Page 47 of Pierced

“You know that’s not all you were.”

“Do I? Because I don’t get it. She gets my job. She gets my status. She gets everything I had—”

“Then why did you take the job as VP? Why didn’t you just tell him no? He wasn’t going to force you into a promotion.”

“It wasn’t a promotion. It was… a payoff. That’s all.”

She crosses her arms and scowls. “You are the one who accepted the position.”

“Yes, because I didn’t understand who he thought I was. I thought he’d hire another me. Not a Valerie.”

“There is no other you, Myrtle. Anywhere.”

“That might be true,” I say. “But he’s satisfied with her. He might even be happy with her. So then I have to ask myself… am I just a joke around here? Was I just sexy Myrtle who sits in front of Pierce’s door? He obviously doesn’t need me. He’s never needed me, Eden. He just needed a Valerie. And it’s not fair,” I say. That sad feeling is back, only much, much sadder. “It’s not fair because… because…”

“Because you needed him,” Eden finishes.

I nod. Tears are actually stinging my eyes. “I needed him. And I know it’s naïve, but I really saw us together forever. And now it’s over and I can’t.” I shake my head and force those tears back. “I can’t stay here and watch what I thought was the perfect relationship just… fall away into something as ordinary as Valerie. It wasn’t love, OK? It has nothing to do with love. It was mutual respect. It was a partnership. It was something he and I built together and yeah, maybe we got a little comfortable. Maybe I got a little comfortable. But it was all I had. And now I have nothing. Valerie is the new Myrtle. Do you know I actually heard someone say that the other day? I wanted to die of humiliation all over again. There is nothing left for me here. Nothing at all. And there’s nothing I can do about it because now I’m not Myrtle, Pierce’s erotic and scary gatekeeper. I’m Myrtle, that weird woman who does nothing all day and gets paid more than Josh Washburn.”

She sighs. It’s long and sad. After several seconds of silence she says, “Do you want to go to lunch with me?”

I nod. “Can we go right now?”

She laughs. Because it’s barely ten thirty. “For sure. Let’s go.”

I don’t go back to work after I’m done hanging out with Eden. I wander down to Corporate Affairs and chat with Maggie about the party. I’ll stay at Le Man through the party, I decide. I started this, so I have to finish it. I owe Pierce that much.

But after I finish with Maggie I can’t make myself go back to work. I can’t face those people.

Everyone knows what I know. Everyone sees what I see.

Everyone but Pierce.

So I just drive home and start getting ready for Pierce’s visit tonight. I grab a bottle of wine and a glass, go down into the dungeon, and throw myself into preparations. And when that’s complete, and I’m satisfied with the sequence of events that will occur, I go upstairs to my bedroom, walk into my closet, and carefully choose my outfit.

Pierce Chevalier is going to get the full Mistress Myrtle treatment.

I’m going to make him see me. I’m going to make him regret all his bad decisions.

I’m going to show him what he’ll be missing when I’m gone.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN - PIERCE

It’s already dark when I pull up to the guard shack. Colorado’s vast, almost blue-seeming night sky stretches to infinity. The same guard from last night sits inside the guard station, reading a paperback. I roll down the window and say, “Anastasia Steele to see Ms. Rothschild.”

She grins, slightly. She looks down at her list of one name and says, “Ah, yes. Welcome, Ms. Steele.”

I roll my eyes. Perfect. “Hey. What’s your name?” I ask her. She looks taken aback by the question.

“Um. Samantha,” she says.

“Samantha what?”

She cocks her head. “Crabtree.”

“Samantha Crabtree. OK. Sure. So, whatcha reading there, Samantha Crabtree?”

Her eyes narrow, sizing me up. “A novel.”