Page 44 of True Colors

“Okay. I’ll find her, alright.” I step outside and see Vijay. “Hey, have you seen Anouk?”

He scowls. “Yeah. She went into a privacy room and⁠—”

“Which one?” I demand.

He nods to the one across from the conference room, where she’d just stumbled all over herself during the presentation.

“Everything okay?” he asks.

“Yeah,” I say casually, but my heart is hammering. I walk to the conference room, knock once, and open the door.

Inside, I see Anouk. She’s sitting on a chair. Frozen. Like a doll.

“I found her,” I whisper into the phone at Dot and close the door behind me.

“Okay. How is she?”

“Anouk?” I ask softly.

She looks up at me. “Luther?”

“Are you okay?”

She nods vaguely. ”Of course.”

No stutter at all.

There is a blankness to her.

“Luther, just be with her. Finn is on his way, and he’ll take her home,” Dot barks. “I’m in Sacramento for a meeting and….”

“Finn?” The fucking boyfriend?

“Yes, her brother. He’ll be there. And you just…be with her.”

He’s her brother? What the fuck?

“I will,” I promise and end the call.

I close the door behind me and pull a chair next to her.

Something is very wrong.

This is not the woman I know. She’s not mousy or quiet, she’s not giggling, she’s not…anything. She’s empty. I text the front desk and let them know that when Finn comes for Anouk, to send him to this room.

“Hey, you okay?”

She raises her eyes. The green is bright. There are tears in her eyes. I’ve never seen that before.

“Okay,” she says automatically.

I don’t know why, but I take her hand in mine. It’s frozen cold. I take both her hands in mine and rub some heat into them.

“Your…ah…Finn is on his way.”

She doesn’t respond. She’s scaring me.

“Anouk, baby, hey, look at me.”