Page 4 of Elevating Eve

It was everything she ever dreamed of.

Everything she wanted when she got involved with Frank all those years ago. What he convinced her he could give her.

She even believed him for a while. But somewhere along the line, things started to devolve. By the time their relationship turned intothis, she’d been with him so long that she wasn’t even sure how to go about leaving.

Fuck, she really did need to leave. But she’d lose literally everything she had in the process, and not just her home and security. Her father and Frank founded DHFT Construction a year before she was born, and virtually all her memories of her father involved this company. Losing her job would be like losing her dad all over again.

Besides, they had joint banking. She knew damn well Frank wouldn’t let her take anything out of the accounts without a fight. Everything with him was a fight these days.

Jonathan, on the other hand, never allowed his anger to reach the surface. Even last night when she told him about Frank and those stupid fucking tiles.

That had been a mistake. She knew it even as the confession tumbled out of her mouth last night. Frank was going to go fucking ballistic when he found out.

She couldn’t bring herself to regret it, though.

Maybe Jonathan wouldn’t tell Frank where he got the info. Or maybe?—

The thought died away as Frank stormed into the room, fury flashing in his eyes, his lips in a tight line.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.She needed to leave before things got out of hand. If she could just slip around back and head into town for a cup (or five) of coffee while he got his temper under control.

Too late. Frank spotted her across the room, and he took three long, way-too-loud breaths as he stared daggers at her. “I need to speak with you. Privately.” Barely contained rage vibrated beneath the words.

Her heart pounded so hard and fast in her chest, it felt like a hammer slamming against her ribs. “I think we should talk after you’ve had a chance to calm down.”

That was definitelythe wrong thing to say. The expression that flashed across his face scared her so much she took several steps back, until a wall stud halted her progress.

Stalking across the room, Frank grabbed her upper arm in a painfulgrip. “Don’t you dare embarrass me more than you already have,” he hissed under his breath.

Eve knew exactly what would happen if she followed him outside. And she was fuckingdone.

“No.” The single syllable seemed to reverberate through the room. “Let go of me.”

Frank’s eyes widened for the space of a heartbeat, before narrowing into tiny slits. “Everyone go outside and take a break,” he said, raising his voice so people in the adjoining rooms would also hear.

“For God’s sake.” Eve rolled her eyes and tried to follow her crew out.

His grip on her arm tightened even more, making her gasp at the pain. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Frank spat down at her as the last of the workers filed through the door.

She looked pointedly down at his fingers wrapped around her arm, then back up into his eyes. “Same question.”

“Don’t get cute with me.” He gave her arm a little shake, making her teeth rattle. “Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused me?”

Eve tried to yank her arm out of his grip, but his long, thick fingers were too strong. “I’m not doing this again,” she said, trying to keep the fear out of her voice, without much success. “If you have a problem with me, talk to me about it. Don’t grab me and yell at me and...” She let the sentence trail off. Neither of them acknowledged the rest of it out loud. Never. “This is exactly why I keep trying to get you to go to couples therapy with me.”

“Fuck couples therapy.” His standard response any time she brought it up.

She took a steadying breath, willing herself to stay calm and not give in to panic. “We need to learn how to communicate in a healthier way.” She sounded cold and detached, like an AI voice relaying directions through a GPS app. “Acalmerway.”

“Stop.” Danger lurked deep within that one word. “I don’t know how you expect me to be calm when you went behind my fucking back and cost me twenty grand.”

“Twenty grand?” Eve repeated, surprised. As far as she wasconcerned, he was lucky DHFT wasn’t fired from the project. That would’ve lost him a hell of a lot more than twenty thousand dollars.

Frank shook her again, and she ground her teeth together this time, so hard her jaw hurt. “Because of your big fucking mouth, Hale said he’d sue me if I didn’t cover the difference between the old tile and the new one. And the prick picked the most expensive fucking tile in the box.”

Some part of him had to know his shady actions caused this. Had to understand that when you do dishonest or illegal shit, sometimes it bites you in the ass.

When she looked into his eyes, though, she saw nothing there but raw fury, one hundred percent of it directed at her.

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