Page 98 of Sunny Undone

“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind, and I really appreciate this.”

I think about Bennett being the man who makes things happen. And if my research is problematic to them, what could he do to me. Perhaps the conversation Pritchard had with the dean is only the beginning of the ways they could try to muzzle me.

Seeing Wren get toast made me hungry, and I decide to get some lunch to offset the copious amounts of caffeine swirling around me.

But when I get to the main building, I see Mina entering the dean’s administrative area, and I stop. I’ve got no idea what she’s doing up there, but it’s Mina. I don’t have reason to doubt her…do I?

“Stop being ridiculous,” I mutter to myself as I mentally debate creeping up there to see if I could listen in.

As I walk, I try to call Sunny to let him know that I spoke to Wren, and that I was grateful he put us in direct contact because, in his words, I’d likely ask smarter questions than he would.

He doesn’t answer, so I leave him a message, instead. “Hey, it’s me, obviously, because your phone tells you that. It’s nothing you don’t already know, but the fact Bennett has so much military training is worrying me. So maybe don’t do that thing men do where they get all testosteroned up and decide they’re indestructible. Call me when you get this.”

I hang up.

But it doesn’t feel like enough.

So, I text too.

Me: Listen to my message. No heroics.

His response comes before I even put my phone down.

Sunny: Can’t promise that because it might have already happened. In a meeting. Call you after.

Me: OMG! Are you hurt?

Sunny: Nothing a few kisses from you won’t fix.

A stupid smile tugs at my lips, in spite of everything.

When I look up, I see the dean’s assistant headed toward me in her prim gray skirt and ivory blouse.

“Dr. Hart? Dean Whitaker would like to see you.”

My stomach drops. Her tone is ominous. I mean, Anita isn’t usually the friendliest, but this takes ice cold to a whole other level.

“Now? I was about to get some food. I skipped lunch.”

“Please.”

I follow her upstairs, and she doesn’t say another word to me as we walk, which is a good thing because my mind is mentally cataloguing possibilities. Velaro Coastal Group. The meeting we already had. The contract that Sunny sent off but that I don’t have an answer on, yet. Maybe Mina was here because she’s being warned too. The research she wants to do is adjacent to mine.

Except, when I walk into Dean Whitaker’s office, Mina is leaving with a forced smile on her face.

It drops immediately when she sees me, but she grabs my wrist in some kind of solidarity as she walks by.

Did we just get a grant from the new funding without me having to sign? Did the dean sign off on her next round of research funding?

Except, when I walk into the dean’s office, he’s sitting behind his desk. To his left is a woman who I recognize from Faculty Affairs. To his right is a man I don’t know.

Nobody smiles, and there are folders on the table, and I immediately know this isn’t about Velaro or possible funding. This is about me.

“Della,” the dean says likes he’s announcing an obituary. “Please sit.”

“I’d rather know why I’m here, first,” I manage to say, in spite of my dry mouth.

His lips tighten.