The elevator ride to the top floor felt longer than any ride I had ever taken in my life.
I stood there with my hands clenched tightly at my sides, my heart pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. Every floor that ticked by on the display felt like a countdown to my own execution. I kept replaying the slap in my mind, the sharp c***k of my palm against his cheek, the way his eyes had gone dark and unreadable in the second before I dragged Lillian away.
I told myself I would apologize. I told myself I would lay on the floor if I had to. I had a career to protect, a father whose name still meant something in this city, and an assistant who needed her job just as badly as I needed mine.
The elevator doors slid open with a soft chime, and the assistant who had come to collect me gestur
