Winters (Book Five)

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Rereading the message again, the story seems believable but I keep waiting for someone to just rip it away and tell me I am a lying piece of shit. Hadley and Alexander were in a car accident, and I have vocal nodules. It's logical, they are both in the hospital, their current condition is stable. But my stomach quivers in fear at how the world will react to the news. Our stocks are going to get pummeled once the news that Alexander and one of our lead inventors won't be involved in the company for an unknown period of time.

"I am going crazy!" A voice says and I jump back startled but relax as soon as I see it's just Avi.

'What's wrong, babe?' I text her as she closes my office door and starts pacing back and forth. It hasn't even been twenty-four hours since I found Hadley but it feels like it's been months without the two of them.

"I can't focus! It took me so long to get used to the chaos of having her next door and now it's silent," Avi says and I get up and lean on the other side of my desk.

'What do you mean?' I ask trying to help her talk about it.

"She's like a storm, she blew in and changed everything and now she's gone! She fixed all my broken ideas without even trying, the contacts? Almost finished, all because of her! I can't even imagine how you must be feeling right now Lena. I'm so used to her pacing around, playing music, banging, and building, and now half of the lab is just empty," Avi says and I grab her hand as she passes again and pull her into a hug. Her head drops onto my shoulder and she hugs me tightly.

"I don't understand what is going on Lena. They tried to kill her, and now Hadley and Xander are both just in a coma? What is their game and who the hell are we fighting?!" Avi hisses frustrated and I run a soothing hand up and down her back. Swallowing hard, I try to focus on my breathing and holding her tight, I can't give anything away. I need Avi to help me take this psycho down.

"Do you need me to proofread the memo?" She asks me and I nod slowly. Another set of eyes wouldn't be a bad idea.

She plops down into my chair and wakes it up. I watch as her eyes flick back and forth almost impossibly quick. I watch her intently as she pushes her glasses up her nose and her teeth tug on her full bottom lip as she focuses. Her nose scrunches up a bit and I can almost feel her rereading a line.

"It's good, very professional. But I would expect nothing less of my boss of a wife," Avi says sweetly, but the small smile doesn't even begin to reach her eyes. Staring into her beautiful amber eyes, I can see the anxiety she's trying to cope with, and my heart rate increases. If I tell her the truth, it'll ease her anxiety and we can game plan this together, but at that thought, my chest and throat tighten in pain.

"I keep forgetting you can't answer me, I miss the sound of your voice," Avi says softly and I walk over and drop into her lap. She wraps her arms around me and I bury my face in her neck.

"You aren't allowed to go anywhere Lena, I can't do this without you," Avi says and I hug her tighter as a sense of desperation consumes me. She doesn't even know that she's the one more likely to end up in a coma than I am. That witch wouldn't be dangling this in front of me unless she had long-term plans for me.

Shifting in her lap, her hands trace patterns on my hips as I forward the memo to Lil and she sends it out to our entire board of investors and anyone else it's relevant to. The emails start pouring in and Avi goes to a meeting at one point but returns with her laptop in the afternoon. We work in silence but I relish just having her near me. When I glance over, she has stolen Xander's chair and has her legs thrown over the side, and is sitting sideways.