If I Say Yes (16 page)

The flowers are still waiting for me, taunting me as I pick them up,
planning to throw them away once I get inside. Opening my front door
proves to be more than a struggle with the large arrangement in my
arm, and the door jamb decides to be stubborn. After several minutes,
I finally manage to get the door open. I walk into my apartment and am unprepared for what I see.

The vase slips from my arm, shattering everywhere, and I feel sick
to my stomach. My apartment looks like a hurricane followed by a tornado struck it. My couch is flipped over on its back. The cushions
are strung throughout the room carelessly. All my cabinets have been
opened, and my dishes are shattered upon the kitchen floor. The few photos I have of me and Eli, as well as the store bought deco photos, have been thrown to the ground, and the glass is broken. The coffee
table has been thrown up against the TV; one of the legs sticks straight
through the plasma screen and out the other side. The damage goes on. I can’t even imagine what my room looks like. I don’t want to go and see, but apparently my feet have other plans in mind.

I run towards my room, trying not to stumble over the scattered
debris that strayed in from the living room. My bedroom door is hanging
off the hinges, squeaking as I push it open so I can flip on the light and
glance inside. The room is a bigger mess than the living room. All the
drawers are pulled out of the dresser, the contents thrown about the
room. Everything from my closet has been torn off the hangers and
joins the rest of the catastrophe. On the large square mirror that rests on top of my dresser, in big bold letters, the intruder leaves a note.

You can’t hide forever. I plan to expose you for who you really

are. Be ready.

-A

The same signature that is on the card that came with the flowers
is on the mirror in bright red lipstick. If ‘A’ has been inside my house,
why did he or she leave the flowers outside? The answer hits me like
a ton of bricks. Of course, whoever it is did it so Reid would see them
and get the wrong idea. And he did, he most certainly did. If it wasn’t
for the damn flowers, he would have come in. The flowers are what
stopped him, and that’s most likely what the intention was. But why?
I hear a loud crash and someone yell. My heart stops, my breathing
catches, and sweat beads my hairline. Whoever it is has to still be in
my apartment.

I grab one of my now empty drawers, creep over to hide behind the broken door, and wait. I hear another crash that muffles a man’s
voice, yelling in protest. I make it behind the door just seconds before
he enters the room. Without a blink of an eye, I raise the drawer up
and swing. The man dodges just in time to avoid the drawer making impact with his head, catching his shoulder instead.

“Ow!” The voice is familiar. “What the hell, Liza?” Eli spins around
and faces me. My hands are shaking, and I drop the drawer. He takes
one look at me and scoops me into his arms. He runs his hand over the
top of my hair, smoothing it down my back, and doesn’t let go. “What
the hell happened in here?” I shudder against his body, unsure of how
to answer him. He pulls away from me but keeps a hand on each
shoulder. “What is going on? What happened to your apartment?”

“I-I-I don’t know,” I choke out. Tears stream down my face, and
my body shakes as I begin to sob hysterically. Eli’s arms are around
me again, and he pulls me close to the warmth of his chest.

“Let’s get you out of here.”

***

I don’t know where we are going, but Eli is driving like a bat out of hell down the street. I glance over at him through my tear-soaked,
puffy eyes. I can see he is on edge. He is gripping the steering wheel of
his Bentley tight, and his jaw is clenched. He doesn’t glance at me and
remains solely focused on the road and wherever we are going. I tuck
my legs up towards my chest, wrap my arms around them, and rest
my chin on top of them. The vision of my apartment is burned into
my mind. Someone has been inside of my house; someone has destroyed
it. But who? I feel violated. My one place, my only sanctuary, is slowly slipping away from me, while the rest of my life is crumbling down around me. I always counted on my apartment to bring me solace. A reminder of how far I have come, and now that’s being taken away from me. Just like everything else in my life.

The car slows down. I glance around at my surroundings and find
that we are smack in the middle of town. Large buildings tower over
the car, but not just any buildings. To my left is the court house, and to
my right is the police station. My throat is dry, but I try to swallow, which only makes it hurt worse. “I can’t go in there, Eli.” My voice is hoarse.

He parks the car along the curb and quickly turns his head towards
me at me. “Don’t be stupid, Liza. You
have
to report this.”

“No, I don’t.” I sigh and shift in my seat uncomfortably. “And I’m
not going to.”

His eyes are glossed over like he has silently been crying, and I
didn’t realize it until now. His forehead is creased with lines, and he
frowns. “Liza.” His voice is soft, but he can’t hide the serious tone.
“You have to.”

“No. I will not go in there.”
I can’t.
The last time I stepped foot in
there, I spent hours in the interrogation room, going over every detail I could remember the night of my mother’s death. I also sat on the other
side of the mirror as my father gave his confession willingly.
It’s too
much. It brings me too close to him, and I don’t want that.
“Eli… please don’t
make me do this.”

Eli sighs heavily. “I don’t know what is going on, and I don’t like it.
But fine, I won’t make you go in there… with one condition.” I raise my
eyebrow and glance over at him. “You finally let me install that new alarm system.”

I know it’s ridiculous. Who needs an alarm system in an apartment
complex? But Eli has been hell bent on getting one since he saw the place. I have refused time and time again. But this time, I just can’t. I should have done it ages ago. “Fine.”

JUST AS I EXPECT,
Reid is going to ignore me today at the office. I’ve seen him throughout the office, but he won’t say a word to me.
Not a single damn word. I have to tell him about Saturday night. Not
all of it, just that I honestly don’t know who sent the flowers. Which
isn’t technically a lie, because I don’t know
exactly
who it is, in a sense,
but I do know that they were purposely left there by whoever is out to get me. I try getting his secretary to patch me through to his office four times this morning, and every time it’s the same response: “Mr. Harder isn’t available to talk to you at the moment.”

