation. He’s telling me about the guest room he has, and how his daughters would love having me around.
Although he’s being generous, Trent is first and foremost in my mind. I’m frightened of him and his capabilities, and I’m struggling with even asking Shayne for help, let alone asking Dale to put himself, his wife, and his daughters in harm’s way.
Trent will try to kill me. There’s no doubt in my mind he has the ability and the sadistic nature to do so. As my mind swims with fear of Trent, Dale gets a phone call from downstairs saying two people are waiting for me.
“Thank you for everything,” I say as I stand.
Dale comes out from behind his desk, and blankets me in another hug. “Whatever I can do to help you, you let me know.”
“Thank you for everything.” I leave his office and go downstairs to Shayne and Liam.
Shayne opens her arms the moment she takes in my appearance and I fly into them. “You’ve left him, haven’t you?” she whispers. I nod my head, confirming her question. “Come on, let’s get you home.”
“I have to go to the bank first.”
She lets go of my shoulders and looks at me. “Bank?”
“I’ll explain everything in the car, I just need to go to the bank.”
“Okay, we’ll come with you.”
We link our fingers together, and walk down toward the Bank of America. Liam’s four steps behind us, giving us space. When we walk in, Liam sits at one of the chairs lining the wall, and Shayne stands beside me in line.
When I get called, I give the teller all my information and tell her I’d like to withdraw some money. It’s only fair I take what I think belongs to me, so I’ll take forty thousand, and leave the other half for Trent.
“How much would you like?” the pretty, young teller asks me.
“What’s the balance?”
“Here you go.” She turns the monitor and shows me the account balance. Three thousand and fifty-eight dollars and ninety-two cents.
“What?!” I half scream, completely floored by the lack of funds.
“Is there a problem?” she asks looking worriedly between me and the screen.
“There’s supposed to be over eighty thousand dollars in there.”
“I see there’s been some recent activity on the account. Let me have a look.” She hits some keys and then says, “Here you go. There was a check cut to a car dealership, um, let me see which dealership, for fifty-five thousand.” She taps away. “This is the BMW dealership downtown.”