Loving You (Remembrance Series, Book 2) by Cynthia P. O'Neill

to destroy my life.
    We fell back to sleep in the comfort of each others’ arms. I surrendered to Gregory’s thoughts of our wedding, as various visions of honeymoon locations filled his mind. He flashed through ideas of wintery vacations: a ski lodge, traveling through various cities in Europe, a tropical vacation, as well as other exciting exotic destinations. They all seemed wonderful, but in the back of my mind I had to wonder if we would ever even make it to the altar and see the dreams we had of our future, materialize.
    The next day was a busy one at work. We had a few people out and chaos throughout the office with computer issues and flooded appointment scheduling lines. Every available person who knew how to schedule appointments was having calls routed to them, including some members of the marketing team, while I worked with IT to resolve the computer issues.
    I ended up working well beyond my normal eight hour shift and somehow got through it feeling better than ever. It was good to know that I could handle the stress of a difficult day, again.
    Gregory had called a couple of times, insisting that I needed to let my body rest and to head home, so he could get dinner ready for me. My mom was already at his house, having come down to spend the upcoming weekend with us and to go with Lorraine to some of her meetings.
    I really needed to spend another hour or two at work to finish up a couple of projects, but finally relented and decided they could wait until tomorrow. There were only a handful of people left in the office. I was thankful to learn that Pamela had left a few moments before, so our paths would not cross. Being tired and worn out, I didn’t want to deal with any of her issues and have to pretend to like her. Suddenly, I heard Ramiel’s voice in the back of my mind. “Prepare yourself. Your strength is about to be tested. Hold to your beliefs.”
    I had made it successfully to the parking garage when I heard the fast clicking of heels coming up behind me and my name being called. “Jordan, wait up. I need to talk to you.”
    Great, just what I needed. Pamela. I attempted my best effort at a friendly smile, before turning to greet her. “Hi, Pamela. Can I help you with something?”
    “I was wondering how you feel about Caroline. I know you two haven’t been getting along as of late.”
    Her question threw me for a second. “What do you mean?”
    She enlightened me. “My group and I could really use your knowledge and was wondering how loyal you were to Caroline.”
    I hated myself for what I was about to do, but responded. “I am my own person. My loyalty is to whoever can assure me a paycheck.”
    Her face was alight with the most malicious smirk I had ever witnessed, while her eyes seemed to glow a dull red. “I was hoping you would say that. What if I could guarantee you a paycheck and possibly an advancement for your talents?”
    My face turned serious; I played the part well. “You have my attention.”
    “Doctor Harrison and Doctor Phelps have grown tired of Caroline’s management style and think she is too set in her ways to develop the practice any further. They feel I have the knowledge and ability to take over and I already have the backing of everyone from my group. I could really use someone close to Caroline to help me undermine her authority, so I could get the support of the hospital’s Board of Directors. Plus, if you assist me, I will happily reward you with the promotion you so rightfully deserve—one with actual management responsibilities.”
    My mind told me to get out of there as fast as I could. But, I needed to get as much information as Pamela was willing to divulge to finally figure out what was going on within the practice.
    “What exactly did you need me to do?”
    “Just keep tabs on Caroline and let me know what she is about to do with the staff, reports and so forth, so I can keep one step ahead of her. If I can get enough information, the doctors are