Stroke of Luck

April walked up the third flight of stairs and pushed the key in the lock of her small apartment. She dropped her purse and keys on the kitchen counter that was open to the living room, then sat on the couch she’d bought from the secondhand store down the street.

The place wasn’t much, but it had been available to move into right away, was in a nice neighborhood, and the rent was modest. Even though she had money in the bank from her town house, she was going to live on a tight budget until she got established in a job. Once she had a steady, reasonably secure income, she’d think about moving into something nicer.

Not that getting a job was turning out to be an easy task. The only place she’d ever worked was Maurice’s company, and that meant she had no glowing references to offer a potential employer. She may have sorted things out with Maurice, agreeing to sign documents to return his properties to his name, but he was still annoyed she wouldn’t take him back.

Her phone chimed, and she grabbed it from her purse.

“Hello?” she said.

“Hi, April. This is Bev. I have good news. The annulment to Mr. Wright is done. He signed the papers today.”

April’s heart sank. “That’s great news. What about the other one?”

“Well, there’s a bit of a hitch there. Mr. Taylor insists on meeting with you.”

Her hand clenched tightly around the phone. “But you said we could do this without me having to meet with either of them.”

Seeing Austin again would be hard. Seeing Quinn again would be excruciating.

“I thought we could, but Mr. Taylor produced a prenuptial contract you signed.”

Her lips pursed. “I don’t see why that means I have to meet with him. I’m not asking him for any money, so…”

“It’s not that simple. It seems from the terms of the contract, you actually owe him something.”

* * *

April tugged on the bottom of her suit jacket as she stood outside the door of the hotel suite. Quinn had agreed to fly in to Sidney, OH. the small town April had decided to settle in, to save her having to travel back to Las Vegas, where he and Austin were still vacationing. Her lawyer, Bev, was meeting her here.

She knocked on the door. A moment later, it opened, and her heart stopped at the sight of Quinn in his tailored suit stretched taut over his broad shoulders and chest.

“April. Thank you for coming.”

“I had little choice,” she said as he stepped back to let her in.

She didn’t know what she’d expected. That he’d pull her into his arms? Drag her into a kiss? Or be angry at her for leaving so suddenly?

But his unreadable expression, although preferable to those other choices, threw her off balance.

“My lawyer said that according to the prenup, I owe you something.”

The prenup he’d said he didn’t remember asking her to sign.

“We can talk about that when your lawyer gets here. Would you like some coffee?” He gestured to the table where he had a coffee service already set up.

She nodded as she walked to the table and sat down. Another knock sounded at the door, and Quinn went to answer it as she poured herself a cup.

What could he possibly want from her? She’d been racking her brain trying to figure it out. At the time she’d signed it, she’d already been in debt to him. Though the agreement they’d had was supposed to take care of that. Maybe he’d been worried that she’d walk out before the end of the month.

Which she had.

Maybe he’d wanted it as insurance that she’d stay. Or as punishment if she didn’t. That would explain why he’d delayed the annulment.

So now would he take everything she had left?

Bev walked to the table, wearing a charcoal suit and red blouse.

“Hi, April. Sorry, I had hoped to be here first so it wouldn’t be awkward.” She sat down across from April.