Page 48 of Forbidden Boss (Manhattan Billionaires)

They came to a stop in front of us, and Joanne inspected Rome’s tux, then my dress, her lips pursing ever so slightly.

“You brought the girl,” she said, not looking at me.

“Hello, Mother. Father,” Rome replied, inclining his head. “Congratulations. You must be happy about all this.”

“I really would have preferred you came alone,” his mother said, “or brought someone more appropriate.”

An elongated pause. “The food leaves a bit to be desired,” Rome noted.

They were doing that thing again—talking past each other. Having two separate conversations where the things that weren’t said were as meaningful as the things that were.

It reminded me of my teenage years with my mother. After my father died, she was consumed with grief—we both were—but she forgot that I needed her. I didn’t exist to be her shoulder to cry on. Didn’t exist to ease her pain. She forgot that I was hurting just as much as she was. So we talked exactly like Joanne spoke to Rome. At each other, instead of with. Never connecting, and never even attempting to.

I inhaled slowly, trying to tamp down the heat that crawled up my neck.

“The Gerbers have a daughter, you know,” Joanne said, her gaze flicking to me for the briefest moment. I gathered I was supposed to wonder who the Gerbers’ daughter was, and how she stacked up against me.

Too bad for Joanne, I had the benefit of a contract and a healthy paycheck to keep me right here, smiling politely at her hidden barbs.

“I don’t know the Gerbers or their daughter,” Rome finally replied directly. “Nikita has accompanied me to every event for the past three weeks. It would be noticed if she weren’t here tonight.”

“Still,” Joanne said, her lips curling as she glanced down my gown. “It amazes me how you manage to make things about yourself.”

Rome stiffened next to me.

“Your mother’s right,” his dad said, leaning in as he lowered his voice. “Attending these events solo never seemed to bother you before, and now the spotlight is on you and your date instead of on your mother where it rightfully should be. Why couldn’t you just come alone? You couldn’t do that for your mother, just this once?”

Outrage filled me and moved my tongue before I could clamp my mouth shut. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

For the first time, Rome’s parents met my gaze, their expressions startled, as if they’d forgotten I was able to speak.

I sneered at them. “Why do you want your son to be alone? Do you enjoy the thought of isolating him from people? Is that why you sent him away when he was just a boy and rubbed his face in it when you had a second child?”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Joanne whispered at me, the apples of her cheeks growing bright red.

“I know damn well what it feels like to be the family punching bag,” I replied in the same harsh whisper.

“You shut your mouth, you little?—”

“Mother.” The word whipped out from Rome’s mouth, sharp.

Her eyes widened, and Rome’s father cut in. “Get a handle on your woman, boy.”

Rome’s hand appeared on my lower back. Suddenly, my blood ran cold. What had I done? What had Isaid? I was supposed to be the perfect, charming companion who took all the off-color jokes and the boring conversation and pretended to love it.

I wasn’t supposed to talk back to my boss’s mother, of all people. Especially not on a night when she was the guest of honor.

Her face was tight, and, judging by the fury and triumph flashing in her eyes, she knew I’d just realized I’d messed up.

Slight pressure on my back drew my attention to Rome, whose other hand wrapped around my elbow. He guided me around his parents and led me toward the front of the room, where the exit was located. He murmured greetings to people as we sliced through the crowd, not slowing down as he marched me out of there.

My chest collapsed. I’d messed up. I’d messed upbad.

With every step we took, dread grew claws that sank into my chest. In the far corner of the room, a corridor led off toward the bathrooms. Rome walked me down the hallway, past the bathrooms, all the way to a stairwell. The sound of our footsteps echoed as we walked up the steps, and all I could do was focus on keeping my steps steady as my mind whirled.

I shouldn’t have said anything. I’d forgotten myself. I was reading into our relationship when all it should have been was professional. My attraction to the man blinded me and made me mess up, and now I’d be jobless and homeless, and?—

And I’d never see Rome again. That shouldn’t have been the thought that made me want to burst into tears, but it was.

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