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“Fun?” she exclaimed. “That’s what’s you’re calling the last two years of our relationship?”
“Look, I know you’re upset.” He reached out to her, and she snatched her arm back. She didn’t want his cheating hands anywhere near her. In fact, she’d given enough of herself, let him see more than his fair share. She yanked the designer dress over her head and let it slip into place.
“CEOs simply can’t date interns. It’s bad for business.”
“But it wasn’t just the job. You let me move in. You publicly called me your girlfriend and told me you loved me. I was your plus one at galas and charity events. I went to your father’s funeral!”
“When it came out that we were together, I needed people to think it was a love match. Why else would I violate my own code of conduct? Making people believe you were the one created less scandal.”
She shook her head. This wasn’t happening. She’d been a pawn in his game the entire time, and she’d foolishly gone along with it? She helped him keep his squeaky-clean reputation while he used her, made her believe in true love and fairytales, all through lies and deception.
He used her. And worst of all, she’d let him.
She was too dumb to look beyond the penthouse apartment, designer clothes, unlimited pool of wealth and five-star accommodations. Oh god, did this make her a prostitute?
Her heart hammered her ribcage, her throat growing impossibly tight as she searched for words to throw in his face. She wanted to hurt him as badly as he hurt her, but words wouldn’t hurt him. Rocks and a beating by a professional MMA fighter maybe, but words he’d wipe off. He was a cutthroat businessman who did what he had to do in order to get the job done. The only way to hurt him was to put a scuff in that clean reputation.
She didn’t say anything as she pushed past him to grab her suitcase. He didn’t try to stop her, not that she was surprised at this point. He’d gotten what he needed out of her already. She grabbed handfuls of clothes and shoes; she didn’t care if he’d bought them for her. She looked at it as her consolation prize. Besides, half the items were worth more than what she had in her bank account right now.
She grabbed her Twist MM Louis Vuitton bag—her most prized possession; she’d bought it herself—and slung it on her arm. She closed her suitcase and zipped it shut.
“I’ll send someone by to get the rest of my stuff,” she said and slipped into her Louboutin heels.
“Where are you going? It’s late.”
“I guess I’m going home after all.”
“At least take the car service.”
Car service. Oh how she’d miss never having to wave a cab down again, especially in the freezing cold winters, but she’d manage. Then again, who knew where she’d be come winter...
She didn’t want another thing from him. “I’ll manage. And I think it’s safe to say that I won’t be at work on Monday. Consider this my resignation. Not that it matters, since the position was only created to cover up the fact that you were sleeping with your intern.”
“Olivia,” Daniel said, but she kept walking, dragging her suitcase behind her. He grabbed her elbow, and she yanked it from his grasp. He held his hands up and met her eyes. The soft blue had once set her world on fire, and now it was like ice reaching into her chest and freezing her heart. “Have coffee with me tomorrow.”
Maybe he wanted to work things out. Maybe this was what he needed to realize that he did love her. That the last two years hadn’t been a complete waste of her time.
“We can talk now,” she said. Why put off till tomorrow what they could get out of the way right this second?
“I need time to discuss with my team how we should go about releasing this to the public.”
Her eyes snapped open, and her mouth practically hit the floor. “Excuse me?”
“We need to go about this diligently. Maybe even spin it to our benefit.”
“Spin it?”
Her heart wasn’t a damn business transaction of fodder for his reputation.
“Screw you!” Olivia stormed toward the elevator, ignoring Daniel’s pleas. She tossed her suitcase inside and spun to him, pointing a perfectly manicured nail at his face. “I helped you keep your reputation under false pretenses, and maybe if I didn’t love you, I would have seen the truth all along. But now I do. There is no way in hell I’ll ever help you again. You want to keep your reputation intact? You should have thought about that before you had your hands up someone else’s skirt.”
She got on the elevator, and as soon as the doors closed, the feisty vengeful woman she’d transformed into seconds ago, collapsed into a pathetic, heartbroken fool.
***
Shane Sanchez McConnell got on the train at Jamaica station, heading to Morgan’s Bay. He’d never been to the small town before, even though his father’s side of the family owned the majority of the businesses, houses, and land. At least that’s what his mother had told him before she died.
He didn’t know his father, much less his family. It had always been just him and his mom, the dynamic duo, and that was all Shane had ever needed. He didn’t need siblings; Mom had enough on her plate with him, and he didn’t need a dad because Mom had kept the memory of the man who helped create him alive. Shane had never met his father, but he felt as if he knew his father.
