Filed to story: Watch Out, I’m The Lady Boss (Eleanor & Sebastian) Book PDF Free
By the time the sky outside started to lighten to a miserable grey, the door to the operating theatre finally slid open.
A surgeon walked out, pulling off his gloves.
“The patient’s stable. We’re moving her to a regular ward. She might wake up in a few hours, but be careful-no more shocks, no upsetting news.”A team of nurses wheeled Louisa past us, still unconscious, still pale as hell.
I followed, only to get body-blocked by Willow at the door.
“You’re kidding,” I muttered under my breath, but she was already pretending I did not exist.
I ended up lurking outside the ward. Not exactly my finest moment, but I wasn’t going to take the doctor’s warning lightly.
A few minutes later, Daniel stormed in with Catherine. Both were still in party clothes and looked like they had sprinted all the way here.
Daniel caught sight of me and, of course, went straight for the jugular.
“My mum’s unconscious because of you. Happy now, Elean? If you’ve got a problem, you take it out on me. What the hell are you playing at, kicking off at her?”I opened my mouth, ready to tell him exactly where he could shove his self-righteous attitude, but he had already bulldozed past me into the room.
From inside, I heard Willow’s whine: “Mum, she’s already sent you to the hospital twice! You sure you want to let her do it again?
I heard her muttering something else, too low to hear.
~Then she popped her head out, scowling like it physically hurt her to speak to me.
“Mum says you can come in.”I shoved past her before she could change her mind.
As soon as I reached the bed, Louisa lifted her hand towards me. She looked weak as hell, pale and small under the blankets, but her grip was fierce when she grabbed mine.
This isn’t your fault, sweetheart. Don’t you dare blame yourself. just lost my head for a second and my old heart didn’t handle it too well, that’s all.”
“Aunt Louisa…” I choked out. Next thing I knew, fat, humiliating tears were spilling down my face. calovo Louisa turned to glare at everyone else crammed into the room.
And don’t you lot start blaming Eleanor either. If anyone’s to blame, it’s Daniel. If he hadn’t been out screwing around, Elean wouldn’t have been put through half this shit.”She shot a death glare at Catherine, who quickly dove behind Daniel Louisa’s eyes swung back to me.
“Eleanor, I know Daniel hurt you but you’ve loved him since you were little. You told me yourself that marrying him has always been your dream. You are like a daughter to me. I don’t want to see you left with no one to lean on. Especially with… your family situation…” She let out a heavy sigh.
“If you break off the engagement, where are you going to find a better future?”If it had been literally anyone else running that script, I would’ve shut it down in two seconds flat. Told them I didn’t need Daniel to survive. Told them my love life was none of their damn business But Louisa was different.
She wasn’t scheming. She wasn’t playing me. She meant every word, and that made my throat jam up like rush hour traffic.
I’d always been the type to bite back when someone pushed. But if someone pulled, spoke soft, held my hand like I was made of glass? I melted into a bloody puddle.
So when she clutched my hand tighter and begged, “Please, for my sake, don’t call off the wedding,” all I could do was stand there, useless, swallowing everything I wanted to say.
When Louisa drifted back to sleep, I finally peeled myself away and slipped out.
I still felt guilty as hell, but not guilty enough to throw myself back into Daniel’s arms like a lobotomised Disney princess.
I had barely made it five steps when Catherine ambushed me in the stairwell.
No audience now. No fake smiles. Just full-blown venom in her eyes.
She sneered, “You really are something. Using other people to force Daniel’s hand.”I tilted my head, sizing her up. It took me a second to piece it together. She thought I had used Louisa’s health to screw with Daniel.
My eyes narrowed.
“You think I made Aunt Louisa sick on purpose?
Catherine snorted.
“Isn’t that exactly what you did? Or maybe you and Aunt Louisa cooked up some soap opera plot to force Daniel into marrying you.”I stared at her.
“You actually believe Aunt Louisa faked a hospital trip just to marry me off to Daniel?”Catherine didn’t answer. She just smiled that smug little smile that made me want to smack the lip gloss off her face.
I sighed.
“In case you forgot: I’m the one trying to cancel the bloody engagement. I’d be thrilled if Daniel slapped a ring on your finger tomorrow. Hell, I’ll even buy the champagne.”Of course she didn’t believe me.
Catherine crossed her arms.
“All just your tricks. You say you want out, but you’re clinging to him every chance you get. Now that he’s finally interested in me, you’re pulling stunts to drag him back”I wanted to throw up my arms like a cartoon character. It was like talking to a wall “Catherine,” I said, gritting my teeth, “Daniel isn’t refusing to end it because he’s still obsessed with me. He’s doing it because he’s terrified of what the tabloids will say. He’s doing it because he’s too much of a coward to tell his mummy no. The same goes for you. You’re coming at me because you’re too scared to pick a fight with Daniel or Louisa. You two really are a match made in dysfunctional heaven.”
“It’s not like that! Daniel is just worried about his mum’s health. That’s why he won’t end things yet.”
