Keep (Command #2)

. . .

For my husband

. . .

-1-

Kara Hayward sat motionless as all the color drained from her employee’s face.

“We have to terminate your employment, effective immediately. I’m sorry. It was a difficult business decision that we’ve had to make. Your position has to be eliminated.”

She felt like shit. It had nothing to do with her jet lag and everything to do with the man that sat across from her in the glass conference room. Scott Rhodes’ jaw tightened until she was sure he was going to crack his teeth.

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” he hissed. “I expected nothing less from this company.”

Rhodes had been working at the Manhattan branch of Incentive Systems for the better part of twenty years. This was the second person she’d had to let go this month. Despite being almost thirty years old and a top-level project manager, Kara wasn’t experienced at laying people off. It’d be all right with her if she didn’t get any more practice at it.

Rhodes’s chaotic eyes went to Kara’s boss, who sat witness. Jim had wanted this to happen for at least six months, but Kara had fought a losing battle for her employee’s job. Rhodes’s work had declined to almost nothing, and Kara had heard rumors he was coming in late and leaving early, even as she warned him to shape up. She still oversaw the New York implementation team from her office in Maastricht, where the international headquarters were located. So she had chosen to fly in from the Netherlands to personally relieve Rhodes. He was owed that for all of his years, even if he’d been sliding.

“Human resources will be sending over a severance package,” her boss said. Jim looked, for lack of a better word, bored. Like he had no idea that they’d sent the world crashing down on Rhodes.

The poor man’s breathing increased with every glance at Jim. “What . . . happens now?”

“You’ll go to your desk,” Jim said, “and collect your items. Kara won’t hover, but we do need to make sure that that’s done, and that you leave immediately afterward.”

For a moment Kara worried he wasn’t going to go quietly, and held her breath. She let it out when he deliberately stood. Glassy-eyed, he exited the conference room like a zombie.

“Do you still think flying here from Europe was necessary?” Jim asked when the door swung shut.

“Yes.” It probably hadn’t made a shred of difference, but she didn’t want to appear soft or weak. Her ex-husband, who worked five floors up, would be delighted at the excuse to lobby for her dismissal. Paul had resented her climb through the company ranks from the moment she’d started here.

“The bright side is his wife will get less in alimony.”

She was able to disguise her personal feelings, but only barely. “He’s getting divorced?”

“Amber said the wife moved out last week. I thought you knew.”

“No, I didn’t. That explains why his work was suffering.”

Jim leaned back in his chair and stretched. “Yeah, maybe, but it’s not an excuse. People can go through a divorce and keep doing a great job. You did.”

She tore her gaze away from Jim so he couldn’t see her discomfort. The ink on her settlement papers had been dry for over a year, but the word
divorce
was always a slap in the face.

“It wasn’t easy.” There was an understatement.

When he didn’t move, Kara stood on the high heels that hurt her feet. She was already a giant at five-eleven, so the shoes were completely unnecessary. She loomed over people and made them uncomfortable. Really, she made men uncomfortable, and at this point in her life, that was a good thing. These shoes were a freedom now that she was single. Her ex-husband had been an inch shorter than her when she was flat-footed.

“I’ll go check on Scott,” she said, and took a step towards the door.

A woman darted down the hallway, flying past the conference room.

“What was that?”

It gave Kara pause. “Amber.”

“Was she running?”

The offices beyond the glass were quiet. Too quiet. Kara didn’t realize she was retreating until the table against her hip let her backpedal no further. Even before she saw Rhodes and the small handgun clutched at his side, it was like she knew.

Cold dread curled its fingers around her as he stormed in and raised the gun at Jim. His hand shook badly like he was completely out of control. Ironically, that’s exactly how Kara felt. She should run or seek shelter behind one of the sleek and sturdy-looking leather chairs. Even standing motionless would be better since it might not draw his attention. Instead, she clamped down on her fear and refused to let it control her.

She had hardly enough breath to form the word. “Scott.”

His focus, including his gun, swung her direction. “I worked here eighteen goddamn years. Before you, before him. I helped build this place. You can’t replace me!”

Terror froze Jim into a statue.

“Please, Scott. Don’t do this.” Her voice was surprisingly calm, given that her lungs were paralyzed and tremors crept along her body. “You’re better than this.”

It didn’t look like her words had any effect on him. His eyes were teeming with all the hurt, the feeling of betrayal. He was so lost.

“You can’t do this!” His aim returned to Jim. “I need this job. It’s all I . . . it’s the only thing left.”

Stay calm.
“Look at me.” Her request was just above a whisper.

He did and his wild face hinted he was barely holding on. “I’m not going to give you the gun.”

“That’s fine. I don’t want it.” She stepped out of her shoes, partly because she wanted to seem less challenging, but also because she didn’t want to die in them. Her actions momentarily distracted Rhodes and his expression changed to confusion, even though the gun was still fixed on Jim.

“I’ve been where you are,” she said. “I know how hard it is
—
”

“You don’t have any idea.”

