Read Online Scared Yet? by Jaye Ford - Free Book Online Page A

Liv, will you? And what time is our accountant coming in?’
    â€˜Five o’clock,’ Teagan told her.
    Liv looked at her watch. It was quarter to one. Four and a bit hours.
    â€˜You don’t look like you’ll live till then,’ Kelly said.
    It was possible she wouldn’t. ‘Do you want to see if he can come tomorrow?’
    â€˜No, I want to know what he has to say. But I can handle it myself and go over it with you later.’
    The familiar guilt over the God-awful mess they were in washed through her. Kelly shouldn’t have to handle it. The call centre had been Liv’s client. She’d believed them when they said it was just a cash flow problem, had convinced Kelly it was safe to keep sending staff. She’d been gobsmacked when the bankruptcy was announced then stunned at the effect on their business. Prescott and Weeks had been left on a financial precipice and if they didn’t win new business soon – real soon – they’d topple over the edge. It would be a horrible end to their dream and the five years of hard work. But that wasn’t the worst of it.
    Back in the beginning, both couples had taken out loans to finance the start-up. Kelly and Jason used their home as surety; Liv and Thomas secured theirs with an investment property. After Thomas left, when Liv realised the other woman wasn’t a fling but a mistress already installed in an apartment, she got out. All the way out. Before the details of the divorce were even drawn up, they’d soldeverything – their lovely two-storey home by the beach, the boat, the holiday apartment up the coast. Liv spent her half of the money buying out his share in the business and paying cash for the townhouse. She didn’t owe a cent and she owned everything she needed. If Prescott and Weeks fell over, she’d be out of a job but she’d have a roof over her head. Kelly and Jason could lose their house.
    â€˜No, I want to be here,’ Liv said firmly. ‘I’ll take my car out of the lot, go home, get some sleep and come back in for the meeting.’ She found the hospital medication in her bag then decided to take a couple of over-the-counter painkillers she kept in her drawer instead. They wouldn’t be as effective but they wouldn’t make her groggy either, and she needed to be on the ball both to drive and for the meeting later. She met Teagan in reception and took the glass of water she held out.
    â€˜Did you find that phone?’ Kelly asked her as Liv downed the pills.
    Teagan placed a battered flip-top mobile and a charger onto the counter. ‘I swapped Liv’s memory card over. It works but it’s only been plugged in for an hour.’
    â€˜It’s my old one,’ Kelly explained as Teagan answered yet another call. ‘It should keep you going until you can get a replacement.’
    â€˜I’d forgotten about my phone. Thanks.’ She gave her a kiss and a quick hug.
    â€˜Are you okay to drive?’
    Liv tested her wounded hand. It hurt but she figured there was enough movement to hold the steering wheel. ‘I’ll be fine.’
    â€˜I’ll walk you to the car.’ Kelly pulled the door open.
    â€˜Hold up, Kelly,’ Teagan said. ‘Toby Wright’s on the phone for you.’
    Liv and Kelly exchanged raised eyebrows. Toby Wright was CEO of an insurance company and they’d been trying to see him for weeks.
    â€˜He heard about last night and left a message this morning,’ Kelly told her.
    â€˜Go,’ Liv said. ‘And good luck. Let me know what he says.’
    The bastard in the car park might have started something good.

8
    The security door at the end of the office suite opened outwards as Liv reached for the handle. She looked up in surprise, saw Daniel Beck step in from the sunlight and backed up a couple of paces to let him through.
    He raised his eyebrows at the sight of her