Page 38 of American Beauty

My hands grip the armrests, the room tilting as I struggle to form a coherent thought.

Gabby lowers the tablet, her expression unreadable. “Magnolia?”

There’s no point in denying it. Lying would only make this worse.

I force myself to meet her gaze, my voice barely steady. “It’s true. All of it.”

Gabby’s expression hardens. “Tell me what happened. I need to hear the facts from you.”

I take a slow, steady breath, my fingers twisting in my lap. “I never meant for it to happen. Alex—Mr. Sebring—he asked to speak with me in his dating suite. He wanted to practice his conversation before his date.”

Gabby arches a brow. “That’s not part of our services.”

A sad smile tugs at my lips. “True, but it seemed harmless at the time.”

I square my shoulders, wanting to defend myself. “You asked us to take on new roles, Gabby. You wanted us to be flexible, to put our clients at ease. I thought I was doing my job by fulfilling his request.”

“Helping a client be comfortable and dating him are two different things.”

“I wasn’t dating him… at least not at first. I was helping him as he requested. And then he asked me to meet outside the suites. I didn’t think it would turn into anything.”

“He asked you to meet up?”

Well, I supposed that’s not exactly how it happened. “He told me where he was going to be that night.”

“And you took it upon yourself to go?”

It sounds so much worst when she puts it like that. “I perceived it as an invitation.”

Her lips press together in a thin line, disappointment flickering across her face. “It sounds like you pursued him.”

I don’t have a legitimate argument for that.

Gabby sighs, setting her tablet down on the desk with a soft thud. “Do you have any idea what kind of mess this has created for Soul Sync? This isn’t just about you and him.” Her tone is sharp, but beneath it, I hear something worse—disappointment.

I already understand where this is going, but I stay quiet, bracing myself.

“There’s a client who paid for a match that she didn’t receive.” She levels me with a pointed stare. “You realize that, right? This isn’t just about your personal choices. It’s about how they affect the business and clients.”

Alex paid Celeste off with an obscene amount of money to stay quiet. So how is this blowing back on me?

“I never meant for any of this to happen. I didn’t think?—”

“No, Magnolia. You didn’t think at all.” She tosses the printed complaint onto my desk, the paper skidding to a stop in front of me. “We aren’t certain if the person who sent this complaint will make it public.”

Gabby leans back in her chair, the disappointment etched into every line of her face. “I never expected this from you. You were one of my best employees.”

Were. The past tense slices through me like a blade, sharp and unforgiving.

I think I’m in serious trouble. “I put the company in a difficult position, and I’m so sorry.”

Gabby sighs, rubbing her temple. “You broke the code of conduct and put the company’s reputation at risk.”

I stare down at my hands, unease coiling in my gut—not for what I did, but for how it all ended.

Alex isn’t just any client. He is the man I fell in love with before I realized it was happening. The man I risked everything for.

I meet Gabby’s eyes, bracing for whatever comes next. “It’s over.”

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