Pretty Ever After (Chicago Nights Book 3)

by Tabatha Kiss

  The timer chimes. All the men say their goodbyes and stand up, but I don’t move. I keep my hold on Melanie’s hand. I look at her as she looks at me, refusing to be the one who looks away first.

  Melanie pulls her hand away as she leans back. “We choose to go our separate ways,” she answers. “And we stop hurting each other.”

  She stands up, taking my heart along with her.

  “Melanie, don’t—”

  “I’m sorry,” she says with tears in her eyes. “I can’t fight for us anymore.” She hesitates a moment before straightening up and nodding. “Bye, Robbie.”

  No.

  Stop her.

  Melanie awkwardly squeezes behind the chairs to make it to the exit across the golden ballroom.

  Stop her.

  Now.

  “Melanie!” I shout.

  She doesn’t stop.

  I jump over the table to her side, drawing annoyed glances from everyone, but I can’t care about that right now. She’s already out of sight. If I don’t move quickly, I’ll lose her forever.

  “Melanie!”

  I hustle through to the golden hotel lobby. There’s a dozen strangers scattered around, but Melanie’s nowhere to be found. How did she get outside so quickly?

  I race outside. Crisp air smacks me in the face as I scan the passing crowd.

  Still no Melanie.

  “Melanie!” I shout again, clinging to the last bit of hope I have.

  But she’s not here.

  She’s gone.

  Forty-One

  Robbie

  I sigh with my face planted on Nora’s desk. “This sucks,” I say.

  Nora leans on the edge of the desk beside me. “I know, honey,” she soothes as she runs her fingers through my hair.

  “I really thought that’d work.”

  “I did, too!”

  “But she just… walked away.”

  “Trix and I tried calling her,” Nora says. “After a while, the calls went straight to voicemail. She’s ignoring our texts, too.”

  “I’m sorry you girls got dragged into this,” I say. “The last thing I wanted was to break up the Sunday brunch squad.”

  “It’ll be so weird tomorrow without her. Just me and Trix.” She frowns, but then feigns a smile for me. “But you can come! If you want to.”

  I give a non-committal head bob. “I’ll think about it.”

  I sit back, banishing every air molecule from my lungs. I ripped myself open and poured my heart out for her and Melanie still walked away. From me. From us…

  The Little Black Book office party rages on in the next room, or as much as a fancy office party can rage. At least one person will photocopy their ass at some point tonight. The sexy guy in the Santa suit is getting some, but not me.

  My soulmate left me.

  “Sucks,” I repeat.

  Nora pouts, showing sympathy. “I’m really sorry, Robbie.”

  I wave a hand. “It’s all right.”

  “Is there anything I can do?”

  “No.” I sit up, attempting to look stronger than I feel. “Go enjoy your party. I’ll be all right.”

  “Are you sure?” She looks at me like I’m a lost puppy. “I don’t want to leave you like this.”

  “Thank you, but I’m fine. Really. I’m just going to sit here in the dark for a while, stare out these comically large windows you have, and pretend to be Batman.”

  “Okay, Mr. Wayne.” She chuckles. “Don’t brood too hard.”

  Clive appears behind her in the door and gently knocks twice. “Hey, Nora.”

  She turns and smiles. “Hi,” she says sweetly.

  He gives me a solemn head nod. “Robbie.”

  “Clive,” I say.

  “Sorry to interrupt, but can I borrow you for a few minutes?” he asks Nora.

  “Sure,” she answers.

  “On the roof.”

  She blinks. “The roof?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Um, okay,” she says. “I’ll grab my coat and I’ll meet you up there.”

  Clive bows his head again. I bow right back before he disappears into the party.

  Nora slowly twists back to me, her eyes wide open and brows piqued.

  I smile. “Some-one’s getting engaged to-night,” I say with song.

  “I can’t get engaged tonight!” she whispers, full of panic.

  “Why not?”

  “It’s not fair. It’s bad timing.”

  “It’s perfect timing,” I argue. “Seriously, go. Love must prevail.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’ve got my own stuff going on. See?” I gesture at the windows. “Gotham needs me.”

