Chapter 19
I watch Jessica reel back in shock and horror, stumbling as she listens to the person on the phone, Bankruptcy.
do you mi
How did it go under The project was supposed to–hello! Hello?”
the screeches in fury, throwing her phone onto the couch near us. The project must be the XX Project she was investing in. The one I told her not to touch, but the didn’t listen and now she’s in trouble.
“This is your fault!” Jessica yells, spinning on me and glaring “You jinxed the project, and now it’s gone bankrupt! My money and the project were climbing until you said something!” She clenches her fists and moves toward me like she’s ging to hit me
“This isn’t my fault. I warned you not to invest in the XX Project. You could’ve asked more questions or stopped while you were ahead, but you didn’t and that’s your fault,” I tell her. She has no right to blame me.
My father steps between us, placing a hand on Jessica’s arm and stopping her. I scoff. Now he stops her? What was he doing. when she shoved me into the wall earlier?
He whispers something to Jessica that makes her relax some before he turns to me.
“Fiona The stern, dissatisfied tone makes my skin prickle with unease. That paired with the pointed expression he shoots my way makes me step back. “You shouldn’t have said those things that day.”
“How is this my fault?” I ask again. My stomach jumbles with anger and sadness. Why is everything that goes wrong lives my fault?
My father sighs, and his next words shatter my heart, “Sometimes you’re as unbearable as your mother.”
Unbearable?
In their
Biting my bottom lip and clenching my fists to keep from saying something I’ll regret, I turn and leave. I can’t stay here any longer. If I do, I fear my heart may not heal.
Hyan still has the car going, so when I climb in, I tell him to go. He pulls away, and when I can no longer see my father’s house, the tears finally come.
Sobs shake my body as I think about my father’s words. Unbearable as your mother. I know they never had the most amazing relationship, but he’d seen her as unbearable? And now he sees me the same way?
“Fiona? Are you okay?”
A hiccup startles my body, and to keep any bit of respect Ryan may have for me, I keep my head down. I only peek at him through my lingers enough to give instructions.
“Just take me home, please.”
Ryan cringes and glances at me in the rearview mirror.
“Ah“He trails off as if he’s unsure what to say.
to my father
Wrapping my arms around myself, I lean on the window and hope for a bit of comfort. I didn’t even get to talk to about who swapped my mother’s will. Everything has gone horribly wrong, and I don’t know how to fix it
I wish my mom was here. She’d know what to do.
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Chapter 19
She always knew what to do.
“I… I don’t want to be the bearer of
“bad news,” Ryan says, finall
finally catching my
date with ElanTM
my attention. “But you seemed to have missed your
My eyes fly open and find the clock. 7:02
Стар
As if on cue, my phone rings. Ethan’s name flashes on the screen and I answer, blurting out, “Oh my God. I’m so sorry-
“Where are you?” He growls, interrupting me. I cringe. “How dare you stand me up! How could you waste my time like this?”
The anger in his voice makes my eyes tear up again. I can only take so much yelling in one day, okay?
“I–I’m sorry, Ethan,” I murmur, sniffling. “There was a problem with my mother’s will, so I went to my father’s house to see if I could figure it out,” I tell him, then explain some things hadn’t gone the way I’d planned. By the end, my tears are silently rolling down my cheeks, and Ethan is quiet.
Ryan passes another tissue to me, and I thank him.
“If you want, I can cook dinner tonight to make up for missing the restaurant,” I offer. I really do feel bad, but with so much going on it just slipped my mind.
“I have some work to finish, but I’ll be there later,” Ethan tells me, and thankfully it seems his anger has dampened some. He still may not be happy that I missed our date, but at least he seems to accept that I’m trying to fix it.
“Okay, I’ll see you soon.”
Ethan
I end the call without responding and set my phone on my desk.
The excitement that had eaten at me all day put me behind in my schedule. I wanted to see her. All day my focus kept shifting to Fiona,
I wanted to call her and move the dinner earlier, but she’d set it for six, so I had to force myself to be patient. It wasn’t easy, especially with my wolf asking me all kinds of questions. What would she wear? Was she excited? Would this be a new step for us?
He got to be so talkative that I had to shut him out. However, his senses and mine were intertwined. I felt the same excitement as he did. I just tried to shut it out more than he did.
I thought Fiona cared, but then ten, then twenty minutes went by with me sitting at our table at Parlor Steakhouse. The excitement I’d felt all day died the moment I’d realized she wasn’t showing up at the restaurant.
Anger had filled me, and as soon as I got back to my office, I’d called. She answered her phone and the sound of her sniffles and tears put me on edge. Something had happened, and when she didn’t explain fully, my wolf growled in protest.
“She should trust us,” he’d said.
1 ignored him and accepted her new dinner invitation. It seems we’ll be having a late dinner.
Still a bit angry at the situation, I get back to work accepting and rejecting reports turned in by staff. They need to be done by tomorrow, and the distractions today didn’t help.
“Mr. Montgomery,”
A knock sounds at the door and irritation sparks within me. My lack of secretary seems to give everyone the idea they can
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Chapter 19
come directly to my office. I need to get Fiona started soon so she can buffer the unnecessary contact.
“Enter,” I call out.
A familiar scent reaches me as the door swings open. I growl.
Jack Aldridge, Fiona’s husband, walks in with a smile. He carries a file for me, and I wish it were anyone else walking into my office. The smug expression on his face and the memories of how he treats. Fiona make me want to jump over my desk and rip the smirk off his face.
“He hurt mate,” my wolf growls, his hackles rising. I push him and the feelings back when Jack steps up to my desk.
“I have the quarterly reports for you, sir.”
He passes the file over, and I open it, letting my eyes run over the report. Just to mess with the man and to legitimately point out his faults, I pull out a red pen and begin marking everywhere he made a mistake.
12
17
24 mistakes
Unacceptable.
“Mr. Aldridge.” His head snaps up at my voice. “If I were to submit this report, we’d be a laughingstock. This type of work is unacceptable in my company,” I tell him, throwing the paper down. He scoots closer to see his mistakes.
“Maybe if you stopped screwing your secretary, your work would be so… useless.”
Mr. Aldridge’s mouth drops open in shock at my words. A sense of satisfaction runs through me, and I only wish Fiona were here to see his failure. Maybe that would make her feel a bit better.
Shaking my head, I push away thoughts of her and focus. She’s too much of a distraction
The cases Jack Aldridge oversees are important but not difficult, and with so many mistakes, I doubt anything is truly getting closed correctly. How did he manage to climb so high in this company?
When I look at him again, Jack is wiping sweat on his forehead.
“Starting today, you are no longer in charge of the Southern division,” I state. His eyes pop, and he shuffles forward.
“Oh please. this business is very important to me!” He cries, bringing his hands together in a pleading motion.
“If it were so important, you’d have done the work correctly. Mr. Aldrige, 1 growl, standing. He shrinks back. “This office isn’t your personal lounge where you do who and whatever you like. This is my business, and if you do not perform to the standards given to you, you will be penalized.”
“Y–yes sir,” he stutters before scurrying out of the room and leaving me to fix the report myself.
Chapter 20
