Page 22 of Beautiful Betrayal

“Do you really want to talk about this on the phone?” Eric asks.

“I’ll be right there.” I hang up and when I set the receiver back on the desk, I realize that my door is still shut but Becky is no longer in front of my desk.

I rotate to my right to find her on my side of the desk, naked from the waist up. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Thanking you for the case.” She steps into me and I grab her arms, holding her back. “Get dressed. Now.” I set her back from me.

My door opens and Mia gasps. “Oh my God,” she whispers, and my heart is thundering in my ears, adrenaline surging through me. “It’s not what it looks like, Mia. I swear.” I release Becky and the stupid bitch wraps her arms around me and presses her breasts to my chest. “Fuck. Get off me.” I shove her back and rotate toward the door, but Mia is already turning away. “Mia! Fuck. Mia.” Becky comes back at me, wrapping her arms around my waist. “Get the fuck off of me, Becky.” I untangle her from my body and I’m around the desk in a blink, chasing after Mia, and I don’t give a fuck who knows.

“Mia!” I shout watching her round a corner and damn it, I pray the elevator is shut and slow to reach her.

I race in her direction, but I’m too late. She’s in the elevator and I reach the doors right before they close; just in time to see the stricken look on her face, in time to look into her eyes and see the pain, but unable to get to her. “It’s not what it looks like!” I call out as the doors shut and immediately head for the stairs. I’m in the stairwell in another blink and I start the run down thirty flights. I exit to the lobby and search for Mia, but she’s not there. I charge for the front door and burst onto the street and again, she’s not fucking there. I head back inside and scan my surroundings before going back outside. Nothing. I grab my phone from my pocket and I dial Mia.

“Answer, baby. Answer the damn call.” But she doesn’t answer. I dial again. I send her a text:It’s not what it looked like. I turned my back and she undressed. I swear to God, Mia. It was not what it looked like. She flung herself at me. I love you. You’re everything to me.

I pace the lobby and call the security for our building. “If Mia gets there, I don’t care what it takes, you call me, and you keep her there. There’s a thousand dollars in it for you. No, five. Five thousand dollars.” I hang up and anger takes over the panic.

I walk to the elevator and punch the button, dialing Eric while I wait. “Meet me in Becky’s office with the security guard in three minutes.” I don’t give him time to respond. I hang up and step into the car.

Once I’m inside, I inhale and force out a breath, forcing myself to calm. The floors tick by and I exit, entering the office lobby, but I don’t stop. I cut left and walk past the bullpen of cubicles to an office on the right where Eric and the guard are waiting. “Is she in there?” I ask.

“She is,” Eric says.

I start forward, step inside and Eric and the guard flank me, then step to my side. Becky is behind her desk, her hair now neatly pulled back at her nape, a look of shock crosses her face, rocketing her to her feet. “What is this?” she demands.

“Pack up and leave,” I say. “You’re fired.”

She blanches. “What? No. You can’t fire me.” Her voice lifts and takes on a desperate quality. “I’ll claim sexual harassment.”

I lean on the desk, my fists on the wooden surface. “If you just made me lose Mia, I’ll destroy you and enjoy it. Hell, I’ll destroy you and enjoy it just for making her feel what she’s feeling right now. So you want to sue me? Bring it the fuck on, but get out.”

Chapter sixteen

Mia

The past, a year ago

Idon’t know how I make it out of the office building without crying. I don’t even know how I get blocks away on foot. I search the area around me and I don’t even know where I am. A cab with a light on drives by and I chase after him. He stops. For once a New York City cab driver actually stops for me. I climb inside. “Just drive,” I say. “Just drive and there’s a big tip in it for you. And ignore me back here.” The minute the car starts moving, the inevitable happens. I burst into tears, a fierce, body-quaking explosion. I cry and cry and I don’t even try to hold back.

“Big tip,” I call out when the driver looks back at me. “Just drive.” My phone starts ringing again and I know it’s Grayson. Of course it’s Grayson. He’s busted. He’s so very busted. I don’tlook at my phone. I want to throw it out of the window. I have nowhere to go. I can’t go home. It’s his home that was clearly never mine. That’s what I get for moving in with a man at three months and then accepting a proposal at nine months. “Out—out of the city,” I sob to the driver. “A hotel. Queens or Brooklyn. I don’t care which. Just take me. A hundred dollars on top of your fare.”

I sink back against the cushion and look at my gorgeous special ring that seemed to have so much thought behind it. It meant something. Now it doesn’t. It doesn’t mean anything. I squeeze my eyes shut and the image of Becky pressed to Grayson, no, herbreastspressed against Grayson, twists me in knots. He fired me from the case and gave it to her. Now I know why. My phone rings again and I grab it, stare at Grayson’s number and turn it off. It’s off.We’reoff. We’re over forever.

I start to cry all over again and curl up against the door behind the driver’s seat. I lose time inside the tears until finally, the driver stops. “Holiday Inn, sweetheart,” the driver says. “That’s as good as it gets right now. I’m done driving.”

I open my purse, glance at the meter and toss him cash; I always have cash because Grayson always worries I might need it. Or he did. Those days are over. Maybe he didn’t worry at all. I exit the car and try to pull myself together. I have to walk into this hotel and get a room without blubbering. I shut the cab door and it races away. I glance around and the airplane overhead tells me I’m close to the airport. Maybe I’ll just fly away and go somewhere. It’s not like I have a job now. Grayson owns that, too. I think I let him own everything I am and that was okay when I thought I had everything he was, but I was wrong. I didn’t have all of him. I had nothing and I have nothing.

I swipe at my cheeks and walk into the hotel lobby. I actually hold it together. I’m proud of myself. I grab my key and once I make it into the room, I’m done holding it together. I meltdown right there at the door. I sink to the floor. I lie there. Time passes and passes and I just don’t stop hurting. I don’t even know when I come to enough to realize that I’m in the dark. I don’t care, though. I dig in my purse and turn my phone back on. Grayson calls immediately and I hit “decline” and dial my friend, Courtney, because now I have to admit my hell to someone, and who better than my best friend since childhood?

“Mia!” she says. “Grayson is looking for you. He’s worried sick. What’s happening?”

“I need you to come to me. I need you.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m not dying or anything, even if I feel like it. Just come.”

“Where are you?” she asks, urgently.

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