Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 61657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Penny clucked her tongue contemptuously. “You’re so predictable! I knew you were going to say that, but unfortunately, Theo and I are a lot closer than you think.” She stepped closer. Her heels clicked menacingly on the bathroom floor. “We’ve been sleeping together for years.”
My throat suddenly went dry. That couldn’t be true! I was with Theo now on most night. My heart dropped into my stomach. What if they were together on the nights I wasn’t there? What if they were having sex in his office, just like I had?
Gathering my strength, I managed to say, “That was before we even met.” Theo had never told me Penny and he were ever involved, but I hedged my bets that possibly they once were. It would explain Penny’s rudeness and spitefulness towards me.
“You might want to check your email, honey. I sent you a juicy clip that you probably want to see.” She cackled wildly. “Or you probably don’t want to see.”
Hurrying out the door, my legs felt wobbly and unstable. My entire world was crashing down on me. I ducked into an empty conference room. Whatever Penny had sent me it was probably something to be viewed alone.
Checking my email on my phone, there was an email from Penny with the title: Hate to break it to you.
My hands shook as I opened the email with a video attachment. I hesitated. Should I watch it? Could I handle what I was about to see?
Taking a deep breath, I told myself that I needed to know the truth.
I pressed play. It was Penny and Theo having sex. The video was too grainy for me to decipher where they were, but it was unmistakably the two of them. Conveniently, the time stamp on the bottom said the video had been recorded last Monday. A Monday where I stayed at school working on an assignment with Jill.
My legs gave out as I collapsed onto the floor in a ball of sorrow. Tears fell from my eyes in a torrent as my heart twisted and cracked in my chest.
Everything had been a lie. Theo. The engagement. His fake promises. His phony devotion. All of it was built on lies.
20
Mia
It had been almost a week since I had seen or talked to Theo. After seeing the video, I ran out of Pictogram immediately. Without giving too much information, I sent Brandon an email that I wasn't feeling well. Even if Theo had lied to me, there was no reason for me to let my team members down.
It was a full twenty-four hours before I even would talk to Jill about what happened. When I burst into our dorm suite looking undoubtedly like hell, my eyes red and face splotchy from crying, I rushed into my room refusing to answer when she knocked. After some coaxing, I let her in and told her everything that happened with Penny.
She was, at first, doubtful of Penny's claims. ”Do you think the Board would ask him to marry you?” she asked. “That seems so far fetched. They can't control his personal life, can they?”
Lying on my bed motionless, I replied flatly, “They can if they want to. I'm sure they can do anything.”
Jill stood and began to pace. “That Penny chick. She just doesn't seem like someone you should trust. She could be making it up.”
“You didn't see the video,” I countered. Moving to pick up my phone, I asked, “Do you want to see it?”
“No! I don't want to see it, but what if there is a plausible explanation for it?”
“Plausible explanation for having sex with his personal assistant?” I mumbled.
Jill sighed. “I don't know, but Theo asking you to marry him at the Board's request just doesn't seem like something he would go along with.” She stopped pacing. “Request a copy of the board meeting minutes. Then you will know for sure,” she suggested.
Right away, I requested the minutes and then just waited it out.
Theo had called, texted, and sent me Pictogram messages since that very night Penny confronted me, but I wouldn't answer. Each day his pleas to talk to me grew more desperate. Long winded voicemails. Lengthy emails about how much he loved me. Flowers. Candy. More flowers. Macaroons express shipped from a French patisserie in Nice, France.
I would accept none of it, but my heart couldn’t let go. Even when dumping the flowers, candies, and pastries in the dumpster outside the dorm, I still had hope that everything was a terrible mistake.
Before I could respond to Theo, I needed to see the minutes to know the truth. When the packet arrived two days later, Jill and I just stared at it before opening it.
Jill sat me down on the couch. “Whatever it says, good news or bad news, don't let it define you. You were a badass before you met Theo and still are.”