He turned his computer monitor around to face me, and I gasped as one of the pictures his father had shown me yesterday was plastered across the screen. To make matters worse, they were posted from the client’s account—my client’s account. “Did you do this?” His soft tone had an edge that could pierce through steel.
“No,” I matched his whisper, a full body shiver striking through my body. I couldn’t do it, no matter how much I could gain. “I’d never do this to you.”
He let out a heavy sigh, and momentarily I thought he would accept my word and we could discuss a game plan for damage control. “I stared at this all morning, wondering how someone I care about more than anything could do this to a company that means everything to me.”
“I wouldn’t.” My lip quivered, and my knees felt like they would give out at any second. I braced myself against the back of the chair and tried to meet his gaze, but he refused to even look in my direction. To see him so disappointed, so hurt…it was a million tiny paper cuts to my heart.
“I want to believe you. I really do.” His expression was a swirl of emotion, and I could tell he was at war with himself over this.
“But…” There was always a but. I’d seen it in every show where someone gets screwed over.
“It’s from your account. I don’t know what to trust anymore.” He scrubbed his hands through his hair and leveled a distant gaze at me. “I have to follow my code of conduct that I wrote, Lainey.” His lips mashed together, and he looked absolutely pained when he said, “It’s the rules. I have to fire you. Ever since I started breaking them, it’s been a distraction. Now this happened and…” He trailed off.
He didn’t believe me. He thought I could do something this monstrous, cause him this much pain.
A cold, dark mixture of emotion swirled inside me—a blend of fish hooks ripping open my organs, a pair of Italian loafers smashing the remains, and a dash of salt to really amplify the pain.
I didn’t know whether I wanted to add a few dents to his desk with my foot or ugly cry in my car with Bad Day blaring.
This man who I’d given my heart to was taking away the one thing that meant the most to me. His trust.
The spear of betrayal morphed into hot anger at how screwed up this whole situation was. He had to fire me? What the hell was that bull crap response?
Hell. No.
Screw him and the holier than thou shit he spouted. Screw the progress we’d made in the past few weeks, learning to open up to each other. Obviously it was all complete crap just to get in my pants. If he really trusted me, my ass wouldn’t be on the chopping block. We’d be working to combat this as a team.
That was it. I’d never be able to compete with his company. His stupid rules would always win over feelings and relationships. I should have known. He’d been clear about it from the beginning, but did I listen? Of course not.
“Fuck your rules.” I threw my hands in the air. “How about you find the person who did this? The person who posted it on my account.”
Brogan’s brows furrowed at my outburst. “I don’t know who it is, but I can’t keep you employed here. This is my entire world. My company might not make it through this as is. You’ve been a liability from the start.” He didn’t even have the decency to look me in the eye. He’d completely shut down. Game over. Brogan was back to the closed off CEO I’d met months ago. The Brogan I loved wouldn’t do this.
“A liability,” I repeated. “Really? So forget the fact that the crap clients I was given when I started here now have more than a hundred thousand followers. Or that four of the ideas I came up with to increase productivity have shot your numbers and your client list through the roof. No. You’re right. I’m just a big fat distraction. I’m glad we have everything cleared up. I’ll make sure to get out before I jeopardize your company any further, Mr. Starr.”
“It’d be best if you were out by lunch,” he said, staring at the door.
The coldness of his words crushed my insides in a slow painful twist.
I bit the inside of my cheeks and really looked at him—and it finally dawned on me. He would never change, and I was deluding myself thinking I could ever have a fighting chance with him. Work would always come first, and his trust issues ran too deep.
“You know what, Brogan? This is good to know. I’m glad I found out early on just how fucked up you are. I hope you and your rules have a happy life together.” The loss of everything in that moment wrung my heart in my chest, and my lungs squeezed tightly, barely letting in any air.
I bent down to Bruce, who was laying on his doggy bed next to Brogan’s desk, and scratched behind his ears. “He doesn’t deserve you.”
Bruce whined and dragged his chubby little doggy paw across my arm, and I almost lost it. I straightened and wiped a stray tear from my cheek.
A box was already waiting on top of my desk when I walked out of Brogan’s office. Jackson’s face still held that look of disgust. “Figured you’d need it. Don’t let Betsey bite you on your way out.”