Filed to story: Watch Out, I’m The Lady Boss (Eleanor & Sebastian) Book PDF Free
Tax season was coming up, which meant Sebastian was drowning in work.
He’d just got back from Elridge, and his to-do list was already a mile long.
At ten, he was still locked in the study, pacing through yet another call.
I killed time scrolling through short videos until my eyelids started to droop.
I was about to plug in my charger and knock out when a message lit up the screen.
Prescott: [You back in Skyline? Did you see the flowers I sent? I’m in the hospital…]
Three photos followed.
Sterile walls, an IV stand, and a sad-looking tray of soup I backed out of the chat.
He’d been texting for days,
I hadn’t replied to a single one.
But tonight, he wasn’t letting up.
Prescott: [Daniel hasn’t even divorced Catherine yet and he’s already sniffing around you. Don’t worry, I handled it. I punched him for you. He’s in the room next to mine. Worse shape than I am.]
My thumb hovered over the block button.
Then came one more message.
Prescott: [Sebastian’s not in love with you. He married you for a reason. You just haven’t figured it out yet. He’s been in love with someone else for years.]
My finger jerked.
I already knew there was someone before me, someone who’d vanished from Sebastian’s life.
For a while, I’d thought it was Rowan Hale.
That theory fell apart weeks ago, and I’d filed the whole thing away.
But that didn’t mean such a woman didn’t exist.
I’d never doubted Sebastian wanted me, not with the way he looked at me, touched me, talked to me.
But the idea that someone else still lived somewhere behind all that, someone he couldn’t let go of, scratched under my skin.
I waited.
Nothing else came through.
I typed back slowly.
Me: [How do you know that?]
He replied in seconds.
Prescott: [Doesn’t matter how I know. It’s the truth. I’d never lie to you.]
Me: [Do you know who she is?]
Thirty seconds that felt like thirty years passed.
Prescott: [Not exactly. But she’s in Wessexia. Something artsy. Dance, I think. Sebastian never got over her. You were just the convenient option. I also heard she looks a lot like you…]
I dropped my phone face down on the mattress.
Heat pressed against the back of my neck.
My chest felt tight, like I’d swallowed something solid and it refused to go down.
Prescott: [Everything I said is true. Ask Sebastian if you don’t believe me.]
I did what I should have done a long time ago and blocked his number.
Of course I knew what he was doing.
He’d tried every angle to wedge himself between Sebastian and me, and now he thought he’d found a winner, stirring up shit about Sebastian’s so-called secret love.
I wasn’t buying it.
Okay, maybe halfway, but not more than that.
If Sebastian really was carrying a torch for someone, I didn’t need it spoon-fed through Prescott’s rubbish texts.
I could ask him directly, face to face.
I kept the lamp on and forced myself to stay awake.
Ten turned to eleven, and still no sign of him.
I curled up with my phone and drifted off waiting.
I didn’t know how long I’d been out.
My eyes stayed shut, but the rustle of the sheets pulled me halfway back.
Sebastian slipped into bed quietly.
His chest was warm against my back.
I slid closer, barely conscious, dragging the blanket up to my chin.
There was something I’d meant to ask, something important, but it hovered just out of reach.
He brushed his mouth over the corner of mine.
I mumbled something that didn’t make sense.
“Go back to sleep,” he whispered.
I did.
When I opened my eyes, sunlight had already bled through the curtains.
His shot the bed was coll Isat upshot eyes gritty, brain still not fully switchedon Last night’s mos ame flooding back like a slap toe face.
I still hachy’s ashest Sebastian about the woman, the one Del couldn’t shut up about Not after a full night’s sleep, it didn’t feel quite so urgen Mask when Sebastian actually had five minutes to spared when I wasn’t half dead from waiting I barely restchest the bottom of the stairs when Yvain name popped up on my screen Movie” she said the moment I answered.
“No excuses. You’re coming. We hit the mall first, then dinner after. There’s a new sushi place on Fifth Supposed to be lecent.”
Surey “I said “P’ve got nothing going on. Want to grab ch first?”
She let out a long, irritated breath.
“Can’t. I’ve got a bli date at noon.”
A what?” Inonly missed a step. You’re going on a blind date? Did you and Cade break up?
No. But I’m not marrying the guy. Aly parents don’t even know he exists. If they did, they’d lose their minds.”Thinking back to my own first impression of Cade, I could sort of understand where her parents were coming from.
I couldn’t get out of it,” she said.
“They’ve been pushing for weeks. I said yes just to shut them up. I’ll smile, nod, and be out before dessert.
Something clicked.
“Wait. Your blind date wouldn’t happen to be a guy named Declan, would it?”Might be?” she said lazily.
“Didn’t catch the name. I was just told to dress nice and show up on time.”Wow,” I muttered, shaking my head.
“Skyline really is thy. Declan’s Sebastian’s younger brother.” Half- brother, technically.
“Wait, what? Huh. That explains why my mum kept going on about him being from “a good family”. She made it sound like he shits gold. Is he… normal?”
“He’s alright. Bit of a thrill-seeker. Sebastian says he’s obsessed with motorbikes lately.”Yvaine snorted.
“Perfect. If he’s just here to tick the box oo, we’re golden. I’ll eat fast and get out. Meet you at the mall after?”
“Yep.”I left the house at one, got to our meeting spot on time, nd waited.
Ten minutes passed.
Then twenty.
I called her twice.
No answer.
The film was about to start when I finally saw her.
She was dragging her feet across the pavement, shoulders slumped like a wilted flower…
I marched over.
“You look like you got mugged. What happened?”She flopped down onto the bench beside me and let out a long sigh.
“I should’ve stayed home. Lunch with Declan turned into a bloody disaster.”
“Spill.”
“We were getting along fine. He’s laid-back, didn’t ask anything weird, mostly joked about how forced the whole thing was. Then Cassian showed up.
“Seriously?” I’d have thought he’d backed off after seeing how close Yvaine was with Cade on the Elmridge trip.
“He was sitting two tables away. He overheard my name wandered over uninvited, then started mouthing off at Declan.”
“What’d he say?”