Page 92 of My Forbidden Boss

David sits next to me, his thigh brushing against mine, and I wish only the two of us were in this room. “When it comes to you, I hang on to every word. Besides, these are good ideas, love. The best. I’ve told you that.”

Yes, but I didn’t believe it.

Now though. Now, it might be different.

I brush my thumbs over the print, and can’t help but wonder if he’s saying it because of the way he feels.

“I wouldn’t put them in the tender if I didn’t think this would win us the job, everything aside,” he says.

Heat flushes my cheeks. “Thank you for listening to me.”

His voice is soft. Intimate. “Anytime.”

I can’t help smiling. He smiles back and my heart leaps with a light, effervescent sparkle.

This man.

Why am I fighting him?

His smile drops and he grows serious. He takes my hand and the heaviness in my stomach returns. “I’ll be in the car waiting outside the cafe. Take the table by the window. I’ve reserved it under your name. If it becomes too much when Max is there, just signal me and I’ll come straight in, plans be damned. I don’t care what it costs. I want you to be safe.”

I draw a shaky breath, steeling myself for what has to come next.

“I’ll come with you.”

I glance at Mom. “You don’t have to.”

“I can sit in a car, Adeline. If something goes wrong, I want Max to look in my face. I want him to see what he’s done to both of us,” she says.

I nod and concede, because this is for her. I’m doing this to ensure she gets her entitlement. The years of living under Max’s disregard will be gone from this afternoon onwards. My nerves are raw as David drives us to the cafe. Time slips as I sit at the table nursing a blazing cup of coffee.

Max is thirty minutes late and when he sits it’s with a sneer. “Let’s get this over with, shall we? Tell me what Chandler’s been up to.”

My mouth dries. My thoughts tumble through my brain until I latch onto the one we rehearsed. “David’s on-side with your contractors. I overheard him talking to his CFO about the amount. They argued about the price. The CFO doesn’t want David to buy you out, but he’s gunning to take you down.”

Max rubs his bottom lip with sweating, pink fingers. I look at him up close to see any resemblance between us and don’t find a thing. I’m all my mother, and that makes me happy. “Did you overhear a price?”

I say the number David told me to. He said it was lower than the number he’d offered Max. “Is that a fact?” He muses the words. His eyes narrow and I watch the greed play across his face.

Max takes his cell and beats out a text. A return text comes back almost immediately. Max grunts. “Thinks he can play the hard game. He doesn’t understand how much this is going to cost him.”

Frost hits my veins. I glance out of the window at David’s parked car, making myself stay seated. David said he’d be ready for Max’s play. He and Tristan worked out the details, thinking of all contingencies. I gave Max the price they told me to say, well above what David wants to pay. Max plays right into David’s web. He thinks he’s driving a hard bargain when I know the offer on the table is the amount David is willing to pay.

I hope, in some small way, this makes up for what I’ve done to David. This is my way of making up for the damage I’ve done to Blue Sky.

Max doesn’t glance at me while he texts. I’m peripheral to his wants. His needs. I tap the top of the table, fighting the need to walk, to move, to do anything but sit two feet away from the man who has made my life a misery. After a flurry of text Max grunts, sits back and treats me to a smarmy smile. “He’s taken the bait. He’s signed. He can’t get out of it now. You were good for one thing, after all.”

He sneers, turns in his seat and stands, dismissing me. Something shifts inside. Furious rage rises from deep within my chest. Words push from my mouth on a rush of air and sparks of wrath. I will no longer take what Max deems to hand out to me. “How could you leave her?”

Max pauses. Flicks me a side-eye as his brow furrows into deep folds. “Who?”

I stare, shocked he doesn’t click I’m referring to Mom. “How could you leave my mother when she told you she was pregnant? Why did you never want me?”

He huffs, as though I’ve put him out. “Why would I stay with her? She couldn’t do anything for me.”

My limbs burn. I can’t sit. Can’t contain myself anymore. I stand, adrenaline making my muscles ping. I plant my palms on the table, noting the misted moisture around my splayed fingers.

I see Max as I’ve never seen him before, with fresh eyes. A new perspective. Rage has given me clear sight.

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