Filed to story: Watch Out, I’m The Lady Boss (Eleanor & Sebastian) Book PDF Free
“Just say what you need to say. Don’t worry, I won’t overreact this time.
We sat.
I slid the box across the coffee table.
“This is the brooch you gave me back then. Now that Daniel and I are no longer engaged, it doesn’t feel right for me to keep it. I’d also like the gold ring my parents gave your family returned. Let’s just make a clean break.”Louisa ran her fingers over the brooch.
Next to her, Willow sat like she’d been sculpted from pure snobbery-chin up, shoulders back, eyes full of suspicion.
She still didn’t buy it.
She thought I was playing some long con.
Maybe forcing a breakup to win Daniel back.
Louisa grabbed my hand.
“Are you absolutely sure about this? Daniel isn’t perfect, I know. But once you break off the engagement, what happens next? You’ll be alone. Everyone in Skyline knows you’re his fianc?e. They think you’ve been chasing after him for years.”That was true; I had been chasing after him for years.
“If you walk away now, they’ll laugh behind your back. You’ve got no one to back you up. Have you thought about what that really means?”
“Mum!” Willow snapped.
“She’s not calling off the engagement, she’s pretending to call it off-obviously! It’s just another sob- story stunt to get a reaction out of you. God knows what game she’s playing this time.”
“Shut it,” Louisa shot her a look sharp enough to peel paint.
I ignored Willow.
“Aunt Louisa, you don’t have to worry about me. actually came today with some good news too-I got married.”Instant silence.
Both Granger women froze, mouths slightly open.
Then Willow found her voice and used it to shatter glass.
“What the hell are you talking about???”
“I got married. For real.” I turned to Louisa.
“You don’t have to worry. I’ll be just fine without Daniel. Better, even.”Willow’s face scrunched like she’d just bitten into a lemon.
“You’re not seriously faking a marriage just to break up Daniel and Catherine, are you?”
“No. Daniel and I are ancient history. Whatever he does with Catherine is none of my business.”I reached into my bag and pulled out the marriage certificate, handed it across the coffee table.
“We signed the papers today.”Louisa reached for it, but Willow snatched it away first.
“This is fake,” she barked, flipping it over like she was looking for a watermark.
“You’re full of tricks. No way is this real.”I shrugged.
“There’s no reason to fake it.”She kept squinting at it.
“Wall a second is this?
Her eyes bugged out.
She finally looked at the name.
Sebastian Laurent?!
She screamed it like it burned her tongue.
Then she blinked.
Then she laughed-like, full witch-cackle.
“Eleanor Vance! If you’re going to fake a marriage, at least use someone believable. Where the hell did you get the nerve to Photoshop Sebastian Laurent’s name onto a marriage cert? It looks legit, I’ll give you that. You must’ve paid a fortune for the forgery.”Louisa didn’t believe it either.
“Eleanor, where’d you get this?”Willow snorted.
“Gotta admit, it’s a pretty good fake. Who’d you hire, one of those dodgy hacker forums?”
The look she gave me belonged on a mugshot wall, smeared with smug and judgement.
I ignored her and turned back to Louisa.
“Aunt Louisa, come on. Like I’d forge a government document just to get a rise out of you. Especially one with the Laurent name on it. That’s not just illegal; it’s suicide. You know it. You know me.”I looked her dead in the eye, not even a twitch.
Louisa’s lip wobbled.
When the truth of my words hit her, so did the tears.
“You’re really married.”Willow flailed like someone had just hit her with a water balloon.
“Mum, are you serious? Don’t fall for her crap! If Sebastian Laurent married Eleanor Vance, I’ll chop my legs off and moonwalk backwards down Fifth Avenue.”I saw her frantically scrolling through her phone, comparing some internet image to the certificate in front of her.
“If you can prove this certificate’s fake,” I said, folding my arms, “I’ll be the one doing the backwards moonwalk. With no clothes on.”Her face changed by degrees.
First doubt, then panic, then full-blown shock.
She slumped into the sofa.
“This can’t be real. Mum. Tell me I’m hallucinating.”Louisa sniffled and grabbed my hand again.
“You can’t just marry some random stranger to spite Daniel. This is your whole life we’re talking about…”
“Sebastian’s not just some stranger,” I said sharply.
