AllFreeNovel
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He waved me inside and drove for another forty minutes.Haven’t we already passed the Arc de Triomphe several times?“Pardon?”
“Show me?” I pointed at the address, and then he drove two more avenues and parked. “Over there.”
“Merci,” I said, paying him. Somehow, it cost me ninety euros.
I reached the street with the duplex, and my tensed stomach eased. I waved at Andre, who was outside the house. He stalked toward me, yelling, “There you are! I dropped you off at Givenchy six hours ago. Where have you been?”
Where on earth was this anger coming from? “I went to Versailles.”
He scoffed. “Why didn’t you call? I’m going to lose my job.”
“I’ll explain to Paul,” I said. “You will not lose your job. Please calm down.”
I walked up the path to the house and opened the door. Paul was in the living room with Laurence, pacing and talking to a police officer.
Paul came charging out of the living room. “Tomas said he left youhoursago. Where the hell have you been?”
“Versailles. My phone died. I took a taxi, but he couldn’t find the house,” I mumbled.
The police officer eyed me coolly, writing on his pad. “You traveled to Versailles with no working phone, and a taxi took you on a tourist joyride. We’ll call off the search,MonsieurCrane.”
Paul and the officer spoke in rapid French and shook hands. “I want everyone to leave except Nadia,” Paul announced as he clenched his jaw and pointed at the bench. “You, take a seat.”
Laurence, along with the rest of the staff in our vicinity, left without a word.
My stomach lurched, but I sat down. Paul glared at me, not speaking.
“It wasn’t Andre’s fault,” I began. “I went on my own, and I like him. Please don’t fire him.”
“I’m not upset with Andre. I am upset with you. No one knew where you were, Nadia, and you don’t speak the language. Anything could have happened to you. Laurence would’ve taken you to Versailles. Hell,Iwould’ve if you’d asked. Why did you leave the studio?”
I squared my shoulders. “I have my reasons.”
“Dammit, Nadia. Tell me now,” he growled.
I licked my dry lips. “Linux and Mickey said some things about me and you.” Saying it aloud sounded childish, but it was out there now.
“What the fuck did they say about you?” he demanded, raising his voice.
I peered at him through my lashes. “They called me a rebound, Paul. Mickey justified it because he was hard as fuck—his words—when he met me. Linux claimed I’d bore you with my amateur sketches and made it clear that she’d behave like me if it meant you’d fuck her. Anyway, they spoke the truth about who I am to you, and that’s why I was upset. I’m sorry I left without saying goodbye. As I really didn’t want to stay there, I went to Givenchy. I guess I wanted to heal my bruised ego,” I said, throwing my hands up.
Paul pushed a table over, shattering a glass vase. “And I spentmytime on them? Fuck Linux. She hurts and disrespects what’sminein my studio with my music. She can fucking forget everything. I’m pulling everything from her—”
“You can’t do that over her insulting me. I’m over it now. You’re running a business. People say stupid things—”
“That’s not how it works in my world. Linux doesn’t do anything on her own. I write, produce, and financially support her work. My music put her on the charts. Yet, after all I did for her, she came to my studio and disrespected me. I won’t allow anyone to get away with disrespecting me. She tried me by flirting today, but gossiping and hurting you is too great of an offense to ignore. I’ll shelve the music or give it to another artist. I have at least three already in mind.”
“It’s that easy for you, Paul?” My tone was harsh.
He didn’t answer, but I knew the truth. A man of Paul’s caliber didn’t have to deal with anyone he didn’t want to in his life.The blood rushed in my veins, and my heartbeat quickened.He’ll replace me just as quickly.
“You weren’t going to tell me. We had a deal you would tell me everything,” he snapped. It was hard to look at his beautiful face transformed into anger. The tense posture of his powerful body that I knew could be so passionate and tender with me.
I took a deep breath. “Your work is more important.”
Paul took my words as if I had hit him, falling silent for several minutes.
“I always want the truth. You kept your secret and disappeared, and that made me panic. Did you think about how I would feel?” He rubbed the stubble on his jaw. “I couldn’t concentrate or get anything done at all, thinking you were somewhere alone and hurt. Now I’m behind and will have to double my work for the rest of the trip.”
