Page 60 of Boss of Her

Simone frowned. “It’s nothing serious, is it?”

Jade hesitated. A part of her wanted to tell Simone everything. But it had been hard enough to tell her about Philippa in the first place. And while Simone had been careful to hide her disdain for the woman, Jade had sensed it. Would Simone think her weak for going back to Philippa for closure?

Jade shook her head. “It’s nothing. And it probably won’t take too long. We could celebrate afterward. Or on the weekend?”

“It’s fine,” Simone said. “We’ll see.”

Silence fell over them. Simone stood up from the desk. And as she did, her eyes flicked to Jade’s laptop screen. Her personal inbox was still open.

She closed the window. “Just checking some emails. Sorry, I know I shouldn’t be doing that on the clock.”

Simone folded her arms across her chest. “As long as you get your work done, I don’t care what else you do. Speaking of which, did you forward me that email about the Silver Lake site?”

“I’ll send it to you now.”

Simone gave her a nod and returned to her desk. But even from a distance, Jade could feel something radiating from her. Irritation? Anger?

Jade’s heart sank. Was Simone angry at her for telling hernofor what had to be the first time? Was she upset that Jade wasn’t making herself available to serve her every whim?

No, Jade was being crazy. Sure, Simone was strict. A control freak, even. But she’d never beencontrolling.

Yet Jade couldn’t help but think back to the way Philippa had gone silent and cold on her whenever she didn’t do what Philippa wanted.

Jade shook her head. Everything that was happening with Philippa had brought all her insecurities to the surface. It was making her see things that weren’t there.

Philippa had left her with a shattered heart. And if it was ever going to be whole again, if Jade was ever going to trust anyone again, she needed to face her.

CHAPTER 25

Ashton folded her hands on the mahogany conference room table. “Take all the time you need. I’m sure you’ll find everything is in order.”

Simone flipped through the pages of the contract. She was in the conference room of The Ashton Star, along with Jade, Ashton, and their respective legal teams. Through the windows behind them, the Los Angeles cityscape stretched out, bathed in the late morning sun.

Here Simone sat, in the heart of the city, on the top of the world, everything she’d ever worked for at the tip of her fingers.

All she had to do was sign on the dotted line.

She flipped to the last page and turned to Jade, who had a pen ready in her hand. Simone signed her name at the bottom of the page next to Ashton’s, then shut the leather folder and slid it across the table. “It’s done.”

The contract was signed. The deal was settled.

The Star was hers.

Ashton took the folder and handed it to the man sitting beside her. “It was a pleasure doing business with you.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Simone said.

She rose to her feet. Now that the hotel was hers, she didn’t have a moment to waste. She needed to get the ball rolling on bringing her vision for The Star to life. There were applications to file, plans to approve. All the while, she needed to ensure the hotel continued running smoothly. She wanted to keep it open until the very moment renovations started.

As everyone filed toward the door, Ashton shook Simone’s hand firmly. “I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with the hotel. After how hard you pushed me to sell it to you, I have high expectations.”

“Let me assure you,” Simone said, “The Star is in good hands.”

Ashton gave her a small smile. “It will take me a while to get used to the new name. But you’re right. This hotel doesn’t belong to the Ashtons anymore. It never did. It belongs to all of Los Angeles. So take good care of it.”

“I will, Ashton. I will.”

She released Simone’s hand. “Go on ahead. I’m going to stay here and say goodbye to this place, if you don’t mind.”

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