Page 72 of Scandalous Secrets

“Yourfriend?”I raised a brow.

“Yes, Monica is my friend. Is that a problem?”

“Yes. In fact, it is.”

“Why is that?”

I thought of a good reason, but couldn’t come up with one.

“Because I don’t like it,” I spit out.

“Oh, well. In that case…” She smirked.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked.

“Because I like the girl. She’s smart. Funny. Nice.”

Like I didn’t know.

“Andyoulost her,” she said, narrowing her gaze. “That’s why this bothers you so much. You want something you can’t have.”

I rolled my eyes, even though I knew she was right.

“So, what thehellhappened, Troy?” she asked, crossing her arms.

“I don’t know.” I shrugged before dropping my shoulders in defeat.

I knew I could have talked to my sister. I could have told her everything that had happened with Veronica, and everything that was going on with our father. Just I didn’t know how. Not when I knew I had messed everything up so badly. I couldn’t take any more digs, even though she meant well.

“Well, figure it out,” she said. “Because I’ve never seen you like this. You look like a mess, and Kathy said something about you dropping the ball on a major client yesterday…”

“Kathy needs to mind her own damn business,” I snapped.

“True,” said Erica. “But I’m still worried about you. I don’t know what happened between you and Monica…”

“She didn’t tell you over your little BFF lunch?” I asked.

“No, she didn’t want to talk about it. I tried.”

“Of course you did.” I shook my head.

“But I could see that she was sad about it. I can see you’re sad about it. I saw the two of you together in the Bahamas. It wasreal. You were moreyouthan I had ever seen you, and I know she played a part in that.”

I stayed silent, my focus pulled to the words that Monica was sad. Sad about us.

Erica stood up and made her way to the door, but not before saying, “If you still have feelings for her,tellher. Prove it to her. Win her back.”

She slipped out of the door, closing it behind her, leaving me with thoughts I didn’t want to be alone with. I stood from my desk once I was sure my sister had left. As pushy as she was, she was right. I had been a mess. Now, I was walking toward the one person who made me less of one.

“Can we prep for the meeting?” I asked.

Monica looked up from her computer and gave me a single nod before following me back into my office. We went over numbers and investments. I wanted to make sure I was prepared and didn’t have a brain that fogged over like yesterday. This job may not be my dream, but I still had to do it until I figured out what was.

A few times, I could feel Monica looking at me, questions in her eyes, but she never asked them. She stuck to the papers in front of us. We met the client in the conference room, Kathy already at her normal post. I refrained from showing my annoyance and led the meeting like only I knew how. Confident, calm, and collected. It went so well, he ended up investing another million.

When he left the room, Monica clapped her hands and let out a little squeal in celebration. I bit back a smile that was threatening to erupt on my face and expose the feelings I still had for her. This was usually when I would invite her to celebrate with champagne at Ocean Prime or come back to my place. For a second, it felt like we were us again. She must have realized it too, because her smile slowly faded and she began gathering the paperwork.

“Er, well done today,” I said awkwardly.

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