Good Karma (49 page)

A bit ill at ease, Mark averted his gaze and
quickly forged ahead. “Well, rest assured, I plan on recommending
her to stay, and I am also going to suggest a healthy raise. She
deserves it, especially since we’ll be loosening up salaries by
letting a few others go. Would you agree?”

“Definitely.”

“Good. We can discuss that when the time
comes.” Mark glanced down at his report. “Okay, let’s talk about
Ken.” Don’s demeanor had unnerved him, and he was eager to move on.
“Ken is—” His cell phone rang, cutting him off. One look at the
caller ID made him frown. Chicago Police Department? Why would he
be getting a call from the CPD?

“Excuse me. I need to take this.” He held up
his index finger. “Hello?”

“Hello. Is this Mark Strong?”

“Speaking.”

“Yes, Mr. Strong. This is Captain Cole from
the Chicago Police Department. There was an incident earlier at
your apartment. How soon can you meet us there?”

Mark stood and paced toward the window. “What
kind of incident?”

“Someone broke in. One of your neighbors
found the door forced open. Our guys are there now.”

Was this a joke?

“What? Wait a minute. Are you saying someone
broke into my apartment?”

“Yes. We’re investigating now, but—”

Mark began gathering his things. “There are
officers at my apartment now?”

“Yes.”

Great. His apartment was crawling with police
and he was over two hours away. How the hell had someone gotten
inside his apartment? His building was secure. “Is everything okay?
Is anything missing?”

“We don’t know. Place has been tossed. Can
you come home and take a look around?”

“I’m in Indianapolis on business, but yes,
I’m leaving right away.”

“I’m sorry about this, Mr. Strong.”

“Not your fault, Captain. Thanks for
calling.”

He hung up and continued shoving papers into
his bag. “I have to go. Someone broke into my apartment.”

Don was already on his feet. “So I gathered.
Everything okay?”

“The police are there now.” He shut down his
laptop. “My apologies, but we’ll have to finish this next week.”
Damn it! He’d have to cancel his date this weekend with Karma, too.
Their special night downtown…and all the planning and
reservations…all of it ruined by some idiot who had decided to play
cops and robbers.

“Don’t worry about it, Mark. Get home. Make
sure everything’s okay.”

With a brisk nod, he hefted his bag over his
shoulder and marched toward the door. As soon as he opened it and
set eyes on Karma, he knew she could tell something was wrong.

“I’ll see you week after next, Miss Mason,”
he said, willing her not to behave out of character.

To Karma’s credit, she adjusted quickly.
“What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

“I’ve got an emergency back in Chicago.
Someone broke into my apartment.”

She gasped. “Oh no. Is everything all
right?”

“I’m on my way to find out,” he said.

“I’m sorry.” Disappointment touched her pale
eyes, but she quickly replaced it with concern.

He paused for just a heartbeat. “I’m sorry,
too.”

He was sorry for having to cancel, for not
being able to be here, for having to bail on their weekend.

He tore himself away before he revealed too
much of his feelings and hurried down the hall.

Once in his car, he typed out a quick text to
Karma.
So sorry about tonight. Was looking forward to it. Call
you later.

He started the engine and pulled out into
traffic as his phone dinged. At the stoplight, he read her reply.
Was looking forward to it, too. But this is more important. Talk
to you later. xo

He smiled at the xo. Before the light turned
green, he sent another text.
Will make it up to you. Promise.
Xoxo.

Then he called Rob to ask him to go over to
his place and hold CPD until he got there.

So much for best-laid plans.

Chapter 42

Don’t look
back. You’re not going that way.

-Marcia Wallace

By the time Mark arrived home and met Rob and
Captain Cole at his disheveled apartment, CPD had caught the
suspects: a couple of teenagers who lived in the building and
apparently got bored and took a dare from a friend to break into
one of the apartments.

Lucky Mark. He couldn’t win the lottery, but
he could be the one in a hundred chosen at random to be robbed.

The kids had left his place in shambles, but
they had taken only three items: a gold watch, a diamond necklace,
and a pair of matching wedding rings from where they had been
tucked and forgotten inside the small, wooden chest on his dresser
for the last six years, otherwise, he would have secured them in
his safe.

