Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 133321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 667(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 667(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
“No. I’m not having that rich fiancé of yours thinking your father is taking advantage. That’s not happening.”
“Dad, I’ll help. Not Grayson.” I have it on the tip of my tongue to tell him about the breakup, but something holds me back. “How much?”
His phone buzzes with a text. He grabs it and looks at it. “That’s the bank. They want to see me again. You won’t need to help. This has to be good news.” He squeezes my hand. “Sorry to run off.”
“Can you call me afterward?”
“Yes, but don’t worry. All is well. This is good news.”
He doesn’t believe it’s good news. I see it in his face. I watch him leave and there is a knot that expands in my belly. I press my hands to my face. I wasted a week crying and I just started sending out resumes. I need a job. “Mia.”
I look up to find Ri, or rather Riley Montgomery, standing above me. He’s rich. He’s powerful. He went to school with Grayson and hates him, yet they cross paths too often and Grayson believes this is no coincidence. “What are you doing here, Ri?”
“I got your address off a resume floating around, but you didn’t answer your door. I walked in for coffee and here you are.” He motions to the seat. “Can I join you?”
No, I think. “Why?”
He sits down, his dark hair a rumpled mess that somehow still looks planned on him. Everything about this man, including his good looks, feels planned. He’s the tall, good-looking, and today he’s in expensive jeans and a T-shirt that probably cost a few hundred bucks. That’s how he operates. He flaunts his money, while Grayson does not.
“I want to hire you,” he says. “I’ll up your pay with Bennett by twenty-five percent and give you a fifty-thousand-dollar sign-on bonus.”
“Why?”
“You’re a star in the making, and if Grayson managed to lose you, I’m happy to sweep in and take advantage. We’re growing. We’re expanding nationally. We need talent.”
“Expanding nationally. Like Bennett. How very Grayson of you.”
“I assure you, Mia, that nothing about me resembles Grayson. You have twenty-four hours to decide.”
“I’m not fucking you. I’m not doing anything to hurt Grayson.”
He laughs. “Do you want that in your employment contract?”
“No. I don’t want the job.”
He smirks. “Think about it.” He slides a card in front of me. “My personal cell is on there. It’s a good offer. And if Grayson is really gone from your life, if you’ve left him behind, why wouldn’t you take it?” He stands up and starts walking.
I watch him exit the coffee shop and there is no part of me even slightly tempted to take his offer. I grab my phone, turn it on and text my father: Call me after your meeting.
Feeling the need to do something, to get out of this chair, I leave Ri’s card on the table, push to my feet and hurry out of the coffee shop, my path taking me back to my building. I don’t let myself read the text messages from Grayson. Once I’m back inside my apartment, I sit down at the kitchen table and start working on resumes again. I have a few interviews. I have money saved because Grayson never let me spend any of my earnings. He was good to me, but now I feel like a kept woman. Isn’t that how it works? A rich guy takes care of you and then you look the other way? Except I didn’t want his money. I wanted him.
I start working, sending out resume after resume with custom cover letters, and I try repeatedly to reach my father with no luck. It’s several hours later when there is a knock on the door. My heart starts to race. Did Grayson find me? I will myself to calm down and walk to the door. “Who is it?”
“Delivery.”
“What delivery?”
An envelope slides under my door. I frown and open it to find a picture of a man with a scar down his face with a note on top:
Mia,
I thought you’d want to know the kind of person your father borrowed money from. Don’t be too hard on him. This guy is good at convincing people he’s legit until they default.
The job offer stands, as does the sign-on bonus.
—Ri
My throat is dry. My heart is still racing. I walk to the table and sit down and start reviewing the information in the envelope and it’s terrifying. I press my fist to my forehead and then before I can stop myself, I dial Grayson. “Mia?”
I just sit there, with his voice radiating through me, that voice, that wonderful, perfect voice.
“I love you, Mia. Come home.”
Home. My home with him. “You know that I have to do what I have to do to survive, right?”
“What does that mean?” he asks.