Page 26 of Between Love & Ruin

Me: So your boyfriend is on board with this plan?

I hate to bring him up, and while I may not know him, I still hate his existence. I am nothing if not a petty man. And if he is onboard with this plan, I might have to make certain decisions.

Because no way in hell will I be working with her with him in close proximity.

Nuh-uh.

Sienna: No. And this isn’t professional, so I won’t be answering any further questions.

I roll my eyes, and the big fat grin is back on my face.

Me: It’s also not professional to text someone at almost 1 a.m. But you don’t see me complaining, do you?

Sienna: Touché. For someone who appears to be so busy, you are awfully free at the moment.

I chuckle. Of course, she wouldn’t let me take a dig at her.

Me: I don’t work once I get back home. I like to detach from my work at night. Keeps me sane.

Sienna: Interesting.

She doesn’t say much after that, and despite my itch to talk to her longer, I am unable to come up with anything else. I don’t do small talk, which is saying something, as businessmen are usually fluent in that.

I either talk a lot or talk nothing at all.

So, I let it be. Let her go for the moment because if there’s something I could tell by our conversation right now is that I would like to keep talking to her.

And by the way she said yes tonight, we will be doing a hell of a lot of talking.

* * *

“You look happy,” Myra says first thing in the morning when I enter my office.

“I am always happy,” I shrug. “I just don’t show it.”

“Sure,” she says, and I can sense the sarcasm in her tone. “And I am never grumpy.”

“You try to be a funny person, Myra, and one day you might as well become one. But that day is not today.”

She rolls her eyes as she hands me over my schedule for today. I love a packed day, and fortunately, I have meetings back to back.

My eyebrows furrow when I see that she has bumped Sienna’s meeting with me to after lunch even though I had texted her in the morning itself that we will do a meeting with her first in the morning.

I thought that way I could start my day with some good fortune. Conversations with Sienna are a delight, and what better way to start your day than with some healthy banter?

“Why have you moved my meeting with Sienna to after lunch?” I question

“Because we have to do an important meeting with the investors,” she says with a serious look, and I take in a deep breath. “That is more important, I believe.”

“Well, the company doesn’t run on what you believe,” I say. “Reschedule. I want Sienna and Aisha to be here in exactly thirty minutes, as I had scheduled. I don’t know how you are going to do it, but I want the job done, Myra.”

She closes her eyes in frustration, and I can tell that she has a retort sitting on her tongue. But she is smart because she doesn’t argue with me. Not on this matter at least.

“Fine,” she says, clicking her tongue, and I nod. She turns back on her heels to leave but stops in the doorway.

“You know, my predictions never fail,” she says. “And I can predict that whatever you are starting isn’t going to end well.”

I swallow the vile words bubbling inside of me. Sometimes I find myself on the edge of doing things that cannot be undone. This is one of those moments.