Filed to story: Watch Out, I’m The Lady Boss (Eleanor & Sebastian) Book PDF Free
I almost didn’t believe it until I saw the photos.
I called Haldane straight away. He answered on the second ring, his tone clipped, wary.
“Miss Vance.
This isn’t a good time.”
“It’s the perfect time,” I said.
“Lea’s gone. She’s on her way back to Europe. You don’t have to carry water for her anymore.”
Silence. Then a tired sigh.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he muttered.
“Yes, you do,” I said.
“She threatened you. She had dirt on you. I’m not here to judge, but I am telling you, her grip is broken. You don’t owe her anything anymore. She won’t be back in Skyline for some time.
Withdraw the moratorium. Do it before it destroys the whole city’s economy.”
There was a scrape, like he’d pushed his chair back. He lowered his voice, as if someone might overhear.”
You don’t understand the mess I’m in.”
“I do,” I said firmly.
“I know about the land deals, remember? The shell companies. Even the affair you thought nobody noticed. You think Lea’s the only one who can expose you? She’s not. But I’m not here to ruin you. I’m here to give you a way out.”
Another heavy silence. Then he said, hoarse, “She promised she’d bury me.”
“She can’t bury you from Eindhoven if you act fast,” I said.
“You have a chance to walk away. Withdraw the moratorium. Retire early. Disappear with your pension and some dignity intact. That’s your best option. Take it.”
He exhaled, long and ragged.
“I’ll do it,” he said at last.
“I’ll call a press briefing tomorrow. And then I’m done. I’ll be gone before the week’s out.”
I hung up, sat back, and pressed both hands to my face.
The hospital room was dim, except for the steady glow of the monitor by Sebastian’s bed. Machines hummed and ticked in a rhythm that had become both a comfort and a torment to me.
I sat curled in the chair beside him, one hand resting on the blanket near his.
He already looked thinner, as if the fever had carved him away in just a few days. His skin was pale, almost translucent under the harsh hospital lights, and his mouth was drawn tight even in sleep.
Yet, even haggard like this, he was still devastatingly handsome. The sharp line of his jaw, the dark lashes against his cheek, the faint furrow between his brows-all of it made my chest ache.
Sometimes he stirred, his lips moving faintly, a sound breaking out so soft I almost thought I imagined it.
Then, once, unmistakably, he whispered my name.
My throat closed up. I leaned closer, pressing my ear near his mouth as if he might say it again.
He didn’t.
But I’d heard it, and the way it sounded, raw and tender, was enough to make tears prick the corners of my eyes.
“You’re still fighting,” I whispered, brushing the damp strands of hair from his forehead. His skin burned under my fingers, the fever still holding him hostage.
“But you’re not fighting alone.”
The door opened quietly. Dominic slipped in, looking tired but as composed as always, a file tucked under his arm. He nodded politely to me before speaking in a low voice, as if not to disturb Sebastian.
“The board has calmed down. With the moratorium withdrawn, confidence is back. Shares stabilized this morning. No one’s panicking anymore.”
I let out a long breath.
“Thank God.”
Dominic hesitated, then said, “He pushed himself too hard for too long. This, all of this, is the cost. But… he’ll be proud of you. When he finds out.”
“Don’t tell him,” I said quickly.
“Not yet. He doesn’t need more pressure. I just… I just want him to wake up first. That’s all that matters.”
Dominic inclined his head, respectful as always, then left me alone again.
The quiet pressed back in, heavy and suffocating. I leaned forward, resting my arms on the bed, and finally let the words spill. Words I’d been carrying, choking on, refusing to let myself say.
“Sebastian,” I murmured, keeping my voice soft, though I knew he couldn’t really hear me or maybe he could, who knew? “I need you to wake up. Because I need to take something back. I was wrong to break up with you. I was wrong to push you away.”
My voice cracked. I swallowed hard, forcing myself to keep going.
“I told myself I didn’t deserve you. That you were too far out of my league, too brilliant, too strong, too untouchable. And maybe that was true at the start. I thought all I could do was drag you down. And when you got hurt, I blamed myself. That stupid dive, that stupid trip, and suddenly you were the one paying the price. I hated myself for that.”
