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“What she means to say is goodbye,” Gabby broke in, coming up behind Camille so she could physically nudge her toward the open door. “So don’t mind us. We were just leaving. Nice to see you again. Bye-bye now.”
“The wand,” Camille hissed at Ezra, cupping her hands around her mouth and nodding vigorously, while Gabby shoved her into the hall. “Use your magic wand on her.”
And then Gabby was grabbing the door handle, tossing me an apologetic wince, and shutting me inside my apartment alone with Ezra.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Oh, wow. So I guess it didn’t take much wine to turn Mabel’s granddaughter silly-drunk.
“Magic wand?” Ezra asked, lifting one eyebrow.
And yeah, now I had questions like that to deal with. Lovely.
I cleared my throat, ignoring the way my face heated as I decided to go with Gabby’s tact. “Long story,” I told him.
He nodded.
When neither of us spoke, just stared with this uncomfortable tension brewing between us, he finally broke, his face morphing with concern.
“Jesus, Yellow,” he breathed, running his hands through his hair. “Are you okay?”
When he stepped toward me, I hugged myself and turned to the side, letting him know I wasn’t okay. Not with anything. Not even with him.
He paused, his eyebrows furrowing with concern. “Kaitlynn?” he rasped, his gaze full of agony.
I cleared my throat and shifted my attention from him, unable to focus on anything but how betrayed I had felt when he hadn’t stood up for me in that conference room, how he’d let his father go after me, how he’d never felt the need to even tell his dad we were together.
“We, uh…” I cleared my throat, and tried to sound professional. “Tomorrow, first thing, I think we should call a meeting and explain everything to the employees, about the… About the changes in management.”
Ezra said nothing, he didn’t even make a sound. Irritated because this forced me to look at him for a response, I swerved a scowl his way. “What?” I snapped. “Don’t you think that’s a good idea?”
His eyes flared wide with shock and he pulled his head back, obviously not expecting the bite in my tone. Closing his mouth, he drew in a breath, and I watched his throat work as he swallowed.
“No. I mean, yes, it’s a great idea, but… I, uh, I already called a meeting this afternoon to update everyone on what’s happened.”
“Without me?” My back straightened as righteous indignation filled my spine.
“Kaitlynn,” he said, shaking his head. “They’d just seen one of their CEOs arrested. People had questions that needed answered. Immediately. They needed to be reassured that all their jobs were still safe. And you weren’t there, so I… I took care of it.”
I visibly recoiled, shattered by his words. You weren’t there. Dammit, I should’ve been there, shouldn’t I have? I was now responsible for an entire company, or at least half of it. I should’ve put their needs before my own. I should’ve—
Watching my reaction, Ezra held up both hands and quickly added, “You were understandably absent. I wasn’t casting any blame or trying to make you feel guilty. You’d just gotten slammed by about a hundred different shocking revelations at once. You needed to let that soak in. You needed a moment to fucking breathe. Anyone would. I certainly would. And this was one thing I could do for you, so I did. I didn’t—fuck, I wasn’t purposely leaving you out.”
I nodded and blew out a shuddered breath, telling myself to calm down and stop jumping to conclusions. He’d been trying to be considerate and think of my feelings. He hadn’t been blustering his way in charge without any thought for me.
And yet, no matter how much I repeated that to myself, I just couldn’t seem to soften toward him.
“What…” I licked my dry lips, once again looking anywhere but at him. “What did you tell them?”
“Not much,” he admitted. “I confirmed the rumor that Lana had indeed been arrested. I didn’t mention what for. But I informed them she’d never been the rightful CEO of JFI, and that she’d altered the will after her second husband’s death. They know you’re the new CEO in her place, and that I’m still the other. And… And if any changes came after that, they would be apprised of them immediately.”
“Okay,” I murmured, nodding my approval. “That sounded good. Thank you.”
I hugged myself, trying to think, trying to warm myself, trying to hold it together.
“Kaitlynn,” Ezra whispered. He sounded tormented.
I winced, still refusing to look his way. “Hmm?”
