Entwine (Billionaire Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

was hard to get the image of Mathis out of my head. It felt like
every minute lasted for an entire hour, and I had to fight to resist checking
my phone to see if he had messaged me, or to check that my ringtone wasn’t on
silent.
     
    By the
evening, I was getting anxious as to whether something had happened to Mathis.
Of course, I realized that I was being neurotic. I knew how busy Mathis was and
I knew that he had more important things to do than to talk to me. Perhaps he
didn’t want to bother me until he knew something definite about the situation.
Maybe he was even communicating with the police about the whole ordeal and he
didn’t want to worry me. Then again, sitting at home and not knowing was a
thousand times more nerve-wracking than if I had been by Mathis’ side and in
the loop about everything.
     
    Over
the next few days I could barely eat or sleep. Every moment I wasn’t thinking
about Mathis was spent either at work, furiously concentrating on finishing our
project, or writing my novel, which was taking shape more through sheer
desperation for a distraction than anything else.
     
    I
checked my phone constantly, to the point where I had practically worn
finger-grooves into its sides. What if for some reason Mathis had lost my
number? Should I call him? What if he was hurt and he needed help? But he had
explicitly told me not to call him, and I didn’t want to break my word. It
might even be dangerous for me to call him, and the last thing I wanted to do
was to get him into even more trouble.
     
    As the
days dragged on and I still didn’t hear from him, I began to think that
he had either been forced to go into hiding and was unable to contact me, or
that he had never intended to call me at all, and that I had simply been a
convenience at the time. With the passing hours, my feelings rocketed back and forth
between giving up on Mathis ever calling me and wondering if there was
something stopping him.
     
    By the
end of the week, I was a mess of anxiety, insecurity and fear in case something
had happened to Mathis. I was also trying and failing to fight off the lurking
thought that he truly didn’t care. The fact that our project was completed at
work was only a minor source of joy as the rest of my emotions churned like a
load of laundry in a washer. I snuck another look at my phone, although by now,
I didn’t really believe that he was going to contact me.
     
    As I
put my phone away again with a sigh, I saw my boss, Gina, walking towards my
cubicle, her face split into a wide smile.
     
    I
smiled back, happy to have a distraction. If she was smiling, it was hopefully
good news about the project.
     
    “How
are you doing, Amanda?” she asked kindly. “I know the last week has been
hectic, and you’ve been working hard for months.”
     
    “I’m
doing well,” I lied. “It’s been a challenge to get everything done, but it’s
worth it – everyone on the team has done their best.”
     
    “Well I’m
glad to hear that,” she smiled. “I just came over to let you know that we’ll be
meeting with Mr. Sherman, the client you’ve been working for on this project,
in twenty minutes. His company has some sort of announcement to make to our
team about the project we’ve just wrapped up.”
     
    “Okay,
I’ll be right there,” I replied.
     
    I was a
little nervous, since Sherman Inc. was a huge corporation and I had been one of
the key members of his project team, but I knew that the work had gone well, so
I had some hopes that we would be getting some thanks, or maybe even a bonus
for our efforts.
     
    After I
had applied a fresh coat of lip gloss and hastily rebraided my hair, I made my
way to the conference room. I bumped into Helen, a fellow member of my team, on
the way.
     
    “Do you
think it’s something good or something bad?” Helen asked nervously. She was a
petite Asian woman with beautiful chocolate brown eyes and a very kind nature.
     
    “I’m
sure it’s nothing bad,” I