Alec touched my shoulder. “You’re sure I can’t drive you home, Nina? It’s cold, it’s dark, and it’s snowing.” He looked around with his dark, beady eyes, disgusted at the weather.
I shook my head. “No, thank you. I … need some time.”
He sat next to me. “It’s natural, you know, to feel pressure. And this … this is a lot for anyone. You’re a brand-new college freshman. To have this dropped on you today of all days… Well … it has to be incredibly overwhelming.”
“I can do it.”
“Of course you can. You have always loved being at the office with your father, and you’re respected.”
“Taking over for him was always the plan.”
“Nina—”
“Will he go to prison?”
“I’m very good at my job, Nina. We’ll be working around the clock to make sure he doesn’t.”
“Maybe he should,” I said. The betrayal tasted like poison on my tongue. My father had always had enemies, but I never thought I’d be one of them.
“I know,” Alec began, “I know you’re hurting, but you have to know he loves you, and everything your father does is to keep his family safe.”
I craned my neck to look at the lanky, balding man next to me. He was shivering harder than I was. “Alec? Please stop.”
“It will all make sense someday. The shareholders need a new face for Titan, and you make sense.”
“I’m eighteen, Alec. None of this makes sense.”
“You’re not a child, anymore, Nina. And you’re the only person your father trusts to run the business he built. Everyone is safer this way.”
“What about Grant? What about my mother?”
Alec shook his head. “It has to be you.”
I stared down at my hands. The peach hue had long left my fingers. I pulled my coat tighter around me. The frigid air was beginning to seep through the wool and into my bones. “You can go. I’m fine here. I’m sure you have more to discuss with Jack.”
Alec shot me a side-eye. “You know he’d rather die than to see you so disappointed in him.”
“He doesn’t get to be disappointed. He made his choices. Good night,” I said. “Thank you for walking me here.”
I stared forward, hearing Alec’s expensive loafers squashing against the wet sidewalk.
Moments later, the sloshing of bus tires approached, slowing to a stop in front of me. The sounds of commuters exiting the bus never came.
The bus driver cleared his throat to get my attention.
I heard him. I heard the door sweep open, but the numbness beneath me kept me where I sat.
“Miss?”
As the seconds passed, a sinking feeling came over me. I couldn’t move. Soon, the news of my father’s crimes would be all over the news. All of my new friends would know. In that moment, freezing on that bench felt safer than returning to campus.
“Miss?”
After I’d ignored him for the third time, the door shut, the air brakes released, and the bus slowly pulled away from the curb. I was alone again.
The snowflakes began to fall harder, filling up the triangle of light cast by the streetlamp. Snow made the world seem quiet, and I looked up, grateful for the silence. Some would touch my face or pants and vanish; some tumbled to the ground.
Watching the snow and my breath crystalize and float around me was a strange respite for what I’d just endured. The documents, the papers, the legal jargon I’d had to listen to for the past two hours was at least subdued while my skin screamed from the cold.
Jack was only questioned today, but at any moment, he could be arrested. In preparation, I was appointed the executer of his estate and briefed on my new role at Titan Shipping. I wasn’t sure how I would juggle the hours at Brown and learn the accounts, policy, and procedure at Titan. The sick feeling in my gut hadn’t left since I got the original call from my mother. I was only nineteen, and completely unprepared and incapable of the responsibility I was faced with, but I would do it for my father. For all of us.
I’d pushed down the anxiety and nausea for hours, but the stress and uncertainty finally released in the form of uncontrollable tears. Just as I did in childhood, I rocked back and forth to comfort myself. A frigid breath of air flooded my lungs to prepare for what felt like would be full-blown sobbing, but at the top of my breath a man sat next to me. I released the air in the form of an awkward cough, covering my mouth with my hand.
I’d only planned to glance, but then I couldn’t seem to look away. He was beautiful—more than beautiful. He looked at his watch, tactical but expensive. “Damn it. I think we missed the last bus.” He pulled his cell phone from the pocket of his black motorcycle jacket and dialed. His voice was deep and confident as he greeted the person on the other end of the line, but he was polite when requesting a taxi.
When he ended the call and replaced his phone, he turned to me, hesitating only for a moment before asking, “Want to share a cab?”
I folded my arms as the wind blew through, reminding me of the discomfort of winter as it broke through my coat and seeped into my skin. Despite my current situation and impending emotional breakdown, I had to get back to Brown. I still had a paper to write.
“Yes. Thank you.”
After an awkward moment of silence, the man spoke again. “Do you live around here?”
“My parents do. You?”
“My parents recently moved into the neighborhood. I own a loft closer to downtown.”
“I live in the dorms at Brown.”
“How do you like it?” he asked with a small smile. His eyes were lit with what look like subdued excitement, as if he were surprised to even be speaking to me.
“I like it.” I nodded, wiping one eye. I sniffed and looked down. “Brown has a great campus.”
He stared at me with an expression I couldn’t quite decipher and then looked forward again. He was older than me, though not by more than five or six years. I wondered if he knew who I was. There was a glimmer of familiarity in his expression, but I couldn’t quite place him.
“I’m Nina,” I said, reaching out my hand.
“Jared,” he said, taking it.
“Wow, you’re hand is really warm!” I said, letting my skin thaw against his.
“Yours is cold. Do you have gloves? If not, you can borrow mine.”
“I’m okay. The cold is … a nice distraction.”
“A distraction?” he asked.
Before I could answer, his cell phone vibrated, and he checked it again, seeming frustrated before he put it away without responding. He didn’t ask any more questions, and we sat in silence until the cab arrived.
Once the cab pulled to the curb and stopped, Jared hopped up quickly to open the door. I stood and nodded to him before sliding in. The door ajar bell dinged, and the wipers dragged across the windshield, the background music to Jared’s stunning smile as he closed the door. He jogged around the back, closing his door and settling into his seat behind the driver.