Page 83 of The Lies I've Told
His eyes rounded. “Millie, what do you really know about this guy?”
Placing my tea on the table, no longer in the mood for it, I answered, “Enough to know he’s worth the risk. I thought someone like you would understand.”
“Me?”
“You came back here like a damn ghost, Jake. Twelve years, you left my sister hanging. No note, not even a phone call, and she took you back because, despite everything that had happened in those twelve years, you were worth the risk to her.”
“I—”
I held out my hand, stopping him from speaking any further. “Just don’t,” I said. “I need some air. Just tell Aiden—if you can stand to talk to him—that I went for a walk. I’ll be back later.”
And then I turned and walked away, willing myself not to cry.
I made it to the threshold before the dam broke, and the tears fell.
I hadn’t really thought out my dramatic exit all that well.
About five minutes into my walk, I was sweating like a dirty whore in church, wondering what I had been thinking when I decided to go for a leisurely stroll in the middle of the freaking summer in North Carolina.
How in the world did I used to run around and play in this weather?
Just as that thought rolled around in my head, two kids waved to me on bicycles, looking happy and carefree, completely unaffected by the sweltering heat or the insane humidity suffocating me from all sides.
But I refused to turn around.
If I did, it’d do nothing for my cause.
What is my cause exactly?I asked myself as I ambled down the road.
Oh yes, making my brother-in-law and the rest of my family feel bad for their actions.
Sure, they might have had my best intentions in mind, but damn it, how dare they talk about me and my love life behind my back?
At least my mother seemed to still be on my side.
My phone vibrated in my back pocket, and I instinctively reached back to grab it. After years of being attached to it for work, old habits died hard.
Speaking of old habits…
A Google alert I’d set up ages ago to monitor internet activities on the company—one I had yet to turn off since quitting, just in case my little video made the news—had just sent me something rather interesting.
Clicking on the email, I stood in the middle of the street, the sun no longer captivating my interest as it once had.
“Son of a bitch,” I said out loud.
Lorenzo Russo Declares Love For Employee!
The headline was everywhere—well, everywhere that the fashion world cared about—and I couldn’t click on the article fast enough, my hands a shaky mess.
If I thought I had been sweating before, it was the damn waterworks now.
Lorenzo Russo, CEO of up-and-coming fashion house Bella, went on record this morning, stating he is involved with an employee of his company and is in love.
“I didn’t want this information to be discovered in the wrong way. We are very much in love and want the world to know it.”
“Oh, shit,” I muttered, reading further.
When interviewed, the employee, Sadie Howlett, said she didn’t want to be treated any differently just because she was dating the boss.
