Page 91 of Miss Treated

And although I appreciated my family’s solidarity, I was going up by myself. “None of you are coming. I need to do this on my own. But I need his address.” He could easily hang up on an unwanted phone call. A guy showing up on his doorstep was another matter.

Leo grabbed my laptop. “Go jump in the shower, little brother, and I’ll get you an address.”

“Anything I can do?” my dad offered.

I stopped halfway down the hall. “Yeah, you can start hiring for my position. As of today. I quit.”

He shook his head. “But you said you’d commit to one year.”

“And you said you’d treat me like the real COO. You didn’t. I know I have a history of quitting and not committing, but I put in the work, and I was willing to go the distance. But you didn’t believe in me. So I resign, effective immediately.” This wasn’t quitting. This was deciding my value was worth more than staying in this job.

“Want a job?” Gabe asked, obviously just to needle my father.

“He’d rather work for his favorite brother. Job offer remains open,” Leo remarked, pouring himself a large glass of water.

“I’ll think about it.” Right now I was concentrating on Kelsey.

Fifteen minutes later, I was driving up the freeway toward Malibu with Chance’s address in my phone’s GPS, courtesy of my brother’s sleuthing skills. My phone chirped with a notification. I nearly swerved into the next lane when I saw the missed call from Kelsey.

How had I missed the call? Stupid cell service. I immediately hit redial, but my call went straight to voicemail. An alert popped up about a new voicemail. I immediately hit play.

“Hi, it’s me. You might be avoiding my calls. In which case I guess there’s extra pressure to leave a profound voicemail.”

I cracked a smile, both at the sound of her voice and her humor.

“I’m back in San Diego, at the hotel. I have a lot to say to you if you’d give me some time. Oh, crap. My mom is here. Um, call me, please.”

I didn’t like hearing her mother had found her at her hotel. That meant Joel could too. I took the next exit, frantic to get to her.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Kelsey

After waking up early, I got in my car, intending to drive back to San Diego. It sounded cliché, but after last night, I had peace. At peace with forgiveness, at peace with my decisions, and most of all at peace with my imperfections. Although I hoped to make things right with Dominic this morning, I also knew, no matter what happened, I would be okay.

It was tempting to go straight to his house, but it was unknown what I’d be walking into, especially if his brothers were staying there. Instead, I went to the hotel. With all the upheaval and distress, I hadn’t officially checked out yesterday. I figured I could station myself there while trying to get a hold of Dominic.

I called him from the parking lot as soon as I pulled in and tried not to get discouraged when it went to voicemail. He could be avoiding my call. But then again, he could still be sleeping. It was only a little after seven a.m. As I walked into the hotel, I started to leave a bumbling message for Dominic’s voicemail, but when I spotted my mother sitting in the lobby, I hung up immediately.

She appeared to be waiting for me.

What the hell? I was in no mood to deal with her. Yet perhaps it was time to finally say a few choice words. But then my gaze flickered to the man beside her.

Joel.

This morning, instead of shrinking into myself or panicking at the sight of him, anger took a hold of me. I marched up to the both of them, my hands on my hips. “What the hell are you both doing here?”

Joel gave me his signature sigh of exasperation. “I’ve decided to forgive you, babe, and take you back to New York with me so we can start again.”

I was so stunned by his words I stood there blinking in slow motion. What the actual hell? He was delusional.

“It’s incredible to think he’d be willing to overlook your shortcomings,” my mother added.

They were both insane, living in an alternate universe of their own creation. Once upon a time, the two of them ganging up on me would’ve been my worst nightmare. But now it was almost comical. Did they actually think they could persuade me I should reconcile with Joel? That somehow I had something to apologize for? Evidently, they did.

“You weren’t coming from HIS house, were you?” Anger flashed in Joel’s eyes as though I was somehow cheating on him.

“Whether I was or wasn’t is none of your business. You’re my ex-fiancé. It’s been seven months. And I won’t stand here and have you gaslight me as if I’ve only imagined we broke up. Nor do I care if you claim to be ready to forgive me for something I didn’t do.”