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“Barely anything,” Andrea says. “Only what we’ve heard through word-of-mouth, which isn’t much.”
I reach for the stack of mugs and start to make myself a cup of coffee, which I desperately need. I was late getting out of bed this morning, and didn’t have time to stop for my usual latte before I got here.
As I look up from the coffee machine, I have to stifle my groan. Hannah is striding over to us. The bad news doesn’t seem to have dampened her energy.
When she gets to us, she raises her eyebrows and grimaces by way of a greeting. “Kind of crazy shit going on here today.”
“You can’t really blame everyone,” says Mark. He lifts his coffee cup to his lips, then says, “It’s not every day that you hear the words ‘hostile takeover’ thrown around. I feel like we’re gonna go to war, or something.”
Andrea hums in quiet agreement.
Hannah frowns over at me. “And I guess you know everything about it.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “Beyond ‘hostile takeover,’ I have no clue what’s going on.”
“Why would Sophie know, anyway?” Mark asks. “It’s not like they’re explaining it all to us.”
“Oh, you guys haven’t heard?” A devilish grin spreads across Hannah’s face, and I brace myself, cringing. “Sophie’s been fucking Declan.”
At first, Mark and Andrea seem to think it’s a joke. They both glance over at me like they’re ready for me to roll my eyes and tell Hannah to leave me alone. But my expression is a dead giveaway.
“Oh, my god,” Mark says, seeming almost impressed.
“Are you serious?” Andrea sounds a little hurt, and I feel a pang of guilt. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I’m sorry.” I look down at my coffee cup, suddenly disinterested in the caffeine. “We were trying to keep work separate, so we agreed to keep things on the down low in the office.”
Andrea’s lips press together. She still seems disappointed, but she says, “I guess that makes sense.”
Hannah, meanwhile, is clearly enjoying herself. She even decides to take things a step further. “You know, it’s convenient timing, isn’t it? You start distracting the boss, and suddenly, the company starts falling apart. This takeover attempt couldn’t have happened a few months ago, when Mr. Wright was on top of things.”
I grit my teeth, clutching my coffee cup a little too hard. “Oh, give me a break, Hannah,” I snap. “You really think that Declan would neglect his job just because he’s in a relationship? Plenty of CEOs are in relationships.”
Hannah clicks her tongue, smiling. “Not with their employees.”
I don’t have a response for that, so I just look at the floor and shake my head. She’s something else.
“We’d better get back to work,” Andrea says, sounding uncomfortable. I’m glad that she didn’t get angry with me, but it still sucks to hear the note of unhappiness in her voice. Maybe I should’ve told her.
We disperse from the coffee machine. I head back to my cubicle, fuming.
I spend all day fielding Carol’s emails and working on the second trial of my campaign. I manage to get plenty done, but in the back of my mind, I can’t stop thinking about what Hannah said.
I waved it off at the time, but… what if there’s some truth to it?
Could Declan have been distracted by me? Is that why this happened?
He was certainly late to respond to his father’s threat, at the very least—and that was because he was dancing in Paris with me.
I try to tell myself that a good work-life balance exists that would allow Declan to be in a relationship, but I know how Declan is, and I’m not really sure that’s true. He gives one hundred percent of himself to everything he does. He’s not willing to cut corners anywhere. Maybe he simply doesn’t have the time.
By the time five o’clock rolls around, there’s a knot in my stomach that won’t go away. The fact that Declan hasn’t texted me does nothing to ease my doubts either.
On top of that, I only saw him once today. We passed each other when I was on my way to the printer, and he was engrossed in conversation with one of the board members. I met his gaze as I passed, but he only looked at me for an instant.
What if he’s ignoring me—and not just because he’s busy?
What if he had the same thoughts Hannah did? What if, somewhere deep down, he thinks that this mess is my fault—or that I’m somehow bad for business?
