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Prologue
What do you do to the woman who ruins your life?
Do you sit back and let it spiral out of control or do you plot out your revenge?
For me revenge was the focus of my life. It has been for a while now. It is her fault I am like this; her fault that I did not get what I wanted out of life. Now it is my time to take back what I lost.
The quiet click of the camera sounds a lot louder in the stillness. It gives me a sense of meaning in my shitty life.
Click after click I take one after another.
I am getting quite the collection now, if only I could show them off. But time will tell its story and I will be there to narrate it, step by step.
Waiting for the polaroid snaps to dry out and then develop is a lengthy process. I sip on my coffee while I wait and think of all the things that I could inflict on her. Putting down my cup I take my notebook and pen and begin to bullet point all my tactics, although I don’t know exactly until I get there how it’s going to go, I’m not too sure how to plan it. Maybe I will let fate take its course instead.
As the picture takes form, a satisfied grin settles on my lips and one by one I place them on the board on the wall. Her and him. One by one I will take them down and anyone else who gets in my way.
Picking the news journal up, I circle the job that is going to change the course of my destiny with red ink. Reagan Quinn is about to meet karma in the worst form. I take one last look at my artwork on the wall to appease my mind’s eye and pull the door closed behind me, pushing the single key into the lock and turn it.
Once in the bedroom I hide the key in my dresser and slip on my shoes. I brush down my white shirt before pulling on a sweater.
With one last look in the mirror I am ready…
Time to play the game.
One
Reagan
As I look around my office, I know this is where I belong. Having a big corner office has always been my dream and I have finally achieved it. I stand in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, fold my arms across my chest, and look out. On a sunny day it brings in so much light, you feel like you’re bringing the outside, inside.
I’m the CEO for Hicks Life Solutions, and that makes me even more proud of myself. Not only am I the youngest in the company’s history at twenty-nine, I’m also the first female. The way I see it, a company that has been around for more than thirty years is damn good, especially being in the pharmaceutical business that we’re in. I didn’t get here without hard work. I’m determined and I always have been; even if it meant I’ve had to forego relationships. Of course, I’ve never been the kind of girl to hang on the word of some guy, to let him whisper sweet nothings in my ear and talk shit. I don’t giggle at stupid jokes and I don’t get all starry eyed at a compliment. If I was going to have a man, I’d need one who could handle me, a man who isn’t scared to take charge. There aren’t many of those around though. At least not that I’ve come across. Not until Everett Brooks came around in his sinful suits and showed me what I’ve been missing.
I promised myself I wouldn’t let him sway me, even if he did smell good and have a body carved for sex; there’s no way I was going to fall to my knees and worship him.
If only I could’ve kept that vow.
The red light on my desk phone flashes over and over again, halting all thoughts of Everett. That tell-tale light tells me that yet again my assistant isn’t doing her job. I slam my hands on the desk and push myself up from my chair to look through the glass that separates mine and my assistant’s office. She isn’t anywhere to be found.
A low growl scrapes the back of my throat; this was becoming a daily occurrence. The ringing wasn’t going to stop anytime soon, and I know she isn’t going to rush back for it, so, schooling my expression, I push back my anger and take a deep breath in through my nose before I slowly blow it out. Once I’m feeling a little calmer, I paint a smile onto my face and hold the receiver up to my ear.
“Hicks Life Solutions, how may I help you today?” My phone voice is sickly sweet, one I have spent years perfecting until I became CEO.
A CEO that answers her own damn phone.
“Reagan?” I recognized the husky voice on the other end of the line right away and sit down. It was none other than the director himself. Fuck! The director was going to love hearing his chief executive answering her own damn phone.
“Mr. Hicks,” I say cheerily. “Yes, it’s me.”
“No assistant today?”
“She’s currently away from her desk. Running an errand,” I lie as I glance back to her desk, but still she’s not there.
“She seems to spend a lot of time away from her desk. Can you not find her a job to do at her desk?”
“Of course.” It feels like the blood is pumping erratically through my veins as I drum my fingertips on the desk in front of me.
“Reagan, you really should get this assistant business figured out. I need you on top of your game, not playing secretary.”
