She Was Never Just the Billionaire’s Wife (Natasha and Chase) novel Chapter 184

(Bauer)

The lobby fountain is dry.

I noticed this morning, on my way in, that the small bronze koi at the bottom of the basin have started to corrode at the gills.

Theresa would have known the maintenance schedule on it.

Theresa is no longer here.

Theresa quit on the eighth, which was a Thursday, which was, I’m told, two days after the SEC formally dropped me from their list of persons of interest.

The news interpreted that as exoneration.

They’re wrong.

The SEC also drops you when they’ve decided you’re no longer worth the cost of pursuing.

I’ve lost everything already. There’s nothing left for them to take.

That’s not exoneration. That’s dismissal.

Theresa understood this. That’s why she left.

I’m at my desk on the forty-fourth floor.

My calendar is open in front of me.

Two small marks in my own hand on Tuesday and Friday.

They’re not my appointments.

They’re her appointments.

I’ve been keeping a copy of Natasha's calendar for nine weeks.

A hacker got me access to the actual one on her phone.

Not the public version Stein puts out for the press, but the one on her personal phone.

She sees far too much of Chase.

But today she’s at a public event.

I have the sound muted on the three screens running in the corner, but I’m paying close attention to the picture on the one on the far left.

It’s showing a live feed from a panel at the Hyatt Regency in Century City.

Women in Finance: Resilience and Reinvention.

Mason Stein is moderating.

Natasha is the second from the right.

She’s in a black pencil skirt cut just enough above the knee to be photographed well from any angle.

Not that she has unflattering angles.

Her hair is in a classic chignon, baring the elegant line of her throat.

Her lips are scarlet. Darker than she usually makes them.

Probably for an extra confidence boost.

She’s leaning forward in her chair slightly and the men in the audience are staring with rapt attention.

They don’t expect someone speaking at something like this to be quite so captivating.

She makes a joke.

The audio is off, but I can read her mouth.

Everyone laughs.

Mason laughs with them.

He tosses the next question to her like a man tossing a friend his car keys.

She catches it one-handed.

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