Filed to story: Watch Out, I’m The Lady Boss (Eleanor & Sebastian) Book PDF Free
So I had let her go. Not because I wanted the breakup, but because she needed space to decide for herself.
And I was confident. Elean might waver, but she would return. The answer would be yes.
“If there is nothing further,” I said at last, my tone final, “this meeting is adjourned.”Chairs scraped back reluctantly. The shareholders filed out, muttering in low voices. None of them looked me in the eye.
The door clicked shut behind the last of them.
A knock followed almost immediately.
“Come in,” I said.
Dominic Everett slipped through the door, his dark suit immaculate as always. He leaned close, lowering his voice.
“She’s here.”I frowned.
“Who?”
“Mrs Laurent. I mean, Miss Vance. She’s downstairs.”The receptionist gave me a rehearsed smile, polite and immovable.
“I’m sorry, Miss Vance, but you’re not on Mr Laurent’s schedule today. Do you have an appointment?”The words nearly slipped out, “I’m his wife.”Then reality caught up with me. I wasn’t. Not anymore.
I was still fumbling for an answer when another voice cut across the lobby.
“It’s all right, I’ll take care of it. Miss Vance, why don’t we step this way?”The hairs prickled at the back of my neck. I turned and found myself face to face with Lea.
Blonde hair falling sleek around her shoulders, a fitted dress in some shade designed to command attention without looking like it tried, makeup immaculate. She looked as though she had stepped out of one of those glossy magazines featuring formidable businesswomen.
“Seb is in a meeting,” she said smoothly, already heading for the glass doors.
“I don’t think he wants to be disturbed. Let’s take this to the caf? opposite, shall we?”Seb. The way she said it grated. As if the name belonged to her alone, as if she had the right to toss it out so lightly, like a private nickname only old friends shared. And they were old friends, but still.
I considered brushing past her, heading straight for the lifts, daring the receptionist to stop me. But then I thought better of it. If Lea wanted to talk, I might as well find out what game she was playing.
I followed her out of the lobby.
The caf? was busy, filled with the clink of cups and the low hum of conversation. Lea chose a table near the window, sat down with unhurried grace, and ordered a flat white as if she had all the time in the world. I ordered coffee too, though my appetite for it was gone.
When the drinks arrived, she stirred hers leisurely, then lifted it to her lips. Not a rush in her movements.
I leaned forward.
“Why did you want to talk to me?”Her lips curved.
“I thought I made my point clear enough on the cruise ship.”
“You want Sebastian.”
“I thought that was obvious.”
“Yet when he was missing at sea, when his life was uncertain, you tried to steal his company. Hardly the kind of thing someone does if they love him.”
Lea’s expression barely shifted.
“You see, that’s the difference between you and me. Sebastian would understand. If you want something, you go all in. You spare no effort. And the only way to win is if you hold all the cards. If Sebastian had died at sea, I would have made sure LGH continued to prosper. That’s his legacy. He trusted me with Titanova, the first company he built. That shows how much faith he has in me. And if Sebastian returned safely, wouldn’t he be glad to find his company in capable hands during his absence? Either way, I made the right call.”Her smile grew wider.
“And Sebastian said the same.”My throat tightened with the urge to ask, did he? But I bit the question back.
Instead, I said, “You’re using the company as leverage to threaten him now.”Lea lifted one shoulder.
“It’s just a tactic. Like you said, it’s leverage.”
“Do you really think it will work? Sebastian’s a proud man. He doesn’t cave. Even if he marries you to keep the company safe, do you imagine he would love you after being forced into it? You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.”
“Who cares? At least I’ve got the horse.”The words made my stomach clench.
“If you’re so confident you’ll get him, why talk to me at all?”She took another slow sip of her coffee, then set it down with the faintest clink. Toppe pass the time. I’ve already played my cards. It’s Sebastian’s turn now. All I need to do is wait. Either I get the man of my dreams, or I leave Skyline and never return. I’m fine with either outcome.”She leaned back.
“And I wanted to see the competition. You are the woman Sebastian gave up his old life for. After meeting you a second time, I realise I needn’t have bothered. You’re no threat.”Heat rose in my face, blood hammering at my temples. I had never wanted to punch another woman so badly in my life.
Lea leaned closer. Her voice dropped to a whisper.
“You’re no threat because you’re a coward. I’m willing to put my company, my fortune, everything I own on the line to get Sebastian. Even my life. I would do anything for him.” She tilted her head, eyes gleaming.” I’d kill for him. In fact, I once did.”My pupils contracted. I couldn’t tell if she was joking or deadly serious.