“All right, tell me.”

It didn’t look like he was going to. But then he turned to face her. “She left me. Twenty-two years gone, like they were nothing.” His violent shaking increased. “Without this, without her, I’m nothing.”

“I felt like that, too. I know what it’s like to put your soul into something, to change your whole damn life for another person…” The tremble in her voice matched his. “To give and give, only to have it fall apart, no matter what.” She didn’t bother to hide her pain. She wanted him to feel the connection.

It seemed to work since the gun lowered to his side.

“It’s going to get better, I promise,” she uttered in the silence, maybe more for her own benefit than his.

“No, it won’t.”

The glass wall behind Rhodes shattered with an enormous boom and he gasped, crumpling forward to the floor in a heap.

The police had shot him with a beanbag gun, disarming him instantly. She’d stood by and watched one of them put a knee in Rhodes’s back while he was cuffed and then hauled to his feet. She stared at the floor and tried to block out the fact that he was crying.

Kara didn’t cry. It’s not that she was a robot; she had feelings. Plenty, in fact. Yet crying never accomplished anything, so she viewed it as a waste of time.

Her first phone call after the ordeal was over was to her sister, Laurel. Thankfully it wasn’t that late in Munich when Kara phoned, but Laurel freaked out to the point that Kara began to wonder who had just been threatened at gunpoint. Her history. Or pregnancy hormones. That had to be it.

The police took Kara and Jim’s statement together.

“I never would have thought he’d be one to go like that,” Jim said. He’d loosened his tie, and she could see he was sweating through his dress shirt. “You’ve got a level head about you, Kara, and it probably saved both of our lives.” He gave her a look that said he owed her.

He refused to let her work the rest of the day. She put up a fight, but Jim wouldn’t hear it. He meant well, but it was the last thing she wanted. Every second in New York was a constant reminder of him, the ex-husband. Paul already knew what had happened in the conference room with the shattered window. Surely he’d been evacuated with everyone else while the police secured the building.

She zipped the pouch closed on her laptop bag when the phone intercom beeped in the spare office, lighting up the screen with the words “Front Desk.”

“Ms. Hayward?” the female voice said, “I’ve got your brother here to see you.”

Brother? If Kara had one, it was news to her. She popped her head out of the office and peered down the long hallway.

“Shit,” she muttered. Kara rarely swore and certainly never at work. But there was no helping it, because Shawn Dunn stood at the front desk, leaning down to chat with the woman seated there.

Kara yanked her head back into her office before he’d noticed her. What the hell was he doing here — not just in New York, but in her very building? She was completely unprepared for this, and for a moment it registered that she was more unnerved to see Shawn than she’d been when a gun was in her face.

Pull yourself together. You can handle him.
She steeled herself and jammed her feet back into her killer heels. She was going to need every inch of them while dealing with Laurel’s brother-in-law. He’d been sending Kara daily text messages, plus flowers once a week for the last month. No, that probably wasn’t true. No doubt Shawn’s assistant had been tasked with the responsibility of ordering the elaborate and excessive flower arrangements. Her co-workers thought it was the most romantic thing ever.

Hardly. Shawn made it clear exactly what he wanted from her each and every time she was in Munich visiting her sister.

He must have sensed her approach, for he straightened abruptly. Good lord, he was tall. And when he set his eyes on her, she clenched her teeth together. His brown hair was so dark it was almost black and slightly tousled like he’d run a hand through it recently. He had on a raincoat that glinted with raindrops and an umbrella tucked under one arm. It had been overcast when they’d been evacuated, but with the commotion she hadn’t realized it had started raining.

He gave her a smile that was more like a smirk. Like he knew just how good he looked to her, or to women in general, and he enjoyed it. She just found it annoying. That was the one word she’d use to describe the man staring at her as every step brought her closer. Annoying.

Or maybe German.

Kara seemed fine. In fact, she looked almost exactly the same she had as the last time they’d met — she looked pissed. Her blond hair was pinned back as if trying to appear older and serious, and she was clad in a business suit with a skirt and high heels. So professional, even when her sexy mouth turned down in a frown.

“What are you doing here?” She stopped a good five feet away from him, keeping her distance.

“It’s good to see you, too. I’m in for a budget meeting with my US distributors.”

“No, what are you doing” — she jabbed her finger at his feet — “here?”

“You’ve got your sister to thank for that. Do you have an office we can speak in?”

Her answer was an exasperated sigh. She turned and went back down the corridor she’d just come from. He followed, listening to her heels tap out a quick rhythm on the marble like she hoped to lose him.

Sorry, not a chance. He’d been less than thrilled when L called. He was about to ream the advertising department head, something he’d been looking forward to this entire trip. But L was frantic. Someone had threatened her older sister with a gun, and Shawn was closest, already in New York. He’d been outside hailing a cab by the time his brother was on the phone. Shawn had to make sure that this had nothing to do with L or the dangerous man she’d escaped from last year.