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Ben ducked his head, like he’d needed this as badly as me and it was hitting emotional shite neither of us got to easily. In the background, the coffee machine rumbled and splashed, the sound giving us privacy.
“I understand,” he said. “I’ve thought about it a lot and I never blamed ye. If Daisy suddenly decided she loved my brother instead, I’d want to end ye. Getting over that would be hard.”
“Fuck.” I cracked a shocked laugh. “It isn’t even that. More humiliation. I’ve come to realise that in the past few weeks—the relationship was never all that. It made the phone call a thousand times easier.”
“How did it go?”
“She wanted to suss out if your relationship was endgame. I told her it was. Whatever fake reason she had for needing to talk to me was given up.”
He blinked. “Holy shite. All this time.”
“And she still loved ye? I don’t think she knows the meaning of the word. But aye, now she has to finally move on. I wish I could feel sorry for her, but truly, I couldnae give a fuck what she does.”
My brother tilted his head. “Because…”
“Because what?”
“Ye found something real.”
My grin matched his. After this, I was going straight to Mia’s. I’d make her breakfast if she let me then ask her out this evening. “Hope so.”
Ben reached out and punched my shoulder, lowering his voice. “Maybe the two of us will get engaged at the same time.”
“Is there a reason ye aren’t already?” I asked.
“Daisy needed proof of my staying power.” He choked at my delighted expression. “Not in bed, for fuck’s sake. In the relationship. She gave me a six-month time limit, then I can ask.”
June, then. An interesting deadline that gave me ideas.
Ben continued, his eyebrows merging. “I wondered why ye were here and not with Mia at that board meeting, but I’m guessing she wanted to go it alone?”
“That meeting isn’t today.”
Ben leaned to see into the kitchen. “Daisy?” he called. “When Mia asked to rearrange work today, it was for a meeting, aye?”
Daisy came to the door, a flowery coffee mug in hand and her eyes rounded. “The board meeting. Please tell me you knew this, Valentine? The family she’s battling changed the date on her. She left earlier to drive down to Dundee and take them on.”
“Today?”
“Yes! It’s in an hour.”
The shock didn’t hold me still for long. I was on my feet and out the door, dialling Raphael and barking a request for a lift in his heli.
Somehow, I’d fucked up again. I needed to catch up fast.
Chapter 38
Mia
I’d only been to Tobi’s dad’s head office once in the past, when I had to drop off my ID and signed contract when I’d started my cleaning job. Then, the woman from Human Resources who’d come down to talk to me had barely given me a second glance. She’d done the same when calling me to discuss my maternity rights. I’d obviously been beneath her notice.
To this day, I’d never told any of them who Tobi’s dad was. It was none of their concern, and I knew how gossipy office chatter would’ve branded me—the woman who slept with their married boss and got knocked up.
The same HR woman stood at the reception desk now. She narrowed her gaze at me as if trying to work out where she knew me from.
I ignored her and smiled at the man behind the counter. “Mia Walsh. Could you please show me to the boardroom?”
He bobbed his head and stood. “Of course. Follow me.”
