Page 88 of Beautiful Broken Love

Tish cleared her throat and walked past Giselle, who pressed her lips as my best friend went by. “Let me know if you need me,” Tish called, and when she left, she didn’t close the door like she often did. She left it cracked open.

I inhaled through my nose and released the air through my mouth as Giselle’s almond-green eyes looked me up and down. She walked in the opposite direction of me, her heels clicking with each step, her gaze sweeping the area thoroughly. What was up with people bringing beef to my office?

“I assume you know who I am,” Giselle said, facing me again. She had a mild accent. Caribbean.

I folded my arms, keeping my chin raised. “I do.”

“Yeah, I bet Deke’s told you all about me.”

I held back a grimace when she said his name, and by the smirk on her lips and the fierceness in her eyes, I knew exactly what this was. Shewasn’t just here to see the woman who now had Deke’s attention. She was here to strike discouragement, to intimidate.

I almost choked on a laugh at the thought. If only she knew I was hardly ever intimidated by anyone. She had no idea the shit I’d gone through in my life to be where I was.

“What do you want?” I asked, keeping my voice level.

“I keep seeing news on BOBBLE. Everyone has been trying to figure out what it is about this new woman Deke Bishop has been seen with on multiple occasions. First at a restaurant and then at a hotel bar.” She trailed the pad of a manicured finger over one of my lamps. “I had to see this woman for myself. In person.”

“So you booked an appointment under a fake name just to see me?”

She didn’t answer that and instead peered out the windows. “All of this is very nice, what you have here. Why risk letting it drown for him?”

“You don’t know what kind of relationship I have with him.”

“Hmm ... well, he broke it off with me without much of a reason and lost complete interest way before that. I could only assume another woman had stolen that from me.”

I scoffed, my brows shooting to my forehead. “Stolen?”

“I can also assume he’s fucking you now.” She narrowed her eyes at me, and I sighed.

“Is this why you came here? For me to admit that we’re sleeping together?”

“No,” she said, and she steeled her jaw, glowering. “I came here to tell you that Deke is not who you think he is. He’s a user and a manipulator. He makes you believe that he cares because he’s so nice and charming and always has the right things to say, but it is all false. The truth is that he is a loner who will only hurt you because he knows he’s a shitty human inside. Being with him is amistake.”

Her words made my heart stutter. Deke wasn’t perfect, I knew this, but there was no way he was a manipulator, a user. Why would he use me when he had everything?

I swallowed thickly. “Is that all?” I asked.

“You don’t belong in his world, Davina Klein. Or should I say Davina Klein-Roberts. Didn’t your husband die last year? It’s none of my business, but how are you even okay with this? Sneaking around with a basketball player, knowing people will find out more about you and start sniffing around your husband’s grave. Because you know they will do that, right? These people, they don’t care. I’m not sure what he’s using you for, but I’ll tell you now. When I was with him, there was no love inside him, no romance—nothing. He’s empty inside. Everything is just a game to him, and right now you’re no different than the ball he dribbles. Whatever it is you’re looking for in him, you won’t find it. He’ll let you down before you even get the chance to ask why.”

I blinked quickly, fighting the stupid urge to cry. I didn’t have the urge because I was sad to hear this but because I was angry and trying to swallow it all down and hold my ground. Lew was a sensitive subject for me, and I was pissed she knew about it.

“If that’s the case, why do you care?” I asked. “Why do you want him back? Because that’s what you’re implying, right? That you want me to leave him alone so you can have him to yourself again?”

She looked me all over. “I’m used to men like him. And though he’s a shitty person and a lousy date, I made a great living by having him in my back pocket. My career blew up.”

“So, remind me again who the user is?”

At that, her mouth pinched tight, and her nostrils flared. It was shocking, really, how the whole world thought she was this beautiful, ethnic, untouchable woman, yet up close she wasn’t all they made her out to be. Hell, I thought she was stunning in the photos, but up close, behind the heavy makeup, designer clothes, polished hair, and filters, she was just a regular woman. A bitter, ladder-climbing woman.

I dropped my arms and walked to the door, pulling it open wider. “Thank you for the knowledge, Giselle, but I’m a grown woman who can make decisions for herself. You can leave now.”

I remained by the door as she glared at me. Then she lifted her expensive leather purse and walked to me with a sheet of paper in hand. When she was closer, I realized it was a check made out to me for $60,000.

“I will give you this if you stop seeing him,” she said in a lowered voice. I looked from the paper to her face, and her glossed bottom lip was slightly trembling.

Sixty grand? Was she serious? My company made twice that in two weeks. Many people would’ve been grateful for a check that size, but I didn’t want orneedher damn money, and this was clearly an insult—not only to me, because she thought I’d be shallow enough to take it, but to Deke as well.

I gently pushed her hand down. “Is that really all he’s worth to you?” I asked in an even lower voice.

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