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“You didn't see the video,” I countered. Moving to pick up my phone, I as
ked, “Do you want to see it?”
“No! I don't want to see it, but what if there is a plausible explanation for it?”
“Plausible explanation for having sex with his personal assistant?” I mumbled.
Jill sighed. “I don't know, but Theo asking you to marry him at the Board's request just doesn't seem like something he would go along with.” She stopped pacing. “Request a copy of the board meeting minutes. Then you will know for sure,” she suggested.
Right away, I requested the minutes and then just waited it out.
Theo had called, texted, and sent me Pictogram messages since that very night Penny confronted me, but I wouldn't answer. Each day his pleas to talk to me grew more desperate. Long winded voicemails. Lengthy emails about how much he loved me. Flowers. Candy. More flowers. Macaroons express shipped from a French patisserie in Nice, France.
I would accept none of it, but my heart couldn’t let go. Even when dumping the flowers, candies, and pastries in the dumpster outside the dorm, I still had hope that everything was a terrible mistake.
Before I could respond to Theo, I needed to see the minutes to know the truth. When the packet arrived two days later, Jill and I just stared at it before opening it.
Jill sat me down on the couch. “Whatever it says, good news or bad news, don't let it define you. You were a badass before you met Theo and still are.”
Taking a deep breath, I opened the envelope. Scanning the pages quickly, it was clear Penny had been telling the truth.
“At the recommendation of the board, CEO Wainwright is to develop a family-friendly persona with the end goal of revamping Pictogram’s image.”
A cry caught in my throat as the papers fluttered from my fingertips. Unable to speak, I just pointed to the line with a numb finger. Jill saw what I was pointing at and drew in a sharp breath. Hugging me as I cried, she said, “I'm so sorry, Mia. So sorry.”
Of course, she had been worried about Theo's playboy past, but she never imagined he would be sleeping with someone else within the company and even manipulate me to marry him. Jill was just as shaken as I was.
“He only proposed to me because they want to change the company's image after the orgy pictures.” My sobs were erupting from my mouth like sorrowful explosions.
Looking at my beautiful diamond ring on my finger, the pain of the truth shot through me. I was just a pawn in Theo's game. We would have gotten married, and the whole time he would be sleeping with Penny.
He was a monster. Theo and Penny both were. Theo tricked me into falling in love with him just for the sake of his company while Penny, his real girlfriend, knew about it the entire time.
Jill hugged me. “They are both manipulative scheming assholes that deserve each other.”
My best friend's efforts to soothe me fell flat. My heart was broken in a million pieces.
What was worse was that I still loved Theo. I had proof of his dishonesty, but something inside screamed that it just couldn't be true. Our time in Tennessee felt genuine. He had tears in his eyes when he told me how much he cared for me.
Our engagement felt just as sincere. The way he looked at me, his eyes peering back into mine so full of love.
But Theo was a superb actor pretending to love me and care for me. Every moment we had together hadn’t been real. The last few months of my life were all lies.
Chapter 21
Theo
When Mia didn’t return my phone calls or texts, I wasn’t immediately alarmed, reasoning she probably was busy with work or school. There was no reason for me to believe that anything was wrong between us. I’d seen her earlier that day at my house, and she seemed happy.
Since we had plans to go to dinner that night, I stopped by a lingerie store and picked out a sheer black two-piece baby doll negligee. More of a gift for me than her. Driving home, my cock hardened as I thought about seeing the thin fabric on Mia’s curves. She was so hot. Truly, I felt like the luckiest guy in the world.
When I drove up to my house, Mia’s car wasn’t in the driveway. Had I gotten the nights mixed up? Was she staying in Berkeley that night instead of with me?
No. We were meeting tonight. We talked about it this morning before we left for work. She hadn’t returned any of my texts, calls, or Pictogram messages all day.
Hurrying inside, I worried that something happened to her. An accident on the road. A crazed stalker. A million horrible possibilities flooded into my mind.
“Mia!” I called hoping she was there.