“Right. And you, standing here hissing at me to tell Louisa about your little love story with Daniel-means you’re obviously not worried about her health at all, right? Or are you secretly praying I piss her off so badly she ends up back in hospital-or, better yet, kicks the bucket-so I’ll be too busy being the villain to hang onto Daniel, and you can swoop in without her giving you side- eye?”
“L… no, it’s not… I don’t-“I shook my head.
“You really should take up chess. You’ve got the scheming down cold.”The flash of panic in her eyes was so fast most people would’ve missed it. I didn’t.
I leaned in a little and got into her personal space.
“If you’ve got that much energy, maybe aim it at Daniel instead of me. Whisper sweet nothings to him, play your cards right. Hell, if you can get him to ditch me officially, I’ll owe you a drink. But even if he dumps me, don’t get your hopes up. Daniel Granger might be a lot of things, but easy isn’t one of them.”I didn’t wait for her comeback. Just brushed past her and left.
Outside the hospital, I pulled my borrowed coat tighter against the morning chill and tried to flag a taxi.
A sleek black Cayenne rolled up to the kerb.
Window down. Sebastian’s face appeared.
“Get in. I’ll drive you home.”
For a second, I just blinked at him. I thought he’d left ages ago.
I shook my head.
“It’s fine. I’ll grab a cab.”
“It’s too early. You’re not getting a cab here. I’m headed back to Oakwood Apartments anyway. Might as well give you a lift.”I hesitated a beat, then nodded.
“Thanks.”I slid into the front seat.
The bag in my lap felt ridiculously heavy. Inside were my heels and a blanket, reminders of what he’d done for me without me even asking.
Reminders of the fact that Sebastian was being too nice. Way too nice Nicer than our little contract arrangement called for.
And I had no bloody clue why. (1)
We drove in silence for a few minutes before he broke it.
“Mrs Granger doing alright?”I nodded, fighting off a yawn.
“Yeah. Doctor says she can be discharged in a few days.”
“So… Mrs Granger still won’t let you call off the engagement?”Chapitre 33 Tegel, Binting My eyes snapped open “You’ve been eavesdropping he door to her room was open. I was just passing by.”
*For such a busy man, you sure spend a lot of time passing by plac He shrugged. You don’t want to upset Mrs Granger. What’s your plan now?” flicked my eyes up and caught his face in the rear-view mirror. Sharp jaw, unreadable expression. He wasn’t even looking at me, but somehow I still felt cornered.
Plan? The engagement was already off as far as I was concerned. Daniel just wouldn’t let go, and Louisa was clinging to the fantasy.
It was my turn to shrug.
“No idea. I’m winging it”
“Don’t you find it troublesome to have to keep dealing with this issue?”I sighed.
“Yeah. It is.”We hit a red light. The silence stretched. Then he turned to look at me, full-on.
“I’ve got a way to fix it.”
“What kind of way?”The light turned green.
He hit the accelerator and said, “Marry me. Like I said before.”Silence. Dead, awkward, what-the-hell silence.
He said it again, like he was offering me a lift and not flipping my life upside down.
“Marry me. It’s your best option.”
“Um….” was the best reply I could come up with.
When I’d roped Sebastian into fake-fianc? duty, it was pure survival mode. I’d figured he was doing it to get his parents off his back -just like I was.
But now he looked deadly serious. Like he’d always meant to turn our make-believe into a legally binding situation.
“Why?” I finally managed. Because honestly, what else do you even say to that?
“Mrs Granger doesn’t actually care if you marry Daniel. What bothers her is the idea of you being alone, with no one dependable in your corner. She thinks your family’s useless.”
“She’s not wrong,” I muttered.
He kept going like he’d been rehearsing.
“If you had someone solid someone she could trust to have your back, she’d let it go. The Daniel matchmaking, the passive-aggressive guilt trips, all of it And if you married me… that would tick every box.”I stared at him. Anyone else saying “marry me, I’m your best option” would’ve sounded like a narcissist with a God complex.
But Sebastian just made it sound like he was stating facts.
“The Grangers seem the type to hold a grudge. Even if you manage to call off the engagement, no one in Skyline’s gonna want to piss them off by marrying you. No one but me. I don’t care what the Grangers think. They wouldn’t dare cross me. If I’m the one standing next to you, Mrs Granger can finally give up.”He paused, then pre-emptively addressed my unspoken objection as if he’d already anticipated it.
“If she’s not stupid, she’ll know I’m ten times the man her son will ever be.”Silence.
Annovingly persuasive silence.
I hated how tempted I was.
Daniel Granger used to be the guy every woman in Skyline had on her dream board, Me included, back when I didn’t know he was a full-time bastard. Catherine, Serenna-hell, we were all drunk on the fantasy.
But now Sebastian Laurent was the real obsession. Not just the last name-though, yeah, being a Laurent definitely opened doors -but the man himself. The brains, the backbone, the unnerving calm.
Marrying him would be the ultimate power move.
And unlike the other preening, entitled bachelors, he actually acted like a decent human being. Every time we’d crossed paths, he’d been polite, respectful.
Which made him even more dangerous.
Honestly, if I had to pick someone out of everyone I knew, he was the safest bet by a mile.