  She laughs. “Fine. I’ll go. But I’m sending in Trix to check on you.”

  “If you must.”

  Nora gives me a friendly kiss on the forehead before standing off the desk.

  “Congratulations, Nor,” I say.

  She smiles at me from the doorway. “Thanks.”

  I lean back in her absurdly comfortable office chair and pivot to look out the windows, an act I instantly regret. Snow billows down from the sky. It would have been a perfect night to lie awake with Melanie in my arms. Cold outside. Warm in the sheets…

  I sigh. It’s over now. She made her choice, and I have to respect that.

  I close my eyes. I picture a different skyline behind my eyelids. Maybe a little sunlight. Or some rain on a windy day.

  Anything but snow.

  A scream rattles my ears.

  Nora.

  I jump out of the chair and race back into the party. A few staffers rush away from the center of the room to hide behind the first cubicle they reach, some letting out little screams of panic of their own. Others bolt past me to hide away in Nora’s office.

  I continue forward to find out for myself what’s going on.

  “Robbie.”

  Trix’s voice pulls me back. I pause, following her voice to the back corner cubicle. She’s kneeling on the floor with Lance, his protective arm shielding her away from… something.

  Nora stands in the middle of everything. Her shaking hands are raised up high. Her face is pure white, even more so than usual.

  There’s a man a few feet in front of her.

  My stomach drops.

  He’s holding a handgun.

  “Call for help,” I whisper at Lance, but he already has his phone out.

  Trix reaches for me. “What are you doing?” she asks, reading my face.

  I step forward. “Stay down.”

  “Robbie.”

  I force one foot in front of the other and her voice fades behind my pounding pulse.

  “Alex, please, just calm down…” Nora says, barely above a whisper.

  So, this is Alex.

  I’ve been meaning to have a chat with this prick.

  He shuffles forward a step and Nora recoils away from him and the gun. “No, I will not calm down!” he says, prompting a few muffled screams from the staff. “Either you get the list now or you’re dead!”

  Nora doesn’t budge, far too frightened to move.

  I step toward them, coming up on Nora’s left. “Hey,” I say.

  Alex twitches, but his gun hand stays firm. He clearly has experience with a gun and might not be afraid to use it. “Stay back!” he says.

  “Hey, hey…” I show my steady hands. “It’s all right, man. There’s no need for that. We can talk this out.”

  “I’m not here to talk. I’m here for what’s mine, and that’s it.”

  “Okay,” I say, easing closer. “In the meantime, how about you point that thing at me instead?”

  “Rob, no,” Nora whimpers.

  “It’s okay, Nor.”

  “Back off, man,” he growls. “This doesn’t concern you.”

  “Oh, it does.” I gesture for him to sway in my direction. “When you point a gun at my friend, I find it very concerning. Point it at me instead. Please.”

  Alex sneers for a
second before obliging. “Happy now, tough guy?” he asks, attempting to intimidate me.

  I swallow my fear, looking anywhere but the barrel. “Very,” I say. “Now, tell me why you’re here and I’ll see what I can do.”

  He glares at Nora. “She knows what I’m here for and she better get it now before I start shooting.”

  “Nora,” I say, hoping to get her away from this. “You heard the man. Go get what he wants.”

  Nora hesitates. “I… I can’t. It’s not here.”

  Alex lunges forward a step. “Whaddya mean it’s not here?”

  “I mean, it’s not here!” Her voice trembles. “We keep the client list off-site now after, well…”

  After this prick tried to swipe it.

  “Where is it?” he asks, annoyed.

  “With a private security firm,” she answers, still shaking. “I can’t get it now. I’m sorry.”

  “Then, you’ll give me what it’s worth.” He points the gun at her again. “Five million. In cash. Right now.”

  “Hey,” I say, shifting in front of Nora again. “What’d I say? Stop pointing that at her.”

  He ignores me.

  “I don’t have that kind of money here,” Nora says.

  Alex flexes his jaw. “Then, we’ll go get it. You and me, bitch. Let’s go.”

