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He ignores me as he tabs his thumb across the surface of his cell phone. “And so I pull up the key leadership profiles, and look what I discovered.” He turns the screen in my direction. I don’t even have to look at it to know what he’s showing me—a photo of Rachel Bradly. “My first thought? This girl’s way too hot to be running a stuffy old financial advisory firm.” He cocks a brow. “The second thought was, wouldn’t it have been cheaper to just ask her out to dinner like a normal guy? Did you really have to drop $10 million just to get her attention?”
I snort. “Oh, you’re one to talk. Dennis from accounting nearly went into cardiac arrest when he saw your last expense report.”
“Hey, I was showing a very special lady a very good time,” Parker says without missing a beat. “No, you’re always the logical one, pinching pennies at every opportunity. If you bought this company, it wasn’t over a pretty face.”
I rise from my desk. “Parker, play time is over. One of us has to run this company.”
“Is shethe one?” he asks, blue eyes creased with concern. “I mean, she’s from your hometown, and she fits Rachel’s description to a ‘T’.”
Parker had been my roommate all through college and even after we graduated and landed jobs in Silicon Valley. So, yeah, I confided in him about Rachel and how she’d nearly destroyed my life. He knew how deep the wounds were that she’d inflicted upon me and how much I’d suffered before I turned myself around.
“Ha, I knew it,” Parker says triumphantly as he props himself up, elbows on knees. “It’s a beast move, I’ll give you that, but what are your intentions? You think she has a clue that you’re the one who bought her company?”
“Not one,” I answer with a smile. “That’s why I had one of our subsidiaries purchase them. That team’s been managing all the negotiations with legal since the beginning.”
Parker nods approvingly. “Ok, so…how long do you plan to keep her in the dark? It’s been nearly a month since all the papers were signed.”
“I know, I’ve just been busy,” I say indicating some papers on my desk. Anything to avoid admitting I’ve been letting her stew in her own juices. Twice I’ve had my secretary reschedule our introductory meeting just to remind her that she works around my schedule and will be at my beck and call this time around.
I’ve imagined our reunion a thousand times. I’ve listened to more versions of Rachel’s pathetic apologies than I care to remember. I imagine her on her knees, begging for my forgiveness, asking me to understand the pressure she was under. All I can do in response is coldly sneer down my nose at her and wonder how I ever could’ve loved her. My heart involuntarily wrenches at that harsh vision and replaces it with images of beautiful Rachel lying in my arms, warm honey-toned legs wrapped around my waist. She’d promised me that she’d love me forever, swore to me that nothing could tear us apart.
“I see,” Parker says unconvincingly as he rises from the sofa. “Hey man, just go ahead, have your big revenge day, and get this whole thing over with. It’s been eating you up for far too long now.”
It was true, but I’d lived with the pain for so long, it was like the comfort of an old friend. Once I reveal myself to Rachel, having proven myself equal, if not superior, to her, what then? No, it can’t end that quickly. I’ll draw this out until she’s begging me for mercy.
“You’re right about that,” I say, tapping at my keyboard to message my administrative assistant. “It’s time I purged that cancer from my life once and for all.” I instruct my assistant to schedule the meeting with Rachel Bradly for 8 a.m. tomorrow. I know the perfect way to punish Rachel and to exact my revenge.
Chapter three
Rachel
Iscreamattheclock as I pull into the parking deck of my office building at 7:54am. Traffic had been a bleeding nightmare this morning. It will take three minutes to reach the main lobby and another two or three taking the elevator. I can just make it.
But the moment I hit the lobby, I see the flaw in my plan. It was packed with people already waiting on one elevator as the other appeared to be down for scheduled maintenance.
“You’ve got to be freaking kidding me,” I growl. I spot a few other people heading for the stairwell. I fall in behind, slipping off my Manolo Blahniks to hike it up five flights of stairs in record time.
“Excuse me, excuse me,” I say as I pass the others. It won’t do well for the president of the newly acquired company to show up late to meet the new owners. I reach the landing, open the door, and make a mad dash down the corridor to my corner office. I ignore all the eyes glued to me as they probably wonder if the place is on fire.
“Has he arrived yet?” I say as I approach my admin.
“Yes, but it’s not Frank Doyle,” Lisa says, craning over her desk, her blond bob swinging forward. “It’s Doyle’s boss who’s here to see you.”
I frown. “Doyle’s boss? What the hell?”
“You might want to,” Lisa points at my disheveled clothing and gestures at my hair, “spruce up a bit.”
I slip my heels back on and arrange my blouse, tucking it back into the waistband of my skirt. “Better?”
Lisa helps me pin back some lose strands of hair that have fallen from my updo. “There, you look great.”
“Thanks, I had to run up the stairs. One of the damn elevators was down.”
“I know. I sent you a text to warn you.”
I retrieve my cell from my jacket pocket and see the message. “I was so preoccupied with the crappy traffic, I didn’t even notice it.”
She makes jabbing motions toward the door. “It’s 8:01. You’d better not keep him waiting.”
