Filed to story: Watch Out, I’m The Lady Boss (Eleanor & Sebastian) Book PDF Free
Another unsettling sign sat on the coffee table: an almost empty bottle of Ch?teau Margaux.
“You’ve been drinking,” I said.
“Yeah.” She followed my gaze to the bottle. She smiled fantly, but not with embarrassment, then returned to the sofa.
“I thought I could do it, sober. Turns out I sti needed some Dutch courage.”
“Do what?” I stepped closer, a tight knot forming in my ut.
“No.” She gave my shoulder a light shove when I sat beside her.
“Take the chair opposite. I stink of wine.”I frowned but did as she asked, sitting in the armchair agross from her. A coffee table lay between us.
“I’m sorry about Franklin,” I said. I should have said it earlier, when I first told her about his death.
Elean didn’t appear to hear me. She sat with her legs tucked under her, reached for the bottle, drank straight from it, then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand When she finally looked at me, her eyes were red.
“Have you been crying? What’s wrong?” I stood, moving towards her.
“No.” She waved me back.
“Stay where you are. I need some distance. To do this right.”
“Elean.” The unease in my gut deepened.
“Just sit, please.”Why hadn’t I noticed the tremor in her voice earlier?
I sat, keeping my eyes on her. Had she been grieving for Franklin?
“Is there anything you’d like to tell me?” she asked, her gaze fixed on mine. Her eyes, usually clear and lit with warmth, were hooded, red-rimmed, and impossible to read.
“About Franklin?”
“No. Not that. The other thing.”
“What other thing?”
“How was your day?”I frowned. She wasn’t making sense.
“How was your day?” she repeated, leaning forward as if she could see straight through me. She looked ready to keep asking until she got the answer she wanted.
“It was fine.” I thought of the court case, the Marchands then the dinner where Lea finally cut ties with her abusive husband.
“That’s it? Just fine?”That was clearly not the answer she wanted.
I nodded.
“What’s wrong?”Is there anything else you’d like to tell me? Anything at all? About, say, dinner? Did you enjoy it?”
“Dinner was fine.”My certainty that she was drunk grew with every passing second. She was incoherent, her thoughts scattered.
“That’s it? That’s all you’ve got to say?” Her stare didn’t waver.
For a moment, I almost felt as if she knew about the kiss. My hand twitched towards my mouth, to check if Lea’s lipstick stain was still there, but I stopped myself.
“That’s it,” I said.
Elean was drunk, hurting, and not thinking straight. Better to bring up Lea when she was sober.
She slumped back into the sofa, hugging a throw pillow to her knees and burying her face in it. She stayed like that for so long, I began to think she’d fallen asleep.
“Elean?”Just as I was about to stand and check on her, she lifted her head. She tossed the pillow aside, lurched to her feet, gripped her engagement ring and slid it off.
She held it out to me in her palm.
“I think you’d better keep this.”
I stared at her, my brain refusing to process what I was seeing. The dread that had been gnawing at me since I arrived solidified into certainty.
“No.”She grabbed my hand and pressed the ring into it.
“Just take it.”
“You’re breaking up with me.” Why?
“I don’t think this can work.” Tears streaked her cheeks. I’ve decided to buy Valmont & Cie. I’m relocating to Paris. We can’t be together.”
“Bullshit.” Sebastian’s fingers dug into my shoulders.
“That’s a bullshit excuse.”
“I’m signing the papers tomorrow,” I said.
I didn’t know what hurt more-his grip, sharp enough to bruise, or the look on his face.
I’d never been a big fan of alcohol, but tonight, drinking had been the smart choice. At least it dulled the pain.
“No.” He refused to let go when I tried to shake him off.
“You don’t get to end this unilaterally. I get a say. You can’t just toss the ring at me and walk away.”I gave up struggling and sank into the sofa, suddenly exhausted.
“Working in Paris is my dream. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I can’t-“
“Bullshit!” The word tore out of him, raw and jagged. His usual coolness was gone. He loomed over me, hands pinning me in place, breath hot against my cheeks.
“You could’ve told me. I’d never have stopped you buying the company. So what if it’s in Paris? That doesn’t mean we’re over. It’s not like you’re moving to fucking Mars. Tell me the real reason.”
“That IS the reason.” I looked away.
I’d miscalculated; one bottle of wine wasn’t enough to face Sebastian’s razor-edged gaze or the predatory aura rolling off him. Like the first time we’d met, I was acutely aware of the difference between us-not just in size, but in sheer presence.
It wasn’t fear of him hurting me. It was the instinctive knowledge that he could. The same primal alarm that had screamed at me to run when we first met. He’d dialled it back since then, consciously or not, but now it was unleashed again.
He gripped my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes dark with storm-lit fury.
“Tell me the truth.”
“It is the truth.”His sneer was sharp enough to cut.
“You think I’m that stupid? You’re ending us over a job you didn’t even bother discussing with me?”
“Would you have approved?”
“That’s not the fucking point. The point is you assumed. You made it a fait accompli.”
“Would it have changed anything?”
“There you go again.” His voice dropped to a grow.
“Assuming. Skipping the whole damn conversation.”He stood abruptly, fists clenched, pacing like a caged animal.
Watching him, something inside me snapped.
The guilt I’d carried all night twisted into anger at him.
“Oh, now you want honesty,” I said.
“Is that too much to ask from the woman I planned to spend my life with?” He stopped just long enough to glare, then resumed pacing, as if stillness was unbearable.
“Don’t act like you’ve been transparent. Like you’re blameless.”
“What did I do?” In one motion, he hauled me up, sat, and dumped me onto his lap.
I squirmed.
“Let me go.”
“No.” His grip was iron.
“Look at me. What did I do?”
“Fine. You want the truth?” Trapped against him, lashed out.
“You cut your Paris trip short, missed the wedding fitting, because you flew back to Skyline with another woman.”
“She’s a-“
“Don’t interrupt!” I shoved his chest.
“She’s a friend, that’s what you were going to say? Do you kiss all your friends in the street? Don’t bother denying it. Yvaine’s boyfriend saw you. Should I call him?”Sebastian’s jaw tightened.
“There were reasons. It was a mistake, but-“
“I don’t care about reasons! I care that you omitted it when I asked-repeatedly-if something happened at dinner. You didn’t say a word about her, about the kiss. Sins of omission are deadlier than commission.”His body heat was stifling. I shoved hard, breaking free.
“I can explain,” he said.
“Too late. I don’t want to hear it.”Sebastian stood slowly. I stepped back, but he didn” follow. His breathing had evened out, the fury banked. Once again, he was the unshakable CEO.
“That’s still not the truth,” he said calmly.
“What the hell are you-“I cut myself off.
“No. Never mind. It’s over. Pick whatever reason makes you feel better-work, jealousy, I don’t care. I’m done.”Silence. Thick, suffocating.
I grabbed my purse.
“Where are you going?” He blocked the door.
“This is your place. I’ll leave.”
“You’re right. It is my place.” His voice had gone cold. He released my wrist.
“But I’m not heartless enough to throw you out at night. Stay. But by tomorrow afternoon, I want you gone.