The tears came then, hot and relentless. I pressed my face against his arm, the scent of antiseptic and faint traces of him breaking me all over again.
“But these last weeks showed me something. I’m not powerless. I can fight for you, the way you always fought for me. I can protect the things you love. I can stand beside you-not behind you, not as some girl who needs saving every time the world throws a stone at her.”
I lifted my head, blinking through tears. His face was still, and yet his chest rose and fell, steady and stubborn.
“I love you,” I whispered, the words escaping before I could catch them. My heart pounded, as if it couldn’t believe I’d finally said it aloud.
“I’ve loved you longer than I’ll admit, even when I was pretending I didn’t. Even when I told myself you belonged to someone like Lea, or to a world I’d never fit in. But I do. I fit here, with you. I want to.”
The words tumbled faster, unstoppable now.
“I’ll sell my shares in Valmont & Cie. I’ll walk away from Paris, from everything I thought mattered more than you. I’ll even give up Elean Joie if I have to. I’ll do it all, if it means you’ll open your eyes and look at me again. Because nothing matters without you. Nothing.”
My hand found his, cold and limp beneath the hospital sheet. I held on tight, tighter than I ever had.
“So if you can hear me,” I whispered, “if even a part of you is listening, please, wake up. Because I don’t want a world where you’re not in it. I don’t want to waste another second pretending I don’t love you.”
I kissed the back of his hand, my lips lingering against his skin.
And for a heartbeat, I thought I felt the faintest squeeze back.
I surfaced from the dark slowly, as though I were dragging myself out of deep water. My body felt heavy, my head thick, and for a long moment I couldn’t tell if I was awake or still lost somewhere in the fog of fever. Shapes swam in and out of view, a dull light cutting through the haze.
Then I saw her.
Elean, sitting in the chair by my bed, her chin testing on her hand, her eyes fixed on me as if she were willing me to open mine.
I thought I was dreaming again. My mind had played that trick before, conjuring her face when I drifted in and out of half-consciousness.
“Elean?” My voice was rough, barely more than a whisper.
Her head snapped up, eyes wide. Relief flooded her face so fiercely it almost hurt to look at.
She reached for my hand, holding it between both of hers as if she were afraid I might vanish.
“You’re awake. Thank God, Sebastian, you’re awake.”
I tried to shift, the simple act of moving my right arm sending a bolt of pain up to my shoulder. I clenched my jaw, forcing myself not to flinch. My fingers barely responded, the dull weight of them making my stomach twist.
She must have seen it. She didn’t say anything, but her grip tightened.
“How long?” I managed.
“Almost a week. You’ve been in and out, fever mostly. The doctors said you needed rest.”
Her voice was soft, steady, but I caught the exhaustion in it, the edges frayed from nights spent watching over me. Guilt settled like lead in my chest. She shouldn’t have been here, wasting herself on me.
I closed my eyes for a moment, then forced them open again.
“The company.”
Elean leaned closer, her lips curving into a faint smile.
“LGH is safe. The moratorium’s been withdrawn.
Investors are calm again. You don’t need to worry about it anymore.”
Safe. Withdrawn. Words I wanted to believe, but I knew the cost of such victories. Nothing in this world. came without a price. And if she was the one delivering this news, that meant she had been the one paying.
I studied her face. She looked worn, shadows under her eyes, but there was fire in her expression, a determination I recognized. She’d been fighting for me. Fighting battles that should have been mine.
“What did you give up?” My voice came out rougher than I intended.
She frowned.
“Why do you assume I
“Because I know you,” I cut in, sharper than I meant.
“You would throw yourself into fire if you thought it would help. What did you sacrifice this time, Elean? What did you risk for me?”
She shook her head.
“Nothing that matters. What matters is you’re still here. That’s all I care about.”
Her words should have soothed me, but instead they twisted the knife deeper. I turned my head away, staring at the ceiling, trying to ignore the sick, hollow dread in my stomach.
The doctors” voices echoed in my memory, half-heard through fever. Nerve damage. Limited recovery. Possible permanent loss of function.
They hadn’t said it outright, but I had enough sense to know what it meant. My right hand might never work the way it used to.
And what use was a man who couldn’t fight his own battles, who couldn’t even hold a pen without trembling?
I let out a low laugh, humorless.