Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 68033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
She grabbed it, rifling through the contents until she found Kerris’s phone. She scrolled down to find Mama Jess’s number, pausing over another contact along the way. Trisha McAvery. She recognized the name. Kerris had told her Walsh’s assistant, Trisha McAvery, admired her bracelet and was taking it to a friend in New York who might be interested in buying.
She called Mama Jess, providing the few details she could before urging the older woman to come. Meredith glanced up at Cam, head still in his hand, foot tapping a restless rhythm on the waiting room floor. Meredith stalked around the corner and down to the ladies’ restroom, slipping into the handicapped stall. She started dialing, letting the door slam shut behind her. After three rings, Meredith was about to hang up or hope for a voice mail.
“Hello?” a sleep-heavy voice asked from the other end. “Kerris?”
Trisha must have Kerris programmed in her phone, too.
“No, this is actually Kerris’s best friend, Meredith.”
“Do you have any idea what time it is, Meredith? It’s freaking two o’clock in the morning.”
“Sorry about that.” Meredith bit her lip, hoping this wasn’t crazy. “I wouldn’t call if it wasn’t an emergency. And Walsh’s number isn’t in Kerris’s phone.”
There was a loaded silence before she heard Trisha speak again, her tone more alert.
“Has something happened to Kerris, Meredith?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, God. Is she okay?”
“No.”
“Is she alive?”
“She is, but it’s bad.” Meredith swiped at an errant tear. “I thought…well, she and Walsh…they’re—”
“Yes, I understand and you’re right.” It sounded like Trisha was now in motion. “Walsh would want to know. Tell me everything.”
* * *
Three bangs on his door. Insistent. Successive.
Walsh creaked his eyes open, sat up, and glanced around his bedroom, struggling to orient himself. He’d been in negotiations with Sheikh Kassim all day about a possible merger, and well into the night. Walsh glanced at the watch on his wrist. He’d been asleep for only an hour or so.
The banging came again. Whoever stood on the other side of that door should prepare for his sleep-deprived wrath. Walsh dragged on pajama bottoms, grumbling and stumbling his way to the door.
“Who the hell is it?”
“It’s Trisha.”
Walsh swung the door open and narrowed his eyes on his assistant, standing in the hallway outside his apartment.
“Trisha, this better be good.”
“I need to tell you something.”
“In the middle of the night?” He stepped back to allow her inside.
She stepped into the modern luxury of his apartment. She’d been there only a few times, usually to drop something off from the office. She eyed the large black-and-white photo of his mother hanging over his fireplace. She pressed her eyes shut for a moment before opening them to meet his stare.
“Out with it, Trish.”
“When I first started working for you, you gave me a short list of people. You said to find you if they ever needed you, no matter what.”
Walsh’s eyes slitted and his body tightened. If anything had happened to anyone on that list, he’d lose it.
“What’s this about?”
“It’s Kerris.”
The words landed in his chest like a meteor, cratering his composure and stealing his air. He couldn’t form the question. Her answer could decimate him. He relished the last few seconds of not knowing for sure. He looked at Trish with a steady, waiting intensity.
“There’s been an accident.”
“No.”
“Yes, Walsh she—”
“Do not say she’s dead.” He shook his head and swallowed convulsively. “Don’t tell me that.”
“No, Walsh,” she rushed to correct. “But she’s badly injured.”
“How do you know?”
“Her friend Meredith called me.”
He leaned against the wall, propping his head against it and holding her eyes.
“What happened?”
“A car accident.”
“But she’s alive? And the baby?”
“It doesn’t look good…for either of them.”
“No, I don’t believe that. She’s strong.”
“Walsh, her car hydroplaned and slammed into a tree.”
“Oh, God.” He slid to the floor, sitting with his back to the wall and his elbows on his knees. His head fell between his arms, his hand reaching behind his neck to grip it as if holding on for dear life.
“She’s in surgery now. They’re performing an emergency C-section trying to save the baby.”
Walsh’s head snapped up, eyes pinning Trisha to the spot.
“What about Kerris?”
Trisha squatted, resting on her haunches, clasping her hands dangling between her knees. “She has internal injuries. Her window shattered, and a limb from the tree pierced her side.”
Walsh moaned, a shudder shredding through his chest. He sprang to his feet and strode back to his bedroom.
“You said Meredith called you, right?”
“Um, yeah.”
“Send me her contact. I need to get to Rivermont like an hour ago.”
“Your father has the Bennett jet, but I’ll check on the next available flight.” She stopped at the entrance to his bedroom, watching him stuff clothes haphazardly into his Louis Vuitton carryall.
“I’ll call Sheikh Kassim.” Walsh trimmed his voice of everything but determination. “He has a private jet. I want it ready to go within the hour.”