Page 297 of Manhattan Bossholes

“What’s wrong?” I asked again, desperate to figure out what could possibly have changed between our flirty text exchange and now.

“You’re what’s wrong!”

A chill ran through my entire body, a cold shock of hurt that was a struggle to breathe around. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“What do you think, Natasha?”

I had no idea what was going on right now, but the venom in his tone pierced through my defenses, rooting itself in my chest. I felt the weight of tears behind my eyes. “I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe try explaining yourself.”

“My mother just tried to get the board to vote to unseat me as CEO!” he seethed, running a hand through his hair, tugging on the dark strands.

“Unseat you? I don’t understand…I didn’t even realize your mother was on the board.”

“She’s not—That’s beside the point.” He waved me off. “She tried to do it using personal information about my life that she was all too happy to tell me she learned from you!”

Oh no! The blood in my veins turned to ice. I opened my mouth, but an unintelligible string of garbage followed as I tried to tie my thoughts together. I didn’t know what to say. Twenty minutes ago, we’d been flirting up a storm. I’d spent the time since then imagining Trent leaning me over my desk, whispering delicious filth in my ear as he fucked me into oblivion. But this…

I’d worried about telling him I’d met up with his mother, but not because I thought she might twist my words, using them to hurt Trent like this. I’d genuinely felt sorry for Lara, for how badly she seemed to want to rebuild her relationship with her son.

“Tell me it’s not true,” he said. “Tell me you’ve never spoken to her.”

I couldn’t do that. It would be a lie, and I think we both knew that. I looked up at him, at his furrowed brow and narrowed eyes. My silence only made him angrier, and I could feel the rage pouring off him.

“Fuck, Natasha!” He massaged his temples. “When you asked me about my mom the other night, it never even crossed my mind that you’d…Why the hell would you be talking to her behind my back?”

“I didn’t think⁠—”

“No, you really didn’t,” he snapped, cutting me off.

I straightened a little. I could understand him being upset, but we weren’t going to get anywhere if he wouldn’t let me explain myself.

“Why were you telling her anything about Dee or Jimmy or the goddamn company?” he said. “I thought I made my feelings clear when it came to my parents.”

I knew he didn’t get along with them, but how was I to know their relationship was this bad? I thought I was helping—that being a bridge between them would be good for him and Lara. I’d had no idea she’d use the things I told her like this. I never would have imagined she’d be that kind of person…because he’d never told me. How did he expect me to know when he didn’t tell me these things? “Trent⁠—”

“Who are you to be telling her anything?” he demanded, his voice carrying.

That question hit me hardest of all. Who was I? I was his girlfriend…wasn’t I? Or had I gotten that wrong, too? The tears at the backs of my eyes grew heavier. I’d fucked up with Lara, yes. But there hadn’t been any malice behind the decisions I’d made. They’d been a mistake—that was all. I’d been dumb and naive, and he’d gotten hurt as a result, and I was so incredibly sorry about that. But was he really going to refuse to let me explain? Was I supposed to just stand there and let him rip me to shreds? I crossed my arms, trying to hold myself together.

“I didn’t know,” I started.

“Know what?” he sneered. “That my mother would out you? That she’d tell me exactly how you sold me out? Sorry to break it to you, sweetheart, but she’s a bitch like that. You shouldn’t have trusted her—just like I shouldn’t have trusted you.”

My heart lurched against my ribs. Bile gathered in my throat. This was so much worse than I could have ever imagined.

“You know,” Trent said, shaking his head. “I didn’t want to believe it at first. I tried to imagine the information coming from anyone else. The problem is, there is no one else. Because who the hell else would know that Dee was getting worse or that Jimmy was struggling with his classes or that the line had had supply chain issues? There’s only one person in my life who could package all of that up into a weapon for my mother to use against me.”

Horror washed through me. He actually thought I’d set out to help his mother oust him as CEO. I pinched the bridge of my nose. All I’d wanted was for Trent to make peace with his family. I thought I’d been speaking to a woman who cared about her son. I thought I’d been helping smooth things over, laying the groundwork for a family to come back together. I hadn’t realized I was laying the groundwork for my own relationship with Trent to crumble like this.

“I just…After everything, I can’t believe you would sell me out like that,” Trent said, disgusted. “Was that all you were after this whole time—more money? Is that why you slept with me? Thought you’d worm your way into my wallet?”

“What?” I said, closing my eyes and shaking my head. Christ, what sort of bullshit had his mother fed him?

But even more than that, why was it so easy for him to believe? Did he really think I’d let Lara pay me off? I never took any money from her. I wasn’t that kind of person. I also wasn’t the kind of person to sleep with him because I was after a quick paycheck. I couldn’t believe he would even insinuate that. All it did was boil down all the time we’d spent together into meaningless sex. Was that all it was for him?

“You should have told me your loyalty had a price,” Trent hissed. “Then I could have just written you a check and been done with it.”

Anger surged through me, burning away the chill in my veins and the tears behind my eyes. Lara had screwed with us both. Obviously, she was a horrible human being, and it was my mistake to give her the benefit of the doubt. But Lara wasn’t forcing him to say all of this. She was responsible for the lies she’d told him, but it was all on him that he’d swallowed them whole without even hearing my side. He was the one choosing to believe the worst of me. It was like he didn’t know me at all! Like all those things I’d shared with him had meant nothing. He had walked in assuming I was guilty of…whatever the hell Lara had told him during the meeting. He wasn’t interested in untangling her lies or learning the truth. But I had to make him listen.