After the kids apologized profusely and
returned what they’d stolen, Rob headed out, and Mark spent a
couple hours looking around for anything else that was missing. He
also called his bank and all his credit card companies to request
new accounts and to close the old ones. His files had been rifled
through, and he didn’t want to take the risk. After he was sure
everything else was covered and okay, he tossed the stolen items in
his duffel, along with a pair of sweats, tennis shoes, and a
T-shirt, and headed over to Rob’s, leaving the building
superintendent to secure the door, which the building manager had
agreed to replace tomorrow. Mark had told him to add an extra
deadbolt. He wasn’t taking chances.

By the time he reached Rob’s place, it was
after eight o’clock.

“Hey,” Rob said, opening the door to his
brownstone and standing aside. “Everything back to normal at your
place?”

“Getting there. They’ve got a special lock on
my door. The super will install a new one in the morning. By the
way, thanks for coming over and helping.” He dropped his duffel on
the couch and plopped down beside it as Rob took the recliner
across from him.

“No problem.”

Mark rubbed his palms over his face. “I can’t
believe two stupid kids caused this much trouble. Because they were
bored
.” He gave Rob an exasperated,
can-you-believe-that-shit look.

Exhaustion wilted his shoulders. The drive
back had been long and tiring, and he was angry with the kids for
taking him away from his job, Karma, and their weekend getaway. He
couldn’t abide chaos or having his routine fucked with like
that.

“Did you find anything else missing?” Rob
picked up the remote and turned down the volume on the TV.

Mark let his hands fall to the side as he
slouched. His voice sounded as tired as he felt. “No. Just my
watch, the diamond necklace I bought for Carol, and our wedding
bands.”

As angry as he was with the kids for messing
up the normalcy in his life, he was angrier that they had
reawakened old memories from a time he had worked hard to forget.
Just seeing that necklace again, and especially those wedding
bands, had seriously fucked with his head.

Rob seemed to sense this and got up, went to
the kitchen, and brought back a pair of Budweisers.

“Good man,” he said, taking one and twisting
off the cap.

“I ordered food, too.” Rob checked the clock.
“Should be here any minute.”

Mark tipped back his beer and drank. When he
pulled the bottle from his lips, he said, “Very good man. I’m
starving. Haven’t eaten since breakfast.”

“I figured.”

For a while, neither of them said anything,
keeping their eyes glued to ESPN and the baseball game.

“You doing okay?” Rob said.

“Yeah, sure.” Mark frowned and absently
fiddled with the label on his bottle. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Rob shrugged. “No reason. Just that your
apartment was broken into, you had to drive back from Indy to deal
with the fallout, and what those guys took was pretty personal. I
mean, your wedding bands and—”

Mark held up a hand. “I’m fine. I don’t want
to talk about her.” Or the necklace. Or the rings. He wanted to
think about Karma, not Carol.

Rob held his hands up in surrender. “Okay,
okay. I’m sorry.”

Silence fell again, and Rob seemed to get
real interested real fast in the baseball game.

But Mark’s mind was short-circuiting down
memory lane to the day six years ago that had changed
everything.

He had been standing at the altar. His hands
had been clasped in front of him, and he had been eager to begin
the rest of his life with the woman he loved.

He remembered looking proudly over his
shoulder at Rob, his best man, who grinned and nodded back. The
minister stood in front of him, smiling benignly, a genial
expression plastered on his face, his Bible tucked against his
torso inside folded arms. Nine white candles flickered in a silver
candelabra, which was shaped like an arrow pointing toward heaven
and was set on the high altar behind the minister. More than three
hundred guests chattered quietly as they prepared for the
ceremony.

This moment had been all Mark could think
about for months. The life he had planned was finally going to
become reality. Today, he and Carol would become man and wife, and
after their honeymoon in Mexico, they would buy a house. Carol
didn’t know it, yet, but Mark had already been working with a
realtor and had a line on the perfect four-bedroom two-story with a
basement in the richest suburb of Chicago that would go up for sale
in the next couple of weeks. It was perfect for their family. After
getting settled in their new home, he would focus on his consulting
career, and Carol would continue competing, then in two years, they
would have their first child. Maybe even get a dog. A golden
retriever. And two or three years later, they would have their
second child, and their kids would go to the best schools. Mark had
it all planned out.

