Page 49 of Donut Overthink It

“How are you doing, sir?” I ask, taking it.

“Very well. My daughter was just telling me that you guys are planning to move to New York,” he says, and my heart starts to pound in my chest. Not now…

“We are,” Eve assures him.

He smiles proudly. “That makes me so excited.” He throws his right arm over her shoulders. “I miss my daughter and granddaughter so much.”

I tense as I hear Hadley spit out her drink beside me at the mention of his granddaughter. “Fuck.” I hear her friend hiss under her breath before she starts pounding on Hadley’s back. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” She chokes on the single word and then gasps. “I gotta go …” Hadley coughs before she takes off toward the restroom.

It takes everything in me not to follow her. “That is the plan.” I lie to my father-in-law.

His smile grows. “I just think you opening your own firm in New York would be your best idea yet. Other than marrying my daughter, of course.”

“Here you go, Mr. Kyle,” the bartender says from behind me.

I turn and pick up our drinks. I take a big swig of mine before I even hand Eve hers. “Darling?” she asks running her hand along my upper arm. “Did you ever speak to Had about that case …?” She trails off, motioning her head to where Hadley just ran to.

I take another drink. “I’ll talk to him later.”

“I think now is as good time as any,” she urges.

“Don’t let me keep you,” her father says, and I wave him off, taking another drink. “If you have business to tend to.”

Hadley just found out two of my biggest secrets. This is the last place I want to confront her because it would cause a big scene. And that’s what I want to avoid. “It can wait.”

“I’ll do it then,” she says, placing her drink on the bar behind me.

“Eve …” I call out, but she’s already turned and started walking away. One thing about Eve is that once she makes up her mind, there is no stopping her.

Fuck!

“So, son, have you started looking at available space in New York? I have a friend, O’Kane, that I know could help you find the right real estate. He’s had the company for ages, but he recently re-married, and his son has taken over.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

HADLEY

MY HANDS GRIP THE COUNTERTOP OF the hotel bathroom, my head hanging as I try to catch my breath. I think I’m hyperventilating.

“Just breathe,” Andrea says, rubbing my back.

“I ... can’t.” I suck in a ragged breath. He has a kid! Not only is the man a husband, but he’s also a father! Dear Lord, what I have got myself into?

“We need to leave,” she states, and I agree.

I couldn’t care less if he fires me at this point. Please fire me, Mr. Kyle. That would be a blessing in disguise.

I hear the door open, and I try to calm my breathing and racing heart, needing to look halfway presentable before I walk back through that crowd of people to exit.

“Hadley?”

My head snaps up when I hear the familiar voice. I look at the woman who stood in Aiden’s office this afternoon. The one I would have never guessed is his wife.

“I’m so sorry,” I say before I can even understand what is happening. This woman has had his kid! She deserves to know that I’m sorry for being the whore.

She gives me a soft smile. “There’s no reason to be sorry.”

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