Page 24 of Billionaire Dragon King’s Rejected Mate

Something in her chest went still. Not soft or hurt. Just quiet and empty. But as she reached her desk, that emptiness hardened. He didn’t want her or even appreciate her, and she needed to protect herself. After all, wasn’t that why she was there?

She had not come all this way and carved out this fragile, hard-won independence for herself just to let it unravel over a man who couldn’t decide whether to pull her close or push her away. It would just end with her packing her life back into boxes and retreating back to Stagholt with her pride in tatters and her sister asking questions she didn’t want to answer.

No. Absolutely not.

If Chance thought she was disposable and could switch between warmth and indifference without consequence, then he was about to learn exactly how wrong he was.

From now on, work only with no distractions like moments on lifts or laughter in splash zones or anything else that blurred the lines she had been stupid enough to let blur.

No expectations.

And definitely no more hope or traitorous wondering if the version of him she had seen, the one who steadied her without hesitation and laughed like he meant it, might actually be real. That version didn’t exist.

Or if it did, it wasn’t hers to find.

By the time she stepped out into the hallway, the decision had settled into place with a clarity that felt almost like relief, even if it still stung around the edges.

“Randi, hey.”

She stopped and sighed despite herself. She turned to find Josh, one of her coworkers, catching up to her. His expression was a mix of concern and the kind of barely restrained irritation that told her he had not enjoyed the meeting any more than she had.

“That was…” he started, then stopped and exhaled sharply as he scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “That was rough.”

She snorted in a way that might have been a laugh if it had carried any humor.

“Part of the process,” she said, the words automatic and the kind of thing she would have said yesterday without thinking.

Josh made a face.

“Yeah, no,” he said and shook his head. “There’s part of the process, and then there’s whatever that was. He didn’t have to go at you like that.”

Randi didn’t respond right away. Her grip tightening slightly on her notebook as the echo of Chance’s voice threatened to creep back in, unwelcome and persistent.

“He does that,” Josh continued with his tone edging into something more openly critical now that they were away from the boardroom. “Gets in his own head, forgets there are actual people attached to the work. Doesn’t make it okay.”

A flicker of something shifted in her chest at that. Not enough to undo the hard line she had drawn for herself or enough to soften the resolve that had just taken root, but enough to take the sharpest edge off the moment. It reminded her that the entire room hadn’t turned against her, that what had happened wasn’t invisible.

“That proposal was good,” he added, more firmly. “You know that, right?”

She met his gaze then and searched for any hint of obligation or empty reassurance. She found none, just straightforward sincerity that felt unexpectedly grounding.

“I know,” she said, and this time it wasn’t automatic.

“Good,” Josh replied and offered a small, crooked smile. “Because if you start doubting it, I’m going to have to give a very passionate slide presentation about how great you are and how Chance can be a total ass. And that would probably get me fired.”

That pulled a real laugh out of her, brief but genuine, the tension in her shoulders easing just a fraction.

“Noted,” she said.

They started walking again, slower now, the immediate aftermath of the meeting giving way to something quieter and more manageable. Randi still felt the anger and hurt at Chance’s callous behavior, but it no longer overwhelmed everything else.

She glanced at Josh, at the easy kindness in his expression and the lack of complication. He had shown interest when she was hired, but she had been too focused on success to pay him any attention. But now, maybe this is what she needed.

With Josh, there was the absence of anything that might pull the ground out from under her without warning. She felt something else slip into place alongside that hardened resolve.

She hadn’t dated at all since Stagholt, and maybe that needed to change. Josh was a nice guy and deserved to be treated the same way.

“Thanks,” she said after a moment, the word quieter but no less sincere. “Thank you for being so nice and worrying about me. Well, my feelings.”