Page 84 of The Fake Dating Plan

“Good morning, sir.”

“I want you to get all the files we have on Heron.”

She scribbled the note.

“And the Steel Cute deal.” If she thought anything was amiss, she didn’t give any sign. I loved her professionalism.

“And coffee.”

“Right.” With that, she marched out of the office. I opened my laptop and got to work immediately. While my head was in the clouds, a few things had gone awry. Such as Heron’s firm buying shares of one of our competitors, one we were trying to take over, or at the very least, have them come to the table for a sale. According to the morning news, he bought enough to become the board member and was promising to change things. He was making moves and all his guns were pointed at me. I punched the phone on my desk and the other assistant. Mira? Moira? I hadn’t caught her name yet. She responded with a shaky, “Yes.”

“Call the Risk Assessment Manager.”

“The—”

“Ask Adeline.” I ended the conversation. It was unfortunate that she caught my bedside today, but I didn’t have time to explain myself. I got a text from Caiden.

Caiden:Did you see the news?

Me:Yes.

Caiden:The fucker doesn’t care about fashion. He’s trying to screw us.

The same way I screwed him over when I bought his pet investment from under him.

Me:Let me handle him.

Caiden:Are you sure?

Me:This is my fight.

Caiden:[hands off emoji]

It was about time I fixed my own shit. People like Heron needed to know they couldn’t do whatever they wanted to me and my business and get away with it. My phone buzzed again. It was Caiden again.

Caiden:Are you OK? I heard the news.

I rolled my eyes. There was only one other ‘news’ he could be referring to and the concern in his text was unnecessary. I’m fine. I said as much in my reply.

Caiden:I’m coming over

Before I could send a quick no, Caiden was already butting his head in the office. His office was a few feet away, but not close enough to pop in a matter of seconds. He knocked on the open door and strolled in without waiting for an answer.

“You move fast,” I said, “Or do you have some secret superpower we don’t know off.”

“I was already on my way here,” he said, throwing himself into the chair. You don’t look so well. That bad, huh?”

I probably looked like hell, but it wasn’t because of a breakup. “Like I said, I’m fine. No need for a wellness check.”

“That’s not what I heard. Your mother said you were drunk as fuck this morning when she came to see you.”

“Why is everyone acting like I’m a loose thread about to unravel?”

He sat back, eyes locked on me, saying nothing, yet his demeanor spoke volumes.

“It will not happen again.”

“So it’s true you two are done. What happened? It’s not because of that Heron kid, is it not?”

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