  I stretch my arm, purposefully forcing Nora backward. “She’s not going anywhere with you,” I say.

  “You want to die, asshole?!”

  “Not particularly.”

  “Then, get out of my way!”

  “I can’t do that.”

  He scoffs at Nora. “Christ, woman, is there a man in this office you haven’t fucked?”

  “Alex.”

  Clive’s booming voice startles everyone. He stands in the corridor by the stairwell door, looking calm but furious in the eyes.

  “What are you doing, man?” he asks Alex.

  Alex spins around to face him instead. I take Nora by the arm, seizing the opportunity to put more space between her and that damn gun, but she digs her heels in, unwilling to abandon Clive.

  “I’m finishing what we started,” Alex answers.

  “By terrorizing a bunch of innocent people?” Clive shakes his head. “This isn’t you.”

  “Hey, this was supposed to be quick and clean, but then you had to choose that pretty, little whore over me! As far as I’m concerned, this is on you.”

  “You can still walk away from this.”

  “There is no walking away,” he says. “The people I snitched on — they know and they ain’t happy. If I don’t give them something by tonight, they’re gonna make an example out of me.”

  Clive says nothing.

  “Come on, man.” Alex twitches, desperate. “Help me out. You owe me that.”

  “I don’t owe you anything, Alex.”

  “Then fuck you, Clive!” Alex’s finger wraps around the trigger. “Fuck you. Fuck your cushy new life. And fuck her.”

  Alex turns around and points the gun at Nora again. Nora gasps in horror, her fingers clinging to my protective arm as Clive charges toward him from behind.

  The gun fires.

  I react to the deafening sound by grabbing Nora and lunging toward the line of cubicles behind us. Others scream as Clive and Alex collide and fall to the floor, the gun fumbling a few feet away. Lance emerges and rushes in to grab it before Alex can get it back.

  I keep Nora shielded until I see Clive overpower Alex on the floor. As soon as he’s pinned, a few other staffers run in to help, Sexy Santa included, and I finally take a second to breathe.

  Thank god that’s over.

  I rest on my knees as adrenaline rattles my veins. My heart races, making it difficult to think or even hold my breath. I think of Melanie.

  Will she even believe me when I tell her about this?

  “Robbie?” Nora asks.

  “It’s okay, Nor,” I say. “It’s over.”

  “You’re bleeding.”

  I look down. There are spots of red along my left side. I touch my shirt and even more bleeds through, soaking my fingertips.

  Oh, that can’t be good.

  “Shit,” Nora whispers. She shifts onto her knees. “Here, sit down.”

  Trix appears on my other side, her expression just as panicked as Nora’s. “Was he hit?” she asks.

  “No,” I say. “I’m fine.”

  Nora pulls up my shirt and they both gasp.

  Oh, that’s really not good.

  “Ambulance…” Nora speaks too softly at first before she looks around and shouts. “Somebody call an ambulance!”

  Trix pulls off her scarf and rolls it up. “Robbie, don’t move,” she says as she presses it firmly against my side. Her face goes blurry. “We’re getting help, okay? Just stay with us.”

  “Does it hurt?”

  “Don’t close your eyes, Rob!”

  “That’s a lot of blood…”

  “Nora, shut up. You’re gonna freak him out.”

  I hold up my hands. “Guys, I’m fine…”

  They push them back down.

  “Don’t move,” Trix says. “Just keep talking.”

  My tongue feels heavy. My speech slurs.

  I feel cold.

  Fuck.

  “Rob!” Someone taps my face. “Shit, we’re losing him.”

  “Robbie!”

  “Stay awake, honey.”

  I can’t keep my eyes open. I try to picture another skyline again, but I see nothing but snow.

  I think of Melanie. She likes snow.

  When it snows in New York, will she think of me?

  I hope so.

  But probably not.

  Forty-Two

  Melanie

  It’s snowing again.

  I stare at it through my balcony window. Countless flakes falling from the sky without a care in the world, landing on whatever they land on, and that’s that. That’s the end of them. They either attach to their equally careless friends or melt into nothingness. Seems like an interesting life.