I hadn’t meant to snap, but something about that sentence rubbed ine the wrong way.
Maybe because it wasn’t entirely untrue.
“Sebastian’s young and good-looking and well-known. Definitely not a stranger.”Louisa dabbed her face with a tissue.
“I know, sweetheart. He’s obviously miles better than Daniel. I just… I’m scared you acted on impulse. Men like Sebastian, they live on another planet. Can someone like that really treat you right?”
“He does treat me right,” I said, dead calm.
Which was a big statement, considering I’d barely spent more than some dozen hours with him.
But I wasn’t lying I remembered that rilgly at the Laurent party, hose he dropped thing the moment I needed in leav He cancelled the whole party and personally drove me to the hospit And that coat. He’a wrapped it around me like I was something with saving Rhas would’ve let ine pass out on the marble floor and asked someone to mop around me.
So yeah. Sebastian Laurent was a lot of things. But just some guy” wasn’t one of them.
“He treats me well,” I said again, louder this time.
“Aunt Louisa, I’ve found something better. You don’t need to worry about me anymore.”Louisa’s eyes filled up again.
“I don’t even know what to say. Daniel was never meant for you, I see that now. He’s the one who lost out.”
I glanced pointedly at the box on the table.
“Aunt Louisa…”She let out a resigned sigh.
“I get it. Whatever bond you and Daniel had, it’s over. That old keepsake means nothing now. I’ll go get it for you.”I watched her climb the stairs, slow and hunched like the weight of family disappointment was dragging her down.
In my head, I whispered a quiet “sorry”.
The Granger family had already sent out half the wedding invitations with my name stamped next to Daniel’s.
Now they’d have to claw them all back, one by one.
And Clive Granger would probably explode.
Louisa would be the first in the blast radius.
I was still chewing on that thought when Willow suddenly let out a snort.
“Didn’t peg you for a social climber, Elean. But look at you-bagging Sebastian Laurent. Who knew you had it in you?”Her voice dripped with spite.
Probably because Sebastian wasn’t just rich and hot; he was the billionaire fantasy every bored socialite dreamed of landing.
Just yesterday, some C-list actress had “accidentally” leaked paparazzi shots of her bumping into him outside a restaurant.
Even someone like Willow had probably entertained the idea of “accidentally” falling into his arms.
And now he was mine..
Well, sort of.
“That day at the hospital,” she snapped, eyes narrowing, “I knew something was off when he showed up with you. Did you seduce him? Got some sleazy photos and blackmailed your way into a ring? Or maybe drugged him-“My palm connected with her face so fast even I didn’t see it coming “Watch your mouth.”You just slapped me?” Willow shrieked, springing off the sofa like she’d been electrocuted.
She tried to hit back, but I grabbed her wrist mid-swing.
My nails dug in just enough to make her wince and twist like a squashed bug.
“Last time I didn’t hit you back was out of respect for Aunt Louisa. Don’t mistake that for weakness. That slap just now was for the filth coming out of your mouth.”I shoved her back onto the sofa.
I didn’t even know Sebastian until after I dumped your brother. So maybe back off before you embarrass yourself even more “
“Oh please,” she spat. You expect me to believe you two just happened to fall in love right after the breakup? Spare me. I gre right through women like you”I walked over and picked up the marriage certificate from the table slipping it back into my bag Your darling brother cheated on ine with my sister, and you’ve got the nerve to come at me? Cute. Either you’ve got double standards or you genuinely think it’s fine for guys to two-time the girlfriends. In that case, I hope your next boyfriend’s just like your scumbag brother.”
“You-Willow turned the colour of an overripe tomato. Then she huffed, “Whatever. I’m not wasting my time arguing with you.
“You think you get to call it quits now?” I shot back.
“Didn’t you just say you’d moonwalk backwards if I actually married Sebastian? Now that you know the cert’s real… I’m still waiting, babe. Moonwalk or coward-pick one.”Willow went silent, pretending she hadn’t heard a thing.
Then she cleared her throat, mumbled something about being late for a Pilates class and bolted.
A few minutes later, Louisa came downstairs, holding a ring box.
She handed it to me like it hurt her.