Free Trapped by Rose Francis Page A

contain the panic in her voice as she looked into her ex-fiancé’s tanned face.
    David looked surprisingly startled by her response, but generally unmoved by the anger she had tried so hard to portray.
    “I have a spare remember? Jan, just give me a chance to explain...”
    Janet held up her hand, closing her eyes briefly during her emotional recoil for reasons far beyond being called the despised shortened version of her name.
    “Look, I don’t want to hear it. Just hand me my key, and get the hell out of here. I mean, which part of ‘I don’t want to see you again’ don’t you understand?”
    David let out a breath as he ran his hands through his brown hair, appearing frustrated at last. Then he just looked at her. She stared back firmly, determined to win the stare-down.
    He broke eye contact first.
    “Fine. I’ll leave,” he said. “But this is not over, Janet, not by a long shot.”
    He tossed her the spare key and she caught it, grasping the piece of metal tightly as if he might snatch it back from her.
    David slammed the door behind him.
    Janet didn’t realize she’d been holding her breath until it all came out in a large whoosh.
    As firm as she had felt in the moment of confrontation, it was mostly fear that had filled her as she opened her door, flipped on the light and saw her ex-fiancé sitting on her couch, staring in her direction. The fear remained as his green eyes came alive looking at her, and sat in her chest until he finally left.
    Why would he sit in the dark, and how long had he been waiting for her?
    David had never given her a reason to fear him before, but it unnerved her that it seemed he saw nothing wrong with abusing his previous privilege.
    She hoped he hadn’t made any additional copies of her key; clearly she couldn’t trust him to have the integrity to turn those in if he had.
    Janet’s fear turned to anger again.
    Who did he think he was? Why did he think he deserved a chance to explain anything? He and Michelle—or whatever her name was—were free to openly do everything they had done behind her back. Why didn’t he just leave her alone now?
    Janet tried to shake off her thoughts and the bitterness beginning to creep into her. She had a company function to attend, and she had to go to it clear-headed, without baggage. She couldn’t let the new Accounting Manager—whoever he or she was—see her like this. She had to look strong, in control. Like she knew what she was doing. Like she had earned her position, instead of having it handed to her by her daddy.
    When her cell phone rang minutes later, she panicked.
    She hadn’t realized she had drifted into a long daydream, and her glance at the caller ID confirmed it was her best friend calling. No doubt Liz was waiting outside, ready for their carpool to the seven o’clock company reception.
    Janet scrambled to get ready.
    “Coming,” she said into the cell, quickly connecting, then disconnecting the call.
    She quickly threw on a pink dress and changed her earrings and shoes—sexy, but not too sexy—it was still work after all. She grabbed a fashionable jacket to take along in case it got chilly.
    Then she let her hair down from its pinned up-do, pleased it fell in acceptable waves instead of bent in weird places like she had expected.
    She carefully locked up then went down to meet Liz.
    “Lookin’ like pink panther there,” Liz said as she got in the car.
    Liz had also vamped up her look for the evening, looking even more beautiful out of her workwear in her classic black attire.
    Janet could no longer imagine Liz without her low-cut natural style—it fit her stunning face perfectly.
    “You look great, too.”
    Liz smiled. “Girl, I hope it’s a sister,” she said after a few moments.
    It took Janet a second to figure out what she meant. “Oh! The new manager. Well, to be honest, I don’t really care if it’s a woman or not.”
    “Says the girl who will probably have the company willed to