Fine. Two can play this game. If he won’t talk to me about Saturday
night, then that’s it. I knew it was a mistake letting things go as far as they did. Dancing with him at the diner and letting him show me the center, when I should have gone straight home, was a mistake. From here on out, all interactions with him are going to be solely based on
work. After all, we have a deal, and in my mind, that deal is still in
effect. Whatever godforsaken desires I have about kissing him again
and stripping him naked is just going to have to sit on the back burner
. I cannot let my hormones control my actions anymore.

Our deal is my only saving grace. If this doesn’t pan out, I’m not sure I will have a job much longer. I type out an email, detailing just
that. That all our interactions are to be only for work— nothing else. No
gallivanting around any small diners, and certainly not alone. Nope, not even close. If he wants to talk, we can do it in the open.

Feeling satisfied with the email, I hit send and turn my attention
back to the hoard of query letters invading my inbox. After another
hour of struggle, I am ready to give up. On cue, Eli rescues me. He
strolls into my office, his mood better than it has been over the rest of
this past weekend. He casually walks over to my desk, placing a white
take-out bag and soda on top of it. The smell of Chinese food fills the air, and my stomach growls.

“Thanks for bringing me lunch.” Eli grins from ear to ear. “I was
af
—
” I don’t finish my sentence, the knowing look on his face says he
understands.

“Anytime,
little rabbit.
” He smiles again. “The guys just left your
apartment.” I nod my head. Eli had held me to my agreement and had
security men come up and install a new alarm system, as well as clean
it out. Since I couldn’t return to my apartment yet, I had crashed at his
parents’ house with him instead. “Some of your stuff wasn’t salvageable,
so I had them bring in some new stuff, and the new alarm system is in
place.” If Eli has good timing, Reid has impeccable timing.

He barges into my office without knocking, as per usual. His eyes
are latched on me, and we don’t break eye contact as he walks towards
my desk. He stops right next to the chair Eli is now sitting in and
completely fails to at least acknowledge him.

“Dude,” Eli says. “Have you ever heard of a little thing called
common courtesy?”

“Must have missed that lesson in school.” His voice is sharp, like
a thousand pieces of glass piercing my skin, and his eyes remain locked
onto mine. Eli pushes his chair back and stands up. Though the two
men are close in height, Reid still has an inch or two on him. “Is there
a problem?”

“In fact, I do have a problem,” Elias says. Both of them are tense.
Reid turns to his attention to Eli, his fists clenched at his side. “You’re
interrupting our lunch.”

Reid’s jaw clenches. “I didn’t know you two had a lunch date.”

“It’s not a date,” I say quickly. The two turn their attention on me.
Eli seems hurt and frowns. Reid’s eyes momentarily betray him and show a sign of relief; that confirmed what he was hoping. Man, these two were going to drive me insane. “And if it was… that isn’t any of your business.”

Eli smiles like he has won the battle. Reid flinches like I slapped
him. “I came to tell you that my uncle wants you to have someone
signed before the end of the month or you might as well start packing
up your office.” His words sting me. I try to remain poised and nod my
head once. Inside, I’m screaming and want to cry. Reid coming to my
office only tells me one thing— our deal is off. Before anyone says
anything else, he leaves and slams my door behind him.

“I don’t know what you see in him,” Eli states, snapping me out of my daze.

“What are you talking about?”

“I saw the way you were staring at him. The way he was looking at you. Please tell me that you didn’t—”

“Ugh.” I groan. “Of course I didn’t.”

“Good.” Eli smiles. “That guy is a jackass.”

“All guys are jackasses,” I remind him and smile.

“According to the book of Liza Winter.” Eli laughs lightly.

“At least you are finally coming to your senses.” I say coyly. The
two of us both start laughing. Eli sits back down in his chair and pulls
out two large takeout boxes followed by three smaller ones. I grab a set of chopsticks, grab a box, and savor every last bite.

I don’t see Reid for the rest of the day, and it’s probably just as well.
Every time I think of him, anger sparks and rushes through my veins.
I want to scream and shout at him. Tell him that he is the world’s biggest
asshole, but I won’t, even if the opportunity presents itself. Because at
the end of the day, he is nothing more than my boss, and that’s all there
will ever be between us. I throw myself into my work. The anger boiling
inside of me must have triggered something deep down, because by the end of the day, I managed to get through four query letters. Two with the possibility of being interesting enough that I plan to make a
call. It provides me with enough distraction from the walls crumbling
down around me that, for once, I feel like celebrating.

I don’t want to think about anything going on, what will happen when I step out into public again with Elias, or what the media will say. For once, I want to enjoy a night instead of constantly watching
over my shoulder. Dr. Uria will be impressed with the progress I have
made. The last time I attempted to go out with Eli, it hadn’t panned out
so well. So, when I call Eli up and tell him that we are hitting the club
tonight, I have to bite back the laughter at his initial shock. After
confirming that we have plans to go out to Gravity at nine tonight and
to be ready, Eli finally stops asking for the thousandth time if I’m up to something.

Nine o’clock rolls around, and I am ready to go. I slip on a short,
hot pink dress with flats, because let’s face it, I’m not going to have my
feet killing me while I dance the night away. I pull my hair up into a ponytail, and I wear just enough make-up that it still seems natural. I
accent the dress with a chunky beaded necklace in a multitude of shades
of pink. Eli looks impressive, as he always does, in dark washed jeans,
a fitted black shirt, and his new haircut, which is short and styled just
like the Eli I have always known. I don’t object when we head outside
my apartment and see he’s got the limo again.