Page 27 of The Acquisition

"You were staying with Greyson? What happened to your apartment?" he asked.

I guess my efforts to appear busy weren't effective since Sabrina seemed to be the tidiest woman on the planet. The counters in the kitchen were wiped clean and no dishes sat waiting in the sink.

Several replies ran through my head. I initially leaned toward a snarky response, but ultimately the day's exhaustion wore me down.

"I don't know if you saw the scene I made with my father at that stupid launch party, but afterwards he froze all my assets, including my apartment."

"How can he do that?"

I shrugged. "He's the trustee on my accounts. I can't gain sole control over them until I'm thirty. Now I may never get them back."

"What are you going to do?"

The door to Sabrina's room opened, and she came out wearing the dress paired with a cute pink jacket and matching pumps and bag.

Malcolm stared at her the way I once watched him. I knew the pain of unrequited love, and if he hadn't knowingly strung me and my lovesick teenage self along I'd feel bad for him.

"What do you mean, what is she going to do? We non-rich people do pretty well. Besides, I think ownership of ten percent of a massive global corporation would still make Jana quite wealthy."

He blinked rapidly several times. "You own ten percent of Anderson Global?"

I nodded, because whether we made an announcement or not, the rumors would spread around the business community within days anyway.

"I will as soon as I sign the paperwork to transfer the shares."

There was a knock on the door. She spun and her skirt twirled around her. "How do I look?" she whispered.

I gave her a thumbs up, and she sauntered over to the door. "Hey, Aaron. Oh, wow!" I glanced over my shoulder and saw him hand her a bouquet of daisies. "Come in for a second so I can put these in some water. Thank you so much. How did you know they were my favorite?"

"Lucky guess." He walked past Malcolm who tensed up. "Hi, Jana."

"Hey, Aaron. How's it going?"

He smiled, and he really was pretty cute. Not the type that jumped right out at you, but he had a similar sunny disposition to Sabrina.

"Really well. I didn't know you and Sabrina are roommates."

"Just moved in today."

Sabrina took a lovely blue glass vase out from a lower cabinet and filled it with water. She plopped the flowers inside and displayed them on the small kitchen table.

"Ready?" she asked him.

Malcolm opened his mouth, likely to object, but I discreetly elbowed him in the side.

"Have fun!" I called out over the grunt Malcolm made when I elbowed him.

Sabrina dropped her keys into her pink clutch, and the two of them exited the apartment.

Malcolm and I stood awkwardly in the living room. Neither of us spoke, and I didn't actually have any things to move in so there wasn't a reason to go into my new bedroom.

"I know you don't want to talk to me, but you're going to see me around a lot more if you're moving in with Sabrina."

My smile was forced. "I managed to ignore you for a year after we broke up. I can do the same here."

As I turned to walk away, Malcolm grabbed my shoulder. "I'm not that eighteen-year-old asshole anymore. I know I hurt you, and I wish I could take it back, but I can't. Is there any way we can move past it?"

Never show them you care, had become one of my mantras since I broke up with him. Plastering another fake smile on my face, I replied, "There's nothing to move on from. It's been ten years. I'm over it."

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