Running From Fate Read Online Free Page A

looking for anyone else, but they were alone.  Her instincts kicked in as he got closer, telling her to flee, but she ignored them and straightened her spine .  She would not be intimidated.
    He passed within mere feet of her, keeping his gaze forward.
    Mira breathed a sigh of relief and her shoulders started to relax when he stopped and turned.  His eyes were brown and she had always thought they were kind of lackluster, but not now.  Today they were completely emotionless and ice cold, yet she had a feeling they concealed some dark, terrifying emotion.   For what seemed like an eternity she was frozen, pined to the spot by his gaze.  She shivered.
    As quickly as he had looked at her, he turned and started forward again, disappearing out the door.
    Mira shook herself and followed suit, allowing the warm sunlight to banish the last of her chills.
    By the time she left the restaurant with Lily and Sarah, stomach content and a couple of glasses of wine lending a glow to the early evening sky, she had put the creepy encounter with Mitchell Haines off to simple nerves and was ready to move on with her life.
    She told Lily and Sarah the exact same thing the next morning when she urged them to return to their normal lives.  It had been wonderful having her best friends there for support, but now she ju st needed a little time alone to unwind and take stock of where she was.

 
Chapter 4
     
    The very next week, as Mira was working on a sketch in her top-floor studio , a knock sounded on the door.   Laying her charcoal aside, she stretched her arms above her head, trying to get the kinks out, and jogged down the two flights of stairs.  Pulling the door open, she saw a tall, balding man in an impeccably tailored gray suit.  He looked a bit familiar although she couldn’t quite put her finger on where she had seen him before.  “Can I help you?” she asked.
    “Mira Anders?”
    “Yes.”
    “This is for you.”  He reached into his inner suit pocket and pulled out a thick envelope.  As soon as she took it, he turned on his heel and walked to a shiny black Lexus that was parked by the curb.
    Mira shook her head and shut the door.  Crossing the bright, tiled foyer, she turned left, through a wide arch, and entered the open kitchen and dining area.  She laid the letter on the marble-topped breakfast bar and went to pour herself a cup of coffee.  The correct amount of cream and sugar added, she slid onto one of the padded barstools, sat the cup on a coaster, and opened the envelope.
    For a few seconds she could barely make sense of what she was looking at.  She skimmed through the sheets hoping that she had read it wrong, but she hadn’t.  J&J Architectural Company — well Mitchell Haines — was suing her for breach of contract.  
    She put the papers down, chugged her coffee, and went for another cup, hoping to stimulate her lagging brain cells.  There had to be something she could do, she thought as she sipped her second cup.  Her boss was a criminal, a jury of his peers had found him guilty, surely he couldn’t sue her for turning him in.
    Just to be on the safe side she picked a lawyer from the phone book and asked for a consultation.  He agreed to see her immediately so she climbed to her second-floor bedroom, exchanged her shorts and t-shirt for a pencil skirt and simple green blouse, and headed into the city.
    Barely fifteen minutes after she entered the office she knew exactly why he had been able to see her so quickly as he hung up the phone and faced her.
    “Mrs. Anders,” he said.
    “My husband died many years ago,” she said.  “I’d prefer it if you called me Ms.”
    “Ms. Anders,” he corrected.  “I just got off the phone with Mr. Haine s ’ lawyer, well of f the phone with one of the members of his legal team, should I say.”
    “And,” Mira prodded.
    “You did sign a confidentiality agreement when you went to work for J&J Architectural, did you not?”
    “Well yes , but under