Page 30 of Simon Says… Fight (Kate Morgan Thrillers #11)

Standing up, she turned back to Kate, shaking her head.

“I told him to change jobs, that he didn’t have to work so hard.

But he always said that he had to, that the company wasn’t doing very well, that the company depended on him to get through this next period.

I don’t even know if that was true or a lie. ”

Kate shrugged. “I didn’t speak to anybody about that at the company, but it seemed to be doing well enough, except for an awful lot of empty desks, what with people supposedly working from home.”

Anna looked over at her. “Sometimes there was an opportunity to work from home, but, after COVID, everybody was ordered back,” she stated.

“At some point, they had a lot of layoffs. And maybe he didn’t need to work that hard.

I don’t know. But I know that he was always there, always trying hard to be the best. He…

” She winced and added, “He was very competitive.”

“Of course,” Kate agreed. “Top salesmen tend to be that way.”

“Right,” Anna muttered. “Even if they don’t have to be, it just seems to be built into their nature. And it sucks for the rest of us because we aren’t that way at all.”

At that, Kate asked her, “Did you use to work for the same company?”

“No, not this company, but we worked at the same place years ago,” she shared. “That’s one of the reasons why I didn’t leave him when he had an affair because he did the same with me.”

“Meaning?” Kate asked.

“Meaning, he was married before.” Anna crossed her arms over her chest. “We had an affair at work, but he left his wife for me, and she really struggled with it. She became suicidal afterward. I never really understood, but I guess I get a chance to experience that now, won’t I? ” She shook her head.

“I regretted everything at the time,” Anna admitted, “but I really loved him. And, of course, now I realize that he really didn’t change at all. He just went underground, exactly as they told me that he would.”

“I’m sorry,” Kate whispered.

Anna looked at her. “As I said, you must really hate your job.”

“Sometimes it’s pretty rough,” Kate admitted, with a pensive smile. “Sometimes people lie, cheat, steal, or worse, and I have to somehow sort through the mess of whatever they’re trying to hide to see if it’s really criminal or just shitty behavior.”

Anna snorted. “Apparently my husband was topping the shitty behavior list.”

“He was, indeed.”

She frowned. “It wasn’t that Angela, was it?”

Kate looked at her and asked curiously, “You’ve met her?”

“I met a lot of people. It was at a summer barbecue party, and I felt this odd vibe between the two of them.” And she groaned. “I didn’t even see it then, probably because I really didn’t want to. God, I’m such a fool.”

“I don’t know about being a fool, or what you may have gone through before this with him or without him,” Kate clarified, “but I do believe it was Angela, yes.”

“It would be,” Anna snapped, staring off in the distance. She turned back to her husband. “Then this is the way you go out? Nice move, Sonny.” Anna turned back to Kate. “And you still have no idea who beat him up?”

“No,” Kate shared. “I have no idea at this point. According to the office, he called a cab, but, so far, they don’t see a charge on the company credit card for the cab.”

Anna frowned. “What does that mean?”

“It could just mean that the credit card charge hasn’t been posted to the bank account yet,” she explained. “That happens sometimes.”

“Yeah, it does. I’ve always handled a lot of our finances.”

“And will you be okay? Financially?”

“I’ll be okay,” Anna replied, “but, if you have any other bombshells to drop, I would just as soon not hear them.”

“Of course,” Kate said. “That’s understandable.”

And then Anna groaned and shook her head.

“No, as much as I might want to bury my head in the sand, I need to know the worst of it, so I can figure out where I stand and eventually pick up and move on. I don’t think I will ever get married again though.

” She shook her head and then chuckled. “I don’t think men are meant to be monogamous.

” She looked over at Kate. “Are you married?”

“No,” Kate said.

“Any committed relationship?”

Kate hesitated and then nodded. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

She laughed. “It doesn’t sound very committed.”

“It’s plenty committed, just new.”

“Ah, young love. That’s the nicest stage of all.”

Kate didn’t want to discuss her relationship in the least and quickly changed the subject. “Do you think anybody at work would have had enough hate for your husband to do this?”

Anna gasped. “God, I hope not.… That’s just too horrible to even contemplate.

But maybe I’m the last person you should ask, since apparently I didn’t know nearly enough about Sonny, though I thought I knew him inside and out.

” Then she looked over at Sonny and asked Kate, “Would you mind?…. I just want to be alone for a bit.”

“Okay, and if you want to talk about what decision to make, you can always give me a call.”

“Thank you,” she muttered. “I guess the decision has already been made. If he is brain dead and if somebody else can use his organs, then that makes sense to me,” she murmured.

Kate added, “I don’t want the news that I just brought you to be a compelling force.”

“No, it shouldn’t be, and it isn’t. But maybe in a way it is. I don’t want to sit here, spend my life pining away for him, when I now know he never missed me at all.” She shook her head. “Damn, when life throws you lemons…”

Kate nodded and slipped out the door. The last thing she wanted was to get into a deep philosophical discussion about monogamy and faithfulness. As soon as she could, she pulled out from the hospital and headed to the office.