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"You'll be safe," I told her. "So, don't worry. I'll keep surveillance on you until he is dealt with. My…" I paused as I quickly thought over what I wanted to say. It hadn't been put into effect yet, but I knew that the moment I mentioned it, it would be very difficult to take back. "My assistant will be in touch," I said, and she seemed to freeze.
"Your assistant?" she asked before I could take a single step further.
"Yes," I replied.
"So... does this mean that Sophie…"
I understood what she was asking, but I didn't feel like giving her the satisfaction of peace for the moment. "It's not your place to assume," I said.
She understood what I meant, and she nodded. "I know, and for the record, I didn't know things would turn out this way. She… she just didn't want to disappoint you by being unavailable, so I took her space for a few days."
Her words sounded crazy to me as they came out of her lips, confirming even further that anything done at this moment would be wrong. So I looked away and continued on my way.
"Please don't fire her," came the plea. However, I didn't stop, and to my surprise and horror, she came after me. By the time I had reached the platform connecting the two flights, she was bounding down and trying to catch up with me. Eventually, she did, but wisely, she maintained her distance.
"I'll do anything to ensure she keeps her job," she said. "Please. This means a lot to her, and… I was the one who took things too far."
I realized I didn't care about all of the explanations she was giving. There was one thing I needed to know. "Why did you suddenly quit today?" I asked. She seemed taken aback. "When I spoke to Sophie, she said that she doesn't know. So now I'm asking you."
She looked at me, then lowered her gaze and sighed.
"Tell the truth," I told her, but we both knew it was a warning going forward, however uncertain I was myself.
"Well," she began. "I only had a few days left with you and… because of what you were offering, it was getting difficult to say no."
"To say no to what exactly?" I asked, and she held my gaze.
"I wanted to continue being Sophie because of what you had proposed. I wanted to continue working for you, I wanted to continue as we were. I didn't want to leave, and I knew… I knew the longer I stayed, the more impossible it would be, and so I…"
"Allowed me to have one more intimate encounter with you and then disappeared. Just to be clear, that was your plan, right?"
I could very clearly and finally detect the hurt in my tone, which I now realized I had buried underneath everything else because I didn't want to admit, especially to myself, that in such a short while, not only had I been fooled, but I had cared enough to feel hurt by it. In a way, what she did felt like a betrayal because if Felix had never found out about her, then I would have never known. I would have continued to treat Sophie like she was her, and even when she rejected me and things got awkward, I would have never known.
"Was Sophie planning to take over with intimate relations with me as well?" I asked, and a pained expression came over her face.
"We're not insane," she said, and my eyebrows shot up.
"Is that right?"
She sighed then. "I'm sorry about what happened. Sophie was pissed as hell with me as well, and we were going to try to fix it, but from the beginning… it was never my intention. I didn't come on to you, this wasn't something I orchestrated to exploityou. You know how it happened. You approached me, and I couldn’t say no."
This almost made me smile. "So it's my fault?" I asked, and instantly, she started to deny it, but then her expression changed, and she frowned. As a result, something inside me lit up in excitement.
This was the woman that I knew and had been enthralled by, and I honestly couldn’t wait to hear the next words that would come out of her mouth. She enthralled me like no other, I realized, so I gave her my full attention.
"It was both our faults," she said. "And Sophie as well. But in my opinion, even though what we did was unsavory, neither of us did it to hurt you. She did it to ensure you got all the assistance you needed, and I… I, well, I couldn’t say no to you. I liked you. I… I like you, and so… I have no regrets. So, don't punish her for something that we both did. I hope you will consider this. I know that loyalty means a lot to you, and her intention wasn’t to betray you. She just made a very emotional and silly mistake for a few days."
Afterwards, she went silent, and I didn't know what to say in response to this, but I was for sure not going to agree with her. So, I turned around and went on my way.
Chapter 55
Scarlett
Two months later.
"What's that?" Sophie asked. "Your fifth flute of the day?"
My eyes turned as I chugged down the sparkling liquid in the champagne glass. I frowned as I stared at my rude sister in the mirror but didn't respond as I finished the rest of the glass.
