Page 14 of Conquered Obstacles

The sale with the other factory behind us was finished as well at the end of last month. It’d been gutted and converted. The previous owner found out after it was all done and he went back to check it out and found me standing there. He threw a fit, but there wasn’t anything he could really do.

I told him to bitch to the media all he wanted because that was really all he could do. If he wanted to sound like a fool that he’d been played, his investors would probably love that, and his employees would absolutely feel secure working for him if he threw a fit like that.

So far, he hadn’t done it, but I bet he planned on throwing darts at my head at least.

But we transferred the meat buns and soup production over there. We’d have to make some adjustments and figure out how to ramp up best. Jamie was all over it now that the upgrades needed were put in.

All I knew was Costco was thrilled because they sold out of the meat buns before they could barely put them in the freezers. And we got requests for more soup all the time at the bakery. The food trucks sold out of it the moment they parked—people wanted more of all of it and more locations.

A few times over the week I felt huge surges of power that took my breath away that were a big help to make things work.

We announced that the St. Patrick’s Day pickups would be at the bakery but also different AMC locations that people could opt into. Dion came up with a text line to send their order number to and then they could designate their location. It confused the crap out of me, but the twins were thrilled and said it was genius.

If they were happy and said it was smart, I was happy and thanked him.

And I made the entire factory in Huntsville full of shamrock-shaped Krispie treats for him to give away for free at AMC theaters over St. Patrick’s Day weekend in thanks. They were going to start working on fixing the place up for what we needed soon, so Hades showed us another huge warehouse he had for… I didn’t want to know.

It was massive, and I doubted good things happened there.

Now it would be for all my extra treats and Dion would know about it and could take from. I even made the wards from my dining room always transfer there. If my power made treats appear on my dining room table while I was asleep, they would automatically appear in that warehouse… And I could clean it up on pallets later.

So it was a very productive week, and we were moving forward on a lot of plans that everyone wanted.

But once again pushed back what I had actually wanted to focus on. It left me a bit anxious and forced me to push my personal feelings aside and contact one of the last people I wanted to see.

Or not really, but it hurt me to see him.

I had loved to stare into his pretty bright bottle-green eyes. I had found his reddish-blond hair attractive and even how it hung in his face since it was a bit longer. It was how he showed his emotions at times because he had a very confident exterior being so attractive, well educated, and smart.

But sometimes you could get a glimpse of his doubts and who Colton Knight really was when he tucked his hair behind his ears or fidgeted with it. And I had loved knowing that, seeing that side of him.

Now it hurt.

Sitting across from him hurt me.

“Thank you for coming,” I mumbled as I set down the juice he liked and his favorite muffin, swearing mentally that I still remembered he would have asked for that and I gave it to him.

And he smiled as if touched I’d done it. “Of course.”

“It’s for work,” I bit out.

He nodded, staring at the muffin. “Work, right.” He reached out, and I realized almost too late it was to touch my hand.

I reacted in time so he didn’t but knocked over my own juice, jumping as well and hitting my plate so my muffin went flying. I blinked at the mess, and it was how I felt about the situation… And fled.

“Arabella, are you okay?” Cora worried as she caught me on the first floor as I was about to go into the kitchen.

“I can’t do this,” I rasped knowing he would hear me and not caring. “I tried to talk to him about work, about the apartments at the factory. I didn’t want to start trouble because I thought his company had announced they would be part of the project. If we hired someone else it would make them look bad, and I didn’t want either of us to take the hit because of personal.”

“What did happen personally?” she demanded, giving me a bit of a shake. “It’s time to tell one of us. Please. We’re all scared he did something unforgivable.”

I swallowed loudly, the begging in her tone breaking me and making me finally crack and say something. “He knew one of the men who brutalized me.” I nodded when she flinched. “Not well. They weren’t friends, but he knew him. He knew who I was and didn’t tell me. He’s known all along and didn’t tell me until someone found me and it exploded. He knew.”

“What the fuck is wrong with some people?” she whispered.

“He didn’t think it was a big deal,” I mumbled.

“Then it wouldn’t have been a big fucking deal to tell you,” she snapped. “There are always ways to bring it up or discuss things. There are always ways to—someone else could have helped mediate it or—there is always a way.”

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