AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
Daniel laughed, taking a long sip from his tumbler. “You see, Liam’s one objective in life is to get the hell away from me. To rescue the company from my debauchery and potential ruination.”
I didn’t bother confirming that. But yeah, he was correct.
“But you see, I told Liam myself, just a few days ago, that if you two were to continue your little charade after he takes on the CEO role, then we will have to fire Grove Communications.”
I swallowed, my heart racing. What the heck was he talking about?
“I see you don’t understand. Let me make it clear. We have a strict, and I mean strict, morality policy at Leden. Something my son had installed after my tenure, I believe. A little ironic, as it is now the one thing holding him back from the one thing he does want. You see, if he wants to be with you–really, not in this not-fake-enough relationship you two launched–then he needs to ditch Grove Communications. The company will never allow him to date one of the owners of their PR firm. That would be unfair to the other PR firms of the San Francisco area. Don’t you think?”
My chest yanked tight, feeling like the cord holding me together had suddenly been cut. Daniel Macklen smiled at me, a snake in Armani. Suddenly I wished I hadn’t worn such high heels. The ground was moving quite a lot.
“Are you alright, dear? You don’t need to worry. Liam made the only decision there is to make. He’s going to drop one of you. My money is on the girlfriend gig. No offense meant. It’s just that my son is nothing if not pragmatic, and our company needs your company far more than he needs you in his bed every night. After all, he has plenty of other women to fill that particular role.”
I felt his fingers against my arm. I yanked it away, glaring up into his miserable face. I was going to hurl. I turned on the spot, grabbing the hemline of my dress and booking it for the front doors. I needed to get away. I needed distance from Liam. From all of this. Could Daniel be right?
I stumbled into the night, listening to the happy chatter of other guests picking up their vehicles. I pressed a hand against my chest. I had to get out of here. My phone was in my hand, but I had no interest in waiting for an Uber. I looked around frantically.
“Ashlyn! Ashlyn, what’s going on?” Liam’s voice was close.
I gasped, wrapping my arms around my body as I turned to face him. I didn’t have it in me to be courteous, to play the game. “Stay back, Liam. I need a moment.”
The groups around me were quiet, eyes wide, as I shouted at the future CEO of Leden. Liam’s jaw clenched, and I watched the muscles there jumping.
Had it only been moments ago that I’d run my fingers along that jaw, my body curled around his, his mouth against my skin.
The same mouth which had lied to me.
“What did he tell you?’
I laughed, tightening my hands on my sides. “The truth, I’m guessing. Or at least the parts you conveniently left out. Were you going to fire Grove Communications? After everything I’ve told you about how important this job was to my family? I can’t believe you.”
Liam reached out, fingers gentle against my arm. “Let me explain, Ashlyn. Let’s go home and talk about it.”
I yanked away from him. “No! I’m done being used by you. I’m done being a pawn in this stupid game with your father. I thought you’d been honest with me. I thought I knew what you wanted.”
“You do, I promise,” he said, trying to gather me close.
My body arched away from the comfort, the contact. I had to keep my distance. If I let him hold me, I would be lost. Swept away by the near painful need to be close to him.
His eyes grew cold, distant, as I struggled away from him. “What do you want to know? That my father is challenging my decision to hire Grove Communications? He is. He can’t stand to have someone else be happy. Let alone me. He is doing this on purpose. Ash, he’s trying to drive us apart.”
I marched farther from the crowd, turning on him once more. “Well, it’s working. If I stay with you, my family, we lose everything. If we break up, then you are free to do whatever you’d like and my family will continue to work for yours. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about this.”
“I was going to tell you.” Liam’s shoulders seemed to shudder with the weight of the conversation.
“When? After you fired us? Or when you finally decided whether I was worth the risk? If I was at all.” The words were bitter on my tongue.
“That’s not it, and you know it. I make these kinds of decisions daily. Ashlyn, I have to do what’s best for the company.”
“Okay, great. So what is that? What’s best for Leden? Because obviously nothing could be more important than that.”
He stilled, his face thunderous. “I don’t know.”
“Hallelujah. At least you can admit it.” I cross my arms, dying to slip my feet out of these heels and sink onto the earth. Maybe it would help to ground my shaking body. “What were you waiting for? If you had just talked to me, we could’ve gotten a plan together. You aren’t alone in this anymore.”
“I was looking to set up some other work for Grove so that we could’ve avoided this moment entirely. You would still get your payday, the company would be safe, and you could be with me.”
