#TuesdayTeasers: Bound To Fate

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Enjoy this excerpt from one of the books in the box set.

EXCERPT FROM BOUND TO FATE BY KIRU TAYE

Have you got two minutes?” Olu poked his head into Ike’s office.
“Sure.” Ike stood up and grabbed his jacket from the back of his leather armchair. “I was just heading out for a meeting. We can walk and talk.”
“Good,” Olu said as Ike headed towards him and shut the door after he’d exited the room. “I just wanted to let you know we’ve recruited the final member of the Baytown project. I just finished the interview.”
“That’s a quick decision.”
“She is the best of the candidates we’ve seen and will make a good fit to the team. I didn’t see the point in holding off any longer.”
“Great. Well done. I’m keen to get the ball rolling on this project. I presume Jane’s already onto HR about the contract.”
“She is. I told the young lady to wait and pick up the contract. In fact, she’s waiting in Jane’s office. Do you have a sec to meet her?”
“Of course.”
Olu led the way and Ike turned in the direction of Jane’s office.
He saw the girl then. She was dark-skinned, with a heart-shaped face and wide brown eyes. Something in the back of his mind prickled as there was something familiar about her.
In a few seconds, he was standing in Jane’s office in front of the girl and recognition dawned.
It couldn’t be. This person standing in front of him looked so different. For starters, the hair was short and had red streaks in it. The girl he’d know five years ago had long braids and was too conservative and introverted to ever colour her hair such a loud shade. Secondly, the glasses were missing.
“Lara, I wanted you to meet our MD, Ike Thomas” Olu said. “This is Lara Johnson, the new project planner.”
It was her.
He’d banned anyone he knew from mentioning that name for the past five years. After the night that everything changed. He hadn’t wanted to think of her because he knew he would’ve gone looking for her if only to make sure she was okay.
And what if she wasn’t? He wouldn’t have been able to live with himself.
Seeing her now, she looked okay. In one piece. So it had been a good thing to walk away. She’d survived. He’d survived. The world had moved on.
Ike’s muscles went rigid as the breath whooshed out of him. It took him a few heartbeats to recover enough to speak. “Welcome to Thomas International. We’re looking forward to having you on board.”
He didn’t stretch out his hand to shake hers, afraid of what physical contact with her would do to him.
“Thank you, Mr. Thomas,” she said in a tense tone. “I look forward to working here.”
She smiled but it seemed forced.