AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I wished him all the best of luck in finding someone else who would put up with his bullshit.
Not.
The cool night air hit me like a blessing as I breezed out of the office doors. It had never felt so refreshing before, like a cool glass of water I could drink with my skin. I had never felt so alive before, so free.
Things had never been so clear.
They would never respect me. I knew that now. I had known for a long time, but I had hidden from it, unwilling to start all over again, constantly convincing myself that I could change things if I just worked a little bit harder, if I just took a little bit more shit, just for a little bit longer. But that game was over. I allowed myself a moment of grief for the opportunity I had hoped this job would be, but it didn’t hurt as much as I had thought it would. It felt more like something that had happened long ago, to an Ally that might as well have been another person.
This Ally had nothing but the future opening up before her, and it was time to start following my own advice and stop clinging to the past.
I pulled out my phone and dialed Hunter’s number. He picked up on the first ring.
“Ally, what’s up? How’s work?”
“Work’s just starting,” I said, a smile blooming on my face. “I’m on my way with some information I think you’ll find very interesting, and a whole new plan…”
NINE
Persona was a restaurant that had seen other restaurants’ attempts to be fancy, and had turned up its nose at their pathetic failures.
The floors were pink marble. The chandeliers were carved from rose quartz and gilded in what I had a sneaking suspicion was real gold. Tapestries that would have been at home in a European castle hung from the walls, their lush fabric absorbing sound until it seemed as if noise itself might be some sort of nasty plebian habit that had no place here. The waiters were dressed better than most Oscar winners on the red carpet.
Naturally, I was nervous as hell.
My leg bounced up and down under the table where Hunter and I sat, and I was grateful for the luxurious floor-length red tablecloth that hid my nervous tic so well.
I couldn’t hide it from Hunter, though, who could plainly feel the vibrations from where his leg was pressed up against mine. He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. “Relax. It’s going to work.”
“How do you know?” I demanded.
He squeezed my hand again, looking deep into my eyes. “Because you came up with it, and you’re brilliant.”
The tension eased out of my shoulders and I smiled up at him, still a bit nervous but now also warmed and touched. What had I ever done to deserve this man?
“Flatterer.”
“It’s not flattery if it’s the truth,” he said, his hand sneaking under the table to steady my knee. Heat spread from his palm, all the way up my thigh, and I knew there was no way I was misinterpreting that signal.
“Perhaps we should discuss the matter at hand in further detail at a later time,” I said primly, swatting him away from my knee. I was loathe to do so, but this meeting was important and I couldn’t risk going blind with unstoppable lust and screwing it all up. I had to be in control.
He grunted in agreement and obediently kept his hands to himself.
I let my head rest against his shoulder for a second to collect myself. It could only be for a second, though—this kind of shared peace and trust wasn’t the sort of show we were trying to put on for our guest.
Assuming he ever showed and didn’t just stand us up in a bit of final humiliation.
This was the plan: Once Chuck arrived, Hunter would offer to sell his shares, pretending to be desperate for cash and to have no knowledge of the impending buyout. He’d demand a big price, and hopefully Chuck would be so greedy for the takeover and the buyout payoff that he’d give Hunter the money—which we would then turn around and use to help Hunter start up his own company and hire at least some, and hopefully most or all, of his old employees.
The plan hinged on two things. One, Chuck being a greedy grasping pig who wouldn’t think too far into the future, which was a fairly safe bet. Two, that Hunter could swallow his pride long enough to eat crow pie for Chuck, which was somewhat more tenuous of a proposition.
“You have to let him feel like he’s won,” I reminded him, my fingers beating a staccato rhythm against the edge of my chair. “He has to feel like he’s on top of the world looking down on you, like there’s no possible way you could be considered a threat. You have to seem pathetic.”
“A tall order,” Hunter said with a smile. “But I think I can do it. All those drama classes, remember? I didn’t hang out just for the favorable gal to guy ratio. Well, I mostly did, but I still picked up a thing or two.”
? Also By Lila Monroe
· Billionaire With a Twist 3 · Billionaire With a Twist 2 · Billionaire With a Twist · The Billionaire Bargain 3 · The Billionaire Bargain · The Billionaire Bargain 2 · The Billionaire Game 2 · The Billionaire Game · The Billionaire Bargain 3 · The Billionaire Bargain 2 ? Last Updated
