“It’s addressed to you.”
“That doesn’t make it mine while she’s incapacitated.”
Melissa nodded.
That was Lauren.
Even now.
Even tonight.
Rules first.
Facts second.
Feelings later.
Lauren washed her hands.
Changed her scrub top.
Drank half a bottle of water.
Then walked toward the waiting room.
Ethan stood as soon as she entered.
At thirty-nine, Ethan Cole had appeared on magazine covers, business channels, technology podcasts, and lists of America’s wealthiest entrepreneurs.
He was worth just over $4.8 billion on paper.
He could walk into almost any room in Chicago and make people nervous.
Lauren had watched senators return his calls.
She had watched CEOs change flights for him.
She had watched entire conference rooms wait because Ethan Cole was six minutes late.
Tonight he looked like a frightened husband.
Just not hers.
“Is she alive?”
That was his first question.
Lauren noticed.
Not How are you?
