Replacement (The Worthings Book 2) by Noelle Adams

Author:Noelle Adams [Adams, Noelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-10-12T18:30:00+00:00

7

On the following Thursday, I check my roasted chicken and potatoes in the oven, pleased to see they look perfectly done and absolutely delicious.

I’ve always generally enjoyed cooking, but I’ve never cooked as much as I have lately. But Amber’s life is so leisurely and decadent that I have to find goals to focus on and accomplish wherever I can. Cooking a variety of dishes for dinner—generally fairly simple since I use whatever Greta has stocked for the week—is one of the things I can do.

Since dinner is almost ready, I leave the kitchen and walk down the hallway. I mentioned to William that I’m making dinner, and although he gave me a murmured, indefinite answer, I assumed he would join me.

Overall, he’s been a little standoffish since the ballet last week, but he’s fallen into the habit of eating dinner with me when he’s home at a reasonable time.

His reticence the past several days has been almost a relief since it’s now obvious I’m getting in too deep with him and there are no possible scenarios where I won’t end up getting hurt at the end of this. I can’t live this lie forever. Either William will find out who I am and throw me out. Or Amber will decide she wants her life back and throw me out. Or Detective Curtis will keep snooping around and the truth will come out, in which case William will throw me out.

Or Montaigne will kill me.

I’ve spent hours trying to make contingency plans, but I haven’t come up with anything that will solve the basic problem of my life.

The ironic thing is I’ve barely thought about Montaigne for weeks now. I’ve been safe here as a different person, protected by all of William’s resources. I haven’t felt so safe since I left home, and despite all the lingering anxiety, I’m not sure I’ve ever been so happy in my life.

Ludicrous. Tragic. But true.

I pause in the hallway as I approach William’s home office. I must have left the door halfway open after I stopped in earlier to mention dinner. I wonder if William is even aware of its being opened since the door is always closed. I hear his voice and realize he’s on the phone. Without thinking, I listen to what he’s saying.

“How was she able to access the account?” William is asking, his voice muffled from inside the study. He doesn’t sound happy at all.

After a moment of silence, during which the other person on the call must be speaking, William continues, “That’s unacceptable. So I’m to understand, if we hadn’t been intentionally looking for it, she would have been able to withdraw funds from that account without our being aware of it?”

My eyes widen. Evidently someone is trying to steal from William. An employee, most likely. I’m sure it happens often enough in business settings, but what a difficult and stressful situation to deal with.

“I don’t need excuses,” he says, after another pause. “Address the negligence in security immediately.

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