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The only person I saw was the lawyer the company kept on speed dial in case we needed anything.
I saw Stella tugging on his arm, trying to say something to him while he shrugged her off. I saw her flicking her gaze over to me as they both stood outside her office, and the stack of paperwork I saw dangling from his hands warned of something terrible.
“Christian, I need you to listen to me.”
“Christian Gunn,” the lawyer began, “I am here to inform you that you are relieved of your position as owner and CEO of Harte to Heart Medical Supplies.”
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“Christian, listen—”
“The company has defaulted back to Stella. For now, she is the owner and CEO. Because of a growing issue with unallocated stock in her father’s name, Stella will own and operate the company until such time as we can settle that part of his estate. Until then, the entity of his property, licenses, and assets default to the family.”
“I am family,” I said.
“Blood-related family,” the lawyer said.
I took the paperwork from his hands and scanned it while Stella’s watering gaze begged me to look up at her. This was the phone call she had received. Her lawyer must’ve called, and she must’ve planned to blindside me with this at a later date. That’s why she didn’t want me coming to the office.
So she could meet with him and get everything in order to kick me out.
“Stella?” I asked.
“She no longer has control over this process,” the lawyer said. “Once we found the unallocated stock still in her father’s name, everything legally defaulted back to her. Assets can be divvied up once they are all accounted for, and the 10 percent stock unallocated and still in your stepfather’s name ties all this up legally until it is contested and settled.”
“None of that even sounds remotely right,” I said.
“Christian.”
Stella’s weak voice finally drew my gaze over to her, and the paleness of her cheeks were now streaked with the wetness of her tears. Even if the lawyer was right, and she no longer had any control over this, it was her witch hunt that started it. Her selfish inability to accept me as the owner and operator of a company she thought she deserved had brought us to this point.
I dropped my eyes back to the paperwork as the lawyer continued to drone on in the background. I can’t believe I had been so stupid as to drop my guard. Oh, she was good. Stella was a fucking shark.
She knew precisely how to wiggle her way in so I would drop my guard, and she had no qualms about doing it. She knew I was onto her from the first meeting on day one, and she’d found an entrance into my life that would tap into my emotions.
Her and Greyson were fucking perfect for each other.
My anger quickly turned to sadness at the idea what we’d just shared was nothing more than a ruse. I’d exposed myself to her. Pulled out my soul for her. And here she was throwing it back in my face for a company her father had no intentions of giving to her. She was so power-hungry and so grief-stricken at the idea she wasn’t in charge, and I no longer had the energy to fight with her on it.
I no longer had the energy to even look at her.
“Christian, please,” she begged.
I turned toward the exit and walked out with the paperwork in my hand. I didn’t care about the work I had to do today, the paperwork or calendar I had to grab in my office, or if Stella ate or got her shit home. I opened her trunk, tossing her bags onto the pavement to get to mine. I hopped into my car, and I backed out to go home as she was running out of the building.
I looked in the rearview mirror and saw her screaming for me, but all I could do was speed faster down the road.
Everything I thought was real was merely a way for her to take the company from me. Everything we shared — our bodies, our memories, our emotions — was nothing more than tools for her to use in her inevitable climb to the top.
How the fuck could she do this to me?
How the hell could she live with herself after what she’d just done?
I couldn’t go home, but there was no reason to stay here. I couldn’t stomach working, but I didn’t feel like doing much of anything. I got onto the highway and sped up, weaving in and out of traffic as my mind spiraled.
I saw her eyes.
Her smile.
