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Again he was overwhelmed by his need to touch her, but everything in her body language said she would absolutely kill him if he took another step closer. “You have the right to feel all of this. I made a huge mistake and I’m so sorry. I just want the chance to make it better.”
“I’m sorry, Jacob. I can’t give you another chance at anything. Ever.”
“But what about my feelings for you? Does that mean nothing?”
She stood a little straighter and looked him square in the eye. “Actually, it would have meant everything to me if you hadn’t betrayed me. Because I love you too and now I have to figure out a way to fall out of love with you.”
She loves me. The full repercussions of his one vengeful act came at him with full force. He was about to lose the one thing, the one person, he truly cared about—Anna. “Then don’t do it. Give me the chance to make it right.”
“I can’t. You took my love and threw it away. And that means we’re done.”
Twelve
Optimism. Anna would’ve done nearly anything to cultivate a single optimistic thought as she stalked through the LangTel halls to her office. The satisfaction she’d once felt about working here was gone. LangTel was officially embroiled in a battle for survival, against a threat that was impossible to defeat because there was no real way to build a stronghold. No one knew who the mysterious big investor was, and as much digging as Adam and Anna did, they came up with virtually nothing.
The fact that Anna had slept with the enemy only made her life more miserable. Luckily, Adam had remained discreet about that fact, but it had made Thanksgiving especially tense. She prayed he wouldn’t say something about it to their mother. It was bad enough that Evelyn Langford had to know about the threat of takeover—LangTel was the bulk of her sizable nest egg, after all.
For the moment, Anna’s days were spent jumping through hoops for the board of directors, which had gotten her exactly nowhere, as they were likewise all consumed with the threat of a takeover. It all added up to one thing—her dream job felt more out of reach than ever.
And then there was her personal life, which in many ways felt more like her personal death. Having gone from the high of being with Jacob to the low of discovering what he’d been doing behind her back the entire time they were together had been far worse than jarring. It felt as if she’d been pushed off a cliff with no warning and most certainly nowhere soft to land.
Anna’s assistant, Carrie, filed into her office with a cup of coffee. “Is there anything else I can get you this morning, Ms. Langford?”
“No, thank you.” Anna settled in at her desk for the ten minutes of her day she actually looked forward to—reading the newspaper. At this point, she clung to the little things that made her happy. There weren’t many.
“Oh, before I forget, Ms. Louis was looking for you this morning.”
Anna glanced at her watch. “Can you buzz her and let her know that now is a good time?”
“Certainly.” Carrie closed the door quietly behind her.
Anna unfolded the business section and was immediately sickened by the headline beneath the fold. Sunny Side had sold. To a rival telecom, no less.
She quickly scanned the article, her heart pounding, half out of shock and the other half out of anger. Somewhere in there was sadness, but she hadn’t given in to that yet. It said that the sale was orchestrated by Jacob. So much for the big delay on their patent application. Was that another of his lies? Carefully crafted to lure her in? To what end, she did not know—seek revenge on Adam, get inside information on LangTel. Jacob had everything to gain and she’d had everything to lose. She simply hadn’t known it because she’d trusted him—with business, with her heart and her body. Bastard. Just when he couldn’t have possibly betrayed her in any worse a fashion, he had to go and twist the knife in her back. First he’d tried to destroy her family, then he yanked away her most promising business deal.
So that was it. Jacob really had moved on, in every way imaginable. The thought made tears sting her eyes, but she had to face the truth. There hadn’t been so much as a peep from Jacob since they’d broken up. Not a single word. She’d spent nights wide awake, wondering why it had all gone so wrong. Why was the perfect guy also the one who most hated her family? Why was he the man who had so easily betrayed her? It felt like some cruel joke, a tragic twist of fate.
