Chapter224 Miranda Gets Hit
That afternoon, Miranda left the hospital and headed to the office.
She had barely settled into her chair when Lisa knocked and stepped in, as steady and composed as always.
"Boss."
Miranda pressed two fingers to her temple. "What is it?"
"Harrison stopped by this morning," Lisa said. "You weren't in, so he made an appointment for this afternoon. Do you want to see him?"
Miranda's expression didn't change, but something behind her eyes went flat.
She was tired of Harrison showing up. Tired of the way he kept pulling at threads she had already cut.
"No," she said without hesitating.
The words were barely out of her mouth when the desk phone rang.
She hit the speaker button.
The receptionist's voice came through, polite but slightly awkward. "Hi, Miranda. Harrison is downstairs at the front desk right now. Should I send him up?"
Miranda said nothing for a moment. Her fingers tapped once against the desk.
She knew how Harrison operated. If she turned him away today, he would find three more ways to get in front of her before the week was out. He always did.
Better to deal with it once and be done.
"Send him up," she said.
She leaned back in her chair after hanging up and closed her eyes. The tiredness settled over her like a weight.
A few minutes later, in the lounge.
Lisa set two coffees on the table, one in front of Miranda and one in front of Harrison, then slipped out and closed the door behind her.
Miranda sat across from him, spine straight, expression neutral.
She spoke first. "What do you need, Harrison?"
Harrison looked at her. The warmth he used to see in her eyes was gone. In its place was something cool and distant that made his chest ache in a way he hadn't expected.
He kept his face easy and his voice relaxed.
"My assistant told me what happened yesterday," he said. "If you hadn't called for help and reached out to him, I might have been seriously damaged by that drug. Thank you."
Miranda raised an eyebrow slightly.
She hadn't expected that to be the reason he came.
She picked up her coffee and took a small sip.
"It wasn't a big deal," she said evenly. "Anyone in that situation would have done the same."
It was polite. It was also a clear line drawn in the sand.
She was not about to let him think yesterday meant anything more than basic human decency.
Across the table, Harrison's hand rested on his knee. When her words landed, his fingers slowly curled into a fist. The tendons along the back of his hand went taut.
So that was how she saw it.
He released the tension in his hand just as quietly as it had built. He even managed a light smile.
"I know," he said.
He did know. That was who Miranda had always been. Steady. Generous. Good in ways he had never fully appreciated until she was no longer his.
He had just been careless enough to lose her.
That could still be fixed.
His smile held as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a gold-trimmed invitation.
Miranda watched but didn't speak.
Harrison leaned forward and placed it on the table between them, sliding it toward her.
"Your company is still building its footing," he said. "The fastest way to accelerate that is access to the right rooms. This is an invitation to a members-only business summit. Everyone inside that room is someone who matters. Consider it a proper thank-you for yesterday."
Miranda looked at the invitation for a moment, then picked it up.
The tension in her shoulders eased slightly. At least this wasn't what she had feared it might be.
"Thank you," she said, and gave him a brief, professional smile. "We're even now."
She stood. "I'll have someone walk you out."
Harrison got to his feet as well and followed her out of the lounge.
His gaze stayed on her as they walked. Quiet. Certain.
Even.
He almost wanted to laugh.
He was nowhere near done.
--
Early evening.
A black car sat parked along the curb outside Miranda's office building.
Dominic had been waiting for hours.
Every minute he sat there, he got angrier. Miranda had been dodging him for weeks. And now he found out she had gone and attached herself to some man in a wheelchair who brought nothing to the table and never would.
The revolving door at the building entrance turned.
Miranda stepped out.
Dominic shoved the car door open and crossed the pavement in long, furious strides.
Miranda had just reached for her car door when she felt something coming. A presence, fast and wrong.
She didn't have time to turn around.
The slap cracked across her cheek with enough force to snap her head sideways.
Her ears rang. Her face burned. She grabbed the car door to keep herself upright.
Dominic stood over her, finger raised, voice shaking with rage.
"You shameless girl. Do you have any idea what you've done?"
He wasn't done.
"People are sending photos to my office. Photos of you running around with God knows who. You think I don't know what you've been up to? You want to drag the Lancaster name through the mud?"