Page 18 of Bossy Trouble

And then I waited in anticipation of receiving Donovan’s contract. He said it would be arriving by Friday, and for the rest of the week, I was a bundle of excitement. At the same time, there was a ball of anxiety in my stomach that just wouldn’t go away. I’d been disappointed so many times already. I’d reached this point a few times before, only to have the investor pull away at the last minute, spooked by the amount of money or my lack of experience. And this was Donovan we were talking about. The man enjoyed tormenting me. This could all be one big joke to him.

No, I told myself. If there was one thing Donovan didn’t play with, it was his business. He wouldn’t have said yes if he didn’t mean it.

So I tried to keep busy all day instead, baking a batch of cupcakes for Avery’s kindergarten, catching up with emails, and sending out a newsletter to our VIP clients. I also set out to work on the designs for our new collection. I tried to keep my mind as occupied as possible, so I didn’t think about it.

But by the afternoon, when the phone rang, I leaped toward it and grabbed it from my table. I thought it was the fated call from Donovan.

“Hello?” I said.

“Babe.” It was Macy instead on the other side of the phone. “Has Stella called you yet?”

Stella was our financial advisor, who was stepping into the role of a de facto accountant for the time being.

“No, why?”

“She’s been trying to reach you, but she couldn’t.”

“Oh.” I glanced down at my phone and realized the calls I’d missed while I’d been busy in the kitchen. “I must have zoned out. What’s going on?”

“It’s doomsday,” Macy said in a very matter-of-fact tone. “Every single shareholder has sold their share.”

“What?” My heart dropped. I knew this was a possibility, but I was hoping they would wait until I received sufficient funds to buy enough shares back.

“It gets even worse. They all sold it to the same person who bought Moniche and now owns the controlling stake.”

“That’s impossible,” I muttered. “We gave ten percent to the bank as collateral.”

“Yeah. The bank must have gotten tired of waiting and sold those too.”

God. This was the worst-case scenario. “Who bought the shares?”

“Donovan Dresden.”

It was like darkness clouded my vision for a minute, hope still battling the horrible realization.

I now saw our conversation that night in a whole different light. Donovan was asking me questions, and I told him everything he wanted to know. I hadn’t told him about the stocks, but a man like Donovan could find out things like that very easily. He probably told that PI of his to look into it.

The truth was that I had given the man everything he needed to destroy me.

“No.” I shook my head, still in denial. “It can’t be.”

But even as I said it, the horrible reality was slowly sinking in.

He’d done it again.

Donovan Dresden had betrayed me.

8

DONOVAN

Iknew she was coming.

She had to have found out already. All the papers were signed yesterday, and Timothy, our lawyer, should have broken the news to her people this morning. This meant that Georgia must have heard what I’d done by now, and at any moment, she would storm through the doors of my office and rain hellfire and brimstone on me.

It was hard not to get excited at the thought.

There was no way she wasn’t coming after what happened. Georgia wouldn’t take a blow like that lying down. Despite her occasionally timid disposition, she owned a temper like you wouldn’t believe. And I would be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to seeing her express it in all its fullness.

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