Chapter 4
I followed Charles back to the private room.
My head was down, and my steps stayed inside the shadow he cast.
Back at client dinners, it had never mattered how big the deal was or how much weight the man across the table carried.
One word from me about my stomach was enough.
Charles would block every drink that came at me, and when I caught the client's face tightening, I'd nudge him about it.
Back then his answer was this.
"Good manners won't settle your stomach. You come first."
I checked my phone. The stamped release from HR still hadn't come through, so I wasn't free yet.
To make sure nothing went wrong, I had to keep the emotional intelligence running for one more dinner.
Nina's eyes were red and her makeup was streaked, and she'd clearly been crying.
I put on a smile with exactly the right curve to it.
I apologized first, then explained, then said all the pretty things people say.
It came out smooth from start to finish.
The wounded look on Nina's face smoothed over, and the cold coming off Charles let up.
Then I picked up the plate of shrimp.
I forced them down one after another while I held the nausea back.
Most of the plate was gone before Charles frowned and put a hand out to stop me. "That's enough."
The table warmed back up, and Charles and Nina went right back to talking and laughing.
I pressed a hand over the chemistry experiment going off in my stomach.
My face went white by degrees until it had no color left in it.
When I looked up again, Charles was gone and Nina was smiling at me.
"Sophia, I really do owe you a thank-you."
"For what?"
"If it weren't for you, I never would have met a man like him."
Nina raised an eyebrow and shook her wrist at me.
That was when I noticed her bracelet was the same brand as the one Charles had just put on me.
Mine, to be accurate, was the free gift that came with hers.
The skin under my bracelet went hot and numb, like a current had run through it.
Nina kept going.
"Sophia, honestly, I'm saying this because I care about you. Walk away on your own before you get hurt."
My stomach turned over and the pain doubled.
I couldn't hold myself up and went down onto the table with cold sweat running off me.
Charles came toward us, and Nina lifted her hand in the air and cried out.
"Charles, the shell cut my finger!"
It was a hairline scratch, barely enough for two drops of blood.
Charles' expression went dead serious. "I'm taking you to the hospital right now."
Instinctively, I grabbed the hem of Charles' shirt.
"My stomach. Take me too."
"No." He didn't even look at me. "Nina cut herself on a crab shell, and that carries a Vibrio risk.
"The clinic that handles it is on the east side, and your stomach doctor is on the west side. They aren't on the way."
I tried to say something else, but Charles just pulled my hand away and hurried out with Nina.
He left one line behind.
"You'll be fine either way. It isn't like this is the first time."
The door of the private room slammed shut.
I got my phone out with sweat blurring my eyes, and I had no idea who I called. Whoever answered asked for the address and said, "Stay there."
After I hung up, my phone chimed.
It was the stamped release from HR, and right behind it, the alert that my severance had landed.
I gave a bitter smile.
It was finally done.
Just before I lost consciousness, I sent Charles one last message: [We're done.]