Alex scratched the bottom of his chin with his thumb. “Can you do me a favor and just lay low for a little bit until I wrap this all up? I know you said you have a date tonight but check her out thoroughly. Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past. We can’t be too careful.”
“Yeah, I’m already ahead of you. I’m going to cancel it.”
“I’m not going to lie that would make me feel much better.”
*****
Braylee was deep into paperwork when Nate knocked on her door. “Hey, we should get going in the next few minutes. I thought I’d give you a chance to hit the ladies room and freshen up before we leave.”
She looked at her watch. “Where did the time go? It was just 9:00 AM. Okay, I’ll meet you by the elevators in ten minutes.”
Like clockwork, Braylee and Nate met at the elevators and were headed down to the garage. He knew all of her moods and could tell she was bothered. “Are you worried about Gina? I left a message for him, but he hasn’t gotten back to me yet.”
She rolled her eyes. “Not really. I’m not quite sure what I was expecting but the meeting today just wasn’t it. From what I do know about her, it doesn’t fit her M.O. I can’t worry about that right now.”
“Is everything alright with Stephanie? We didn’t get to talk much about what she wanted, and something certainly has you concerned.”
Braylee was worried. It was so easy to let her guard down with Nate. He was always there for her no matter what. “It’s my mother. She’s not doing so well health-wise.”
Understanding instantly dawned on him.
“She refuses to take any money from me, and I don’t think she has enough to buy her blood pressure and other medications.”
Nate put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Braylee, I know your relationship with your mother is complicated, but that’s not your fault.”
The elevator opened on the ground floor. Braylee stepped out first and then Nate. They walked quietly toward her truck before she responded. “You’re 100% right. And after everything, I want to hate her, but I don’t. How I can still love her...” Her voice drifted off. “Maybe it’s because she’s the only mother I have. I don’t know. I guess I’m the one with the mental illness.” Sighing deeply, she said, “At any rate, I don’t want to think about that right now either. I’m just trying to focus on what’s in front of me. At the moment, that’s the deposition.” Later, when she and Alex were home, it would be Gina. “Speaking of the deposition, do you have the Harper file?”
Nate shook his head no. “I put it on your desk.”
“Damn. You sure did.”
Nate did that smirking thing again. “I’ll give you a pass on this one for being distracted. I’ll go back up and get it.”
Braylee handed him her car keys. “No. I left it so I’ll do it. Can you pull the truck around to the front?”
He took the keys from her, his excitement barely contained. Nate looked like a child on Christmas morning. “Hell yeah. You know I love your truck.”
“Thanks.” Braylee turned around and started walking back toward the elevator when her phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her purse to find a text from Alex.
“Been busy all day. Miss you.”
His text immediately brought a small smile to her face even though she wondered if he’d seen or talked to Gina; looking down at her phone she responded.
“Miss you too.”
No point in starting this discussion via text. She’d do something foreign. Braylee would be patient and wait until she was home.
“That’s it? No, meet me for a quickie? Tough day too?”
The elevator dinged, and the doors opened. Out of the peripheral of her eye, Braylee saw a blinding flash of light followed by an incredibly loud BOOM. The sound was so loud that for a moment she could only hear whistling in her ears. She put her hands up to them and tried to clear her brain as she shook her head from the blast. Just as Braylee attempted to turn around, a second explosion went off. It was coming from the direction of her truck. This time, it was so powerful that the impact knocked her off her feet and back into the wall next to the elevator. She screamed, “Naaaaaaaate!”
Braylee couldn’t see anything because of the cloud of smoke and ball of fire. Trying to blink to clear her vision wasn’t working. Her eyes, throat, and nose burned. She coughed uncontrollably. Was this happening? Was that really an explosion? Braylee attempted to get up on her feet but couldn’t. Think Braylee think! You’ve got to get to Nate.
She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t see. Braylee dropped down onto her hands and knees as her burning eyes started to tear up. The smoke was too thick. She needed to get someplace where she could call for help because her cell phone had been knocked out of her hands. Braylee crawled in the direction of the stairs but didn’t get far before there was another deafening ROAR from another car exploding. Then, some of the debris from the blast hit her hard on the head knocking her out completely.
*****
Breathing hard and wide-eyed, Kathy burst into Alexandro’s office just as he was finishing up his call with Mr. Young. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Ms. Hinsdale. Security called to inform you that there was
