Page 139 of Dear Grumpy Boss

“Why don’t you ask for his number now?”

She waggled her brows. “I’m keeping him in suspense. This is my second weekend flirting with him. One more, I think, and he’ll be ripe for the plucking.”

Just like that, she’d managed to keep my tears at bay and make me laugh.

By evening, I hadn’t heard from Weston. In one of the rare moments I wasn’t being watched over by Saoirse, I took my keys, shucked my pride, and rode the elevator to the penthouse.

I let myself in and stopped in the doorway when I wasn’t met with the silence I’d been expecting.

“Hello?” I called.

The television went silent. “Lisie?”

“Miles?”

I ventured down the entryway and Miles appeared, his hands on his hips, a happy grin on his face.

“Hey. I didn’t expect to see you. Did Weston send you to make sure I wasn’t trashing his apartment?”

That answered whether Weston was here. I was disappointed, but I would have been even more so if he had been here, hanging out, ignoring my texts.

“No, he didn’t send me.” My keys dug into my curled-up hand. “Has he—is he at the office?”

Miles’s cocked his head, his brow crinkled with confusion. “Wait—you know he’s in California, right? He left this morning. Youdoknow that, right?”

Everything in me wanted to tell him yes, of course I knew that. But I was too taken aback to even pretend. My shock must have been written all over my face because Miles crumbled right along with me.

“No,” he whispered. “He didn’t.”

“I don’t know where he is,” I confirmed.

“Shit.” Miles came at me, scooping me into his arms the way he always did. “I’m sorry, Lisie. I don’t know what he’s doing.”

I sucked in a shuddering breath and let my forehead fall on his shoulder. Deep inside, I knew this was coming, but now that it was here, I couldn’t believe it.

This was my limit.

I loved Weston. I’d given him time, space, and understanding because of that. But this…this was too much. He got on a plane, flew states away, and I hadn’t even been a factor.

This wasn’t like when Patrick’s betrayal had slammed into me like a tidal wave. Weston’s destruction had been done by slowly and steadily chipping away at me until I was all raw nerves, cracked bones, and shriveled trust.

We were over without even a whisper of a conversation.

I stumbled back from Miles, my eyes blurry with tears. “I’m going to go.”

“You don’t have to. Stay with me.”

“No.” I swiped at my cheeks. “I can’t be here anymore.”

Just like his brother had, Miles let me go.

Chapter Thirty-four

Weston

Iwaslivinginmy own personal nightmare. The reports coming out of Brian Lewis’s factory made my stomach turn. The fact that Andes hadn’t been aware of his illegal disposal didn’t excuse it or make up for the long-term damage that had been inflicted on the environment.

We should have known.

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