He fought to contain the almost giddy feeling
bubbling inside him. Most men didn’t get this excited about their
wedding day, but Mark wasn’t like most men. He had never walked the
beaten path and wouldn’t start now. He proudly admitted his love.
Carol was beautiful, smart, and his parents’ star pupil. She had
just won her first national dancing championship, and she was
poised to rule the professional dance circuit for many years to
come. Not a day went by when he didn’t tell her he loved her, and
the two of them would become one of Chicago’s top power
couples.

The organist started playing “Here Comes the
Bride,” and Mark exchanged smiles with Rob once more as the guests
rose in a whoosh of movement and turned toward the back of the
church.

Seconds ticked by, and Mark stood tall,
shoulders back, his excitement rising the longer the wedding march
played.

Time stretched, and the guests began looking
at one another, frowning, questions in their eyes, but Mark ignored
them and kept his gaze locked on the foot of the aisle,
waiting…waiting for his bride to appear. He didn’t want to miss his
first glimpse of her in her dress. She would be lovely, more
beautiful than he could imagine.

The music suddenly cut off, and Mark frowned
and looked toward Rob, whose brow crinkled as he set his jaw.

What was going on? Where was Carol?

The maid of honor, a friend of Carol’s named
Stacy, hurried around the corner and walked briskly up the aisle,
her face red, her eyes skittish and filled with pity.

A low murmur sprouted throughout the church
as the guests glanced around, looking for the happy bride-to-be,
and then turned concerned eyes toward him. A sinking feeling tore
at his heart. Something wasn’t right.

Stacy finally reached him, leaned forward,
and whispered, “I’m sorry, but Carol isn’t coming.”

“What?” He didn’t understand. “What do you
mean? Is she okay? Has something happened?” Surely, he
misunderstood. Stacy must have meant to tell him Carol was simply
delayed, not that she wouldn’t be there at all.

Stacy took a heavy breath and looked away.
“I’m sorry, Mark, but…” Her shoulders sagged. “She told me to give
you this.” She haphazardly shoved a lavender envelope into his hand
then hurried back down the aisle and out the door.

He stared down at the envelope and dread sank
into his soul. It was Carol’s stationery. He turned away from the
guests as Rob joined him.

“What’s wrong?” Rob said.

“I…I don’t know.” Mark couldn’t fathom what
was happening. He ripped open the envelope and pulled out a folded
piece of lavender notepaper.

The rumble in the church began to strengthen,
and Mark’s parents left their seats at the front pew to
investigate, but Mark didn’t hear their questions. His brain was
too busy trying to process the note in his hand.

Mark,

I’m so sorry, but I can’t marry you. I thought I
could make it work, but I can’t. I’m so, so sorry, but I’m in love
with someone else. I should have told you, but I couldn’t. I’m
giving back the ring. I never should have accepted it in the first
place. I’m so sorry. So very sorry about all of this. I hope you
can forgive me.

Carol

He reached into the envelope and pulled out
her engagement ring. The one with the fat diamond he had given her
eight months ago.

In an instant, the life he had so
meticulously planned, which had seemed so perfect and within his
grasp only a couple of minutes ago, disappeared. And not just
disappeared, but exploded with such force that Mark felt it all the
way to the soles of his feet. It was like a bomb had blown up in
his chest.

In front of everyone, Carol had left him
standing alone, to tell their friends and family that she didn’t
love him…didn’t want him. God, he felt like a fucking reject. An
idiot.

The minister’s merciful smile almost made him
sick, and the flames on the candles stung his eyes like needles. Or
maybe that was just his tears. He couldn’t be sure. Rob, his
parents, the minister, and so many others gathered around him,
imploring him about what had happened, but he couldn’t hear a word
they said. Distress wrapped itself around his heart. An
inconsolable sorrow so profound that he didn’t think he would ever
recover wormed its way into his soul.