Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 129084 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 645(@200wpm)___ 516(@250wpm)___ 430(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129084 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 645(@200wpm)___ 516(@250wpm)___ 430(@300wpm)
Audrina’s still silent as if she never knew the truth. I look to the side, wondering what I thought victory would be like. Not this.
“He told me you were cheating on him.” When I look at her, she says, “He told me your relationship was nothing more than a business arrangement. And I believed him because that was the only way I could look at myself in the mirror for what I had done to another woman.”
There’s so much pain wrapped in her words and filling her eyes that I can only think to say, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for how he treated you. You didn’t deserve to be a victim of his lies.”
She stands on unsteady legs, holding the counter for support. With tears rushing the corners of her eyes, she takes a breath before shaking her head. “I didn’t deserve to be lied to, but you didn’t deserve that either. You didn’t cheat, did you?”
“No.” I lean forward. “But you know what? I didn’t love him either. I would have never called it a business arrangement, but I think this company played a big part in it. I think we were trying to please our fathers, but we only hurt ourselves and each other.” Reaching forward, I offer her my hand.
She takes it, and that brings a small smile back to her face. It’s funny how pretty she is when she’s not full of hatred. Her shoulders have softened along with the corners of her eyes. “What do you say we start over?”
I nod, and reply, “I’d like that.”
“Yeah?” Hope lifts her features.
“Definitely.” When we release each other, I add, “Not sure how long I’ll be working here, though.”
“We always have outside of work.”
“True.” I glance at my watch. “You should get going to the meeting. I’ve been summoned to my father’s office. I suspect I’ll be fired.”
“Oh,” she says, opening the door for me. “What’d you do? Break a rule?”
I laugh, and the feeling is so freeing from the tension long held between us. I walk into the office and turn around, walking backward. “Rules were meant to be broken.”
She’s smiling when I turn back to go to my father’s office. I don’t know what’s come over me, but I guess it’s time to face my problems head-on. I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome with Audrina. We should have had it out years ago. We could have been friends this whole time.
I round the corner and see his assistant at her desk. “Hi, Jennifer. I’ve been summoned.” I can’t not laugh. I’m high on life right now, and whatever happens next, happens. So be it. When the time comes, I’ll deal with the fallout.
Lowering her voice, she says, “He wants you in the conference room.” The warning in her tone is captured, but the concern wrangling her expression is what incites fear.
She’s usually in the meetings, so that means he had her stay just to lead me to the slaughter. Not that Jennifer would do anything to hurt me. She’s just doing as she’s told. But no matter how I look at this demand from him, it doesn’t look good for me. On top of it, he wants witnesses.
Just breathe, Liv.
“Thank you.” I walk back down the hall and drop my purse off in my office, thinking I need to have my hands free. I don’t know why. It’s not like I’m getting in a fistfight or anything. I feel more lithe and ready to go, though.
When I push through the conference room door, my eyes land on my dad. Chip is perched to his right, where I usually sit, looking proud as a peacock. The weight of stares falls on me when my dad says, “Stand there, Olivia.”
The door swings closed, and by the looks of it, there’s nowhere for me to go anyway. It just bugs me that standing here equals obedience. I shift a few feet to the left. I’d shift farther, but then I’d be standing in front of others.
The room is silent until my father stands. “What happens when someone breaks the rules?” Quiet murmuring rumbles through the room. His eyes return to me. “Olivia?”
“I don’t know, Mr. Bancroft. What happens to them because I’ve never seen anything happen to anyone other than me.”
“Explain.”
Why are we even playing this game? I’m his daughter, his only child, and he’s willing to throw away the last shred of a relationship we have left? For what? To impress his employees with his domineering show of force? Narcissism?
I’ve spent my entire life trying to please him. He’s not going to change. But I will. “You didn’t promote me because I broke up with Chipper for cheating on me.” I glance at Chip, whose smile tightens into a line.
“I broke up with you,” he snaps.
“Technically, you begged me to take you back, and when I said I needed time away from you to think, you told me you didn’t want to see me anymore.” I eye him, not giving an inch. “I was a fool for even considering that maybe there was a possibility we could work out. I’m not that naive anymore. We were never good. We were terrible together. All of it. Just terrible. And you know how I know?”