Page 75 of My Forbidden Boss

The silence is thick on the end of the phone, but at least the call is still active.

“Adeline is…special to me. I fucked up big time. I have to talk to her. Please, I…” Fuck, my voice cracks and my throat tightens and swallows my words. “I didn’t tell her I love her.”

Maddy’s breath hitches. “If you’re lying to me…”

“I’m not…I’m not lying, Maddy. Adeline, she’s…she’s special. So special,” I whisper.

“If you fuck her around, I’ll cut off your balls and feed them to lions,” she says.

“I’ll personally hand you the knife,” I say.

My palms sweat. Every part of me sweats as I wait for her answer until finally she tells me Adeline’s address. I feel the frown tightening my brow as the punch lands to my gut. I slump into my office chair.

“That’s the development site,” I say.

“She came back today. If you want to see her, you’ll have to drive here. There’s no other way to contact her if you have her cell,” Maddy says.

The address isn’t a nice little house with a white picket fence in a comfortable middle-class suburb. I’ve seen the photos. I know what that building is. The dilapidated front hides a worse interior. It was the major reason they slated it for development.

And Adeline lives there.

Chapter 27

Adeline

I pass Mom a cup of coffee and sit next to her on the sofa, sinking into the seat that gave out a decade ago, which was why it was on the side of the road where I found it and dragged it home. It still beat what we had, which was little more than a wooden frame and threadbare material. It might be worn, but it’s clean, and it’s ours and makes living in the small four room apartment bearable.

At least, that’s what I tell myself.

It’s hard coming home, because I know the difference. My eyes have been opened to luxury. To the way normal people live. To new clothes and furniture and enough food to stave off hunger pains. Not the hunger pains because a meal is due, but the gut-churning agony that wraps around the backbone and turns a stomach inside out. The type that causes a person to steal. To lie. To be blackmailed.

I know what it’s like to be held in strong, tender arms. To be looked at with affection, as though I have value and worth.

I know what it’s like to lose it all.

“Thank you, sweetie,” Mom says. She sips and smiles at me. “Are you sure we can afford milk in our coffee?”

I return her smile. I will never leave her on her own again. She’s thinner than she was a few weeks ago. Maddy did her best, but she couldn’t stay here like I do, and I know Mom wasn’t able to care for herself the way she pretends she did.

“I earned good money in New York,” I say.

Mom squeezes my hand. “Such a pity it was a temporary job. It must have been exciting to live in the city.”

“All good things must come to an end. I’m happy to be back,” I say.

“They should have seen your worth and extended the job. You work hard. They’ll never get as good an employee as you,” Mom says.

If she only knew.

I was lucky David hadn’t called the police. It was in his rights to do so, and I wouldn’t have blamed or stopped him. He still might. What I did isn’t going away. There’ll be plenty of time for repercussions.

I jump at the scuff of footsteps outside the too-thin front door, wondering how someone hasn’t broken it down before now. I hear everything in the corridor outside. The raucous voices of a group of teens stomping past, the distant pounding of a bass guitar, an angry shout and shattering glass.

This is my home.

A home we won’t have for much longer.

I haven’t honored my deal with Max. He’ll throw us out and despite my best intentions, Mom and I will be homeless.

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