She’d made some epic memories while she’d been away. They’d be able to sustain her for years… wouldn’t they?
Bethany had thought for sure they would, but somehow, in the cold light of day, they just seemed to show her miserable, gray existence for what it really was.
She saw Lisa, probably her closest friend in this place, even though she was really no more than an acquaintance and made an extra effort. Pasting a wide smile on her face, she waved and called out a hello, only to feel even more deflated when Lisa’s eyes widened then skittered away from her with nothing more than a jerkily raised hand in response.
Bethany sighed heavily as she slipped into her cramped, windowless office and fired up her PC. Before stowing her handbag in the bottom drawer of her desk, she dug out the key to her safe drawer and unlocked it. Then she absently felt around for her personal notebook where she wrote out the pertinent details so she could refresh her memory on the contracts she was currently handling.
“What the hell…?” she mumbled to herself when she couldn’t find it in the secure drawer she always kept it in. She pulled the drawer all the way out and felt around in the back, but it wasn’t there.
Frowning, Bethany methodically worked her way through the rest of her desk, but there was still no sign of it. She began to get panicked… and angry.
Why was she trying to kid herself? She knew damn well she always kept that book under lock and key. It contained all her notes about her personal clients and the work she was doing for them. It was the way she kept on top of her game and one step ahead of the rabid competition that was snapping at her heels waiting for her to stumble so they got the chance to sink their teeth into her plump, well-kept accounts and make off with them.
She cursed her stupidity. She should have taken it home with her instead of trusting it to a locked drawer. Why hadn’t she?
Maybe because she’d taken the key home with her which meant accessing her personal office space required an act of breaking and entering followed by actual theft of private property. Despite the cutthroat environment she worked in, she’d never really believed anyone would stoop that low.
Oh yeah. And because she’d been too busy dreaming of sun, sand and sex and living her fantasies.
And in the meantime, some damn shark had slunk in and swiped her livelihood. Probably without the tiniest shred of conscience that he was leaving her to starve - figuratively speaking.
Still, the doom-laden chords of the Jaws theme tune seeped, inappropriately, into her brain as she turned her attention to the screen which had just flashed to life in front of her.
Dread curled through her chest at what she might find, because she already knew, with absolute certainty, that it wasn’t going to be good.