Page 72 of My Forbidden Boss

“Then tell me what it is, Adeline? I’m at a loss to understand what I did that was so wrong, you’d go behind my back like this.” To Bourke, of all people.

Then it snaps. The way he was so close to Adeline at lunch that day. His head tilted so close to hers, whispering to her. Trading secrets. Where I thought there was a threat, they played me.

“I’m sorry, David,” she says, her voice only a whisper.

I scoff. “Don’t answer that. I’m not falling for your act. Not now. I should have known from the start what you were after. What anyone is after. Samantha. You. You’re all the same. I thought you liked me. Hell, I thought whatever was between us was much more than that. I want to know where the lie ended and the truth began. Or was everything a lie? Every little second of it.”

That comment gets to her. She reaches for me, hand outstretched, but I flinch back so she can’t touch me. She’ll never touch me again. Her hand drops to her side. “It’s not a lie. It never was.”

I straighten my back. Look down at her. Gather my strength to do what must be done. “If it wasn’t a lie, nothing would be a secret between us. Is there a secret, Adeline?”

Her eyes glaze, filling with tears. I fill myself with numbness so they can’t affect me. “I…can’t.”

“If our relationship was what I thought it to be, you would be truthful with me,” I say.

She shakes her head, the soft strands of her hair curling against her cheek, and damn if I don’t want to reach out and slide my fingers through them. “It doesn’t matter. The damage has been done.”

In this I agree. It is irreparable, and fool that I am, I mourn the damage. I want to ask her why she didn’t tell me. Demand to know why she reeled me in. Need to know if she felt anything towards me at all, but it doesn’t matter. Our connection has been severed, the frayed ends agonizing every nerve in my body. “Did you tell Bourke what you said to Taylor?”

A line forms between her sleek brows, marring the smooth perfection of her forehead. “What?”

“About the residents of the housing projects being reestablished back into the development. Can I expect Bourke to submit a counter-tender with the same idea?”

“No, I…I said nothing like that to Max.”

Max. They’re on a first name basis. “What did you give him?”

Her face turns the type of pale that makes her appear as sick as I feel. Her hands clench and unclench. “I sent him some information Sophie sent me. Some emails too.”

Her words punch my gut. A foot thick pole would have the same effect. If there’s more, I’ll find out. Andrea will tell me, do doubt. I should have listened to her that first day when she wanted to send Adeline away. Which is something I’m going to rectify now. “Leave me, Adeline. Leave and don’t come back.”

She sucks in a sharp inhale. “You’re not going to press charges?”

She’s surprised. As though she’d expected me to do just that. She still kept up the charade, knowing that I would be in my rights to do that, but there’s nothing that would have been sent to her that would hurt Blue Sky in the time she’s been here. The idea she gave to Taylor will save the tender. Whatever damage she’s done, I’ll fix. “I just want you gone.”

Deep down there’s a part of me that has already forgiven her. A part of me that wants to kiss her and take her in my arms and have what we had an hour ago, but I smother those emotions. Stamp on them until the coals are blackened, cold lumps of ash. Those emotions will lead to more hurt. The damage she’s done hasn’t been to Blue Sky.

It’s been to me.

“For what it’s worth, I am so, so sorry,” she says, but I let her words slide off me through sheer force of will.

I turn away, nothing left to say. Unlock my office door. Push it open and when I turn back, the office space is empty. There’s no trace of Adeline. Not even a coffee cup on her desk. She’s a ghost, but the mark she left will never be removed.

I throw my case onto my desk. Walk to the windows and peer out. I watch the traffic pass below. Watch the clouds float across the sky. See the sun rise and arc over the rooftops. Everything is as untouchable as the deepest part of me.

Andrea comes in and asks if I want coffee. I think I answer her, but I’m not sure. I have calls to make. Meetings to manage, but I’m rooted in place. Immovable on the outside while I crumble on the inside.

The sky turns gray, then the lights flicker on all over the city, illuminating the streets in place of the sun. Night takes over the city. The traffic swells as people end their working day. The distant sounds of a busy office space quieten and when silence surrounds me thick and unwanted, I walk to my desk.

My hand catches the two cell phones in the side pocket of my case. I’d put our cells there when the receptionist handed them back to me, stretching our time together before the world had to intrude.

I throw Adeline’s cell on my desk, ignore the messages on my phone and call the only number I want, speaking when Tristan answers.

“She blind-sided me.” I tell him everything and Tristan listens to all the sordid details.

I berate myself. I should have seen something. Guilty people can’t keep up the act. Cracks always appear, yet with Adeline, there was simply nothing. Her passion was genuine when she spoke to Taylor about the people living in the housing project.

“She’s either the best actress who was ever born, or I have my head so far up my ass I can’t see straight,” I say.

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