  Man, I need to lighten up. I mean, I did what I wanted to do, didn’t I? I went. I met with Robbie. I told him what I felt, and that’s that. I’m one step closer to starting my new life. One less carry-on to worry about in my world of baggage. I’m moving to New York City! It’s going to be a blast!

  Maybe I’ll feel better about it after Christmas.

  “Humbug,” I say to the sky.

  “Hey, Melanie.”

  I turn around. Drew stands in my doorway with the cordless house phone in his hand.

  “What do you want, Drew?”

  He holds up the phone. “It’s for you.”

  I exhale. I turned my phone off on purpose. I don’t want to talk to Robbie. I don’t want to talk to Nora and I really don’t want to talk to Trix.

  “Just tell them I’m not here,” I say, turning back to my depressing window.

  “It’s the hospital.”

  I pause. “The hospital?” I ask, stepping forward.

  Drew meets me halfway and gives me the phone. “They asked for you,” he says.

  I clear my throat as I raise it to my ear. “Hello?” I ask.

  “Ms. Melanie Rose?” a woman asks.

  “Yes, that’s me.”

  “Good evening, ma’am. I’m calling from Chicago North Hospital. We have you listed as the emergency contact for a Mr. Robert Wheeler.”

  Oh, goddammit.

  I frown, annoyed. The bastard still has me as his emergency freaking contact?

  “What’s he done now?” I ask, pinching my brow.

  Her tone remains sympathetic. “I’m sorry to tell you this, ma’am, but there’s been an incident involving Mr. Wheeler. He was admitted to the emergency room about a half hour ago with a gunshot wound to the chest.”

  “He’s been shot?!” I ask, too stunned to care about volume control.

  Drew lunges forward to stand beside me, angling his ear to try to listen to the call.

&nb
sp; “Well...” My breath hitches. “Is he going to be okay? How bad is it?”

  “He’s in surgery at the moment, ma’am,” the woman says. “We won’t know much more until he’s out.”

  “Okay. Um...” I try to focus, but my thoughts run wild. “I’ll be right there.”

  She says something more, but I honestly don’t hear it. The call ends and, somehow, I remain standing.

  Robbie’s hurt. Robbie’s in the hospital. Robbie’s in surgery and bleeding and dying and the last thing I did was walk away from him.

  My heart stops.

  What have I done?

  “Melanie.” Drew stands in front of me. “What’s going on?”

  I swallow around the lump in my throat. “It’s Rob. He...” I can’t even say it. “She said something about a gunshot wound to the chest and that’s he’s in surgery and...”

  Drew turns around and motions for me to follow. “What are we waiting for? I’ll drive.”

  I don’t move. I turn completely numb.

  Don’t you dare do this to me, Robbie.

  “Melanie?” Drew says from the doorway. “Come on.”

  A tear falls down my cheek. “But what if he...”

  “He’s not,” he says. “He won’t. He’s gonna be fine, big sister.”

  What if he is?

  What if he does?

  I wipe the tear away, more annoyed than ever.

  If he’s not, then I’ll kill him myself.

  “And then, the gun went off!” Nora leans so far forward in her chair, she looks about ready to fall off. I’m sure she would if it weren’t for Clive’s sturdy hand resting on the back of her neck. “And Robbie threw himself in front of me! It was crazy!”

  I nod from the chair directly across from them. I hold a disposable cup of vending machine coffee in my hands, but it’s ice cold now. “Uh-huh,” I say, my voice barely audible in the bustling hospital lobby.

  “Then, Clive tackled Alex to the floor and Lance grabbed his gun and then everyone descended on Alex to make sure he was down and the entire time I was like, ‘where’s the bullet? where’s the bullet?’ and then Robbie just kinda dropped to the floor and that’s when I saw the blood. We told Robbie to sit down, you’ve been shot, but he was like, ‘no, I’m fine,’ and we were like, ‘no, seriously, Rob, you’ve been shot,’ but I guess adrenaline really does a number on you, you know?”