My Boss Called Me at 11 P.M. and Said, “Come to the Hotel Tonight With Me. If You Don’t Come, You’re Fired—and Tell No One.” I Went… But When I Opened the Door, Saw Him Waiting Inside, and Heard What He Wanted Me to Do, I Couldn’t Believe What I Was Hearing
My eyes moved from Mr. Harrison to the white dress, then to the diamond ring, then to the two strangers standing beside him.
One was an older woman holding a leather folder.
The other was a gray-haired man in a dark suit.
I tightened my grip on the door.
“What exactly are you asking me to do?”
Mr. Harrison looked nothing like the confident man who walked through our office every morning.
His tie was loose.
His face was pale.
And for the first time in six years, he looked scared.
“I need you to pretend to be my fiancée.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“Just for tonight.”
I actually laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“You threatened to fire me so I could come here and pretend to be your fiancée?”
His face tightened.
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No, you shouldn’t have.”
I reached for the door.
“Emma, please.”
Something in his voice made me stop.
He looked toward the two strangers.
“This is Margaret Collins, my mother’s attorney. And this is Reverend Keller, an old family friend.”
The older woman gave me an uncomfortable nod.
That somehow made the situation even stranger.
Mr. Harrison stepped closer but stopped several feet away from me.
“My mother is upstairs.”
I frowned.
“Upstairs?”
“She’s staying in a private suite. She was released from the hospital yesterday because she refused to spend what may be her last days there.”
My anger weakened slightly.
“What happened?”
“Cancer.”
His voice nearly broke on the word.
I had worked for him for six years, but I had never heard him speak about his family.
“She’s been sick for almost two years,” he continued. “The doctors thought she had more time. Last week, they told us she probably doesn’t.”
I glanced at the dress again.
“I still don’t understand what this has to do with me.”
He lowered his eyes.