She stood smoothly, chair legs scraping against the floor.
“Anyway,” she said lightly, “stick around. Maybe you’ll be invited to our wedding.”I checked my reflection one last time in the compact mirror, snapped it shut, and slipped it back into my clutch. Lipstick intact, hair behaving itself. I took a steadying breath and stepped into the grand hall.
The chandeliers overhead gleamed like frozen fireworks. The clink of glasses and the rise and fall of conversation filled the air. This was one of those chamber of commerce charity dinners where a plate of rubbery steak cost a five-figure “donation”. Normally, I would have found an excuse to skip it. I hated these events, the false laughter, the posturing, the air thick with perfume and self-importance.
But tonight was different.
Lea’s words still rang in my head. She had said she would do anything for Sebastian. Anything. That poisonous little boast had lodged under my skin. It made me ask myself the question I had been avoiding: what about me?
I knew Sebastian was buried in problems at LGH. Turning up at his office demanding to know where we stood, distracting him with relationship drama, would only make things worse.
If I couldn’t help him, I should at least stay out of his way.
But maybe I could help, maybe there was something I could do.
Yvaine had pulled strings. Her brother Emmett had passed on what he knew, which was enough to confirm that LGH’s biggest threat right now was a rumoured city ordinance. If it went through, it would strangle the company’s cash flow and choke its projects before they broke ground.
It was still only talk, but that was how such things worked. A whisper became a rumour, the rumour became a certainty, and by the time the vote was cast, it was already too late.
Emmett had given me a name. Gerard Haldane, the Deputy Commissioner of Urban Development. The man who could make or break the ordinance. And according to the guest list, he was supposed to be here tonight.
I didn’t know what exactly I hoped to achieve, but if nothing else, I could at least meet him, test the waters.
The dinner had not yet begun. The crowd was still mingling. I held a glass of wine I had no intention of finishing and scanned the hall, trying to match faces to the photograph I had memorised of Haldane. Silver hair, thick brows, a habit of holding his jaw too high.
Before I could find him, another face loomed into my line of vision.
“Elean?”I stiffened.
Daniel.
He had lost weight. The tuxedo hung a little too loosely on his frame. His hair was neatly styled, his jaw freshly shaved, but his eyes were weary, shadows sunk beneath them.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Business,” I said coolly.
His gaze flicked to my bare left hand. He noted the absence of a ring the way only an ex-fianc? would.
“Where’s Sebastian?”
“That’s none of your business.”
His mouth curved in a bitter smile.
“So it’s true then. He broke up with you.”
“That’s none of your business either.”My eyes dropped, almost by reflex, to his own hand. No ring.
Daniel noticed me watching.
“Cathy and I are over,” he said flatly.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”I wasn’t sorry at all.
I turned back to scanning the room. A man like Haldane would make a late entrance just to be noticed. I didn’t want to miss him.
Daniel, however, was not done with me.
“I’m single now,” he said.
“Congratulations,” I replied drily.
“You know I still have feelings for you.”
“I don’t.”
“I made a stupid mistake. I want to start over. I want us to start over.”
“No, thank you.”
“Is it because of Sebastian? But you two are over.”My patience snapped.
“I don’t want to talk about this with you.”I made to move past him, but he blocked my way, his tone turning sly.
“A man like Sebastian Laurent is out of your league, Elean. You know that, don’t you?
The words struck harder than I wanted to admit. Because they touched on the thought that kept me awake at night. Maybe I wasn’t good enough for Sebastian. He had saved me, time and again, while I had nothing to offer when his world tilted into crisis.
I forced the anger down, pressed my voice flat and cold.
“I’m not here to rehash old times or trade insults.
If that’s all you’ve got to say, this conversation is over.”I tried again to move past him. His hand shot out and closed around my arm.
I was already lifting my other hand, ready to slap him, when a new voice cut in.
“Let go of her.”Prescott.
Daniel’s half-brother seized his wrist and wrenched it off me. Daniel stumbled, red with fury.
“What the hell are you doing?” Prescott snapped at him.
“Making a scene at a charity event? Pathetic.”Daniel muttered something under his breath and slunk off into the crowd.
Prescott turned to me, gentler.
“Are you all right?”I steadied my breath and nodded.
“Thank you.”He smiled faintly. The same smile that had once been warm, even boyish, back when he worked for me at my studio. That was before I knew he was a Granger. Before he started looking at me as if he wanted more than a job.