Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 61657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
I watched the video again with brand new eyes. I hadn't noticed it before, but the time stamp in the bottom right corner had been tampered with. This video definitely had not been shot last week, not even in the last year. I just hadn't realized it because once I saw it, all of my insecurities had come roaring back – the abandonment I felt from my father, the fact that so many men hadn’t been interested me because of my weight, and Theo’s own sexual history. I had let my insecurities blind me and I hadn’t used my talent and education to show me I was wrong…until now.
Theo was innocent. He really loved me. And I'd pushed him away.
I needed to find him right away.
There were only three hotels in our small town. He had to be in one of them. I needed to find him and tell him how wrong I'd been for not believing him.
Running out the door, I yelled to my mom, “Theo was telling the truth! I have proof!”
My mom ran out on the porch. “Be careful! And Mia?”
I turned around to look at her before I got into my car. “Yeah?”
My mom smiled. “You're following your heart! I'm proud of you.”
I returned my mom’s smile. “Thanks, Mom!”
My heart was telling me that Theo was the one. My one and only. He'd been true to me from the very beginning. I had to find him before it was too late.
25
Theo
After Mia sent me away, I drove back to my hotel in a daze. I collapsed onto the bed without flipping on the light. Mia was lost to me. She was never going to take me back. The disgusted look on her face when she came to the door seared through my heart.
Could I blame her?
Who would believe such a crazy story? A doctored sex video? The Board's request we get married? My genuine desire to marry her?
It was all a complete mess. If I was Mia, I wouldn't believe a single thing I was saying either.
Her beautiful face wouldn’t get out of my head. She was my ultimate choice for a wife, a partner, someone to share my life with. I threw my fist down into the pillow. My anger at myself overpowered my sadness.
How did I not see the signs that Penny was in love with me? Her mood swings every time Mia was around. Her bitchy attitude for the last few months.
Penny was certifiable crazy enough she could have hurt Mia and I was too stupid to even see it. If Mia didn’t want me, no one could blame her.
Now, I was in this tiny town on the outskirts of Los Angeles, missing Mia terribly. I'd left San Francisco in a hurry, not telling anyone where I was. Obviously, I no longer had an assistant I could call to smooth things over for me.
Who the fuck cared anymore?
I'd missed countless meetings. The Board was going to probably fire me anyway since I'd been ditching meetings and not responding to any of their calls. Brandon and Warren had been blowing up my phone, but I couldn't answer them. Nothing mattered to me, but Mia.
I could handle losing Pictogram. Shit. Building another tech company was doable. Pictogram could be replaced, but I couldn't replace Mia. She was everything to me. And because of my carelessness, she was lost to me forever.
How was I ever going to recover from this?
I'd finally fallen in love and the woman I loved so much wanted nothing to do with me. From the beginning, I should have told her about the Board's demands I marry her. That way, when I proposed to her, everything was out in the open. Then it would have seemed more genuine when I proposed from my heart.
Instead, I thought everything was just going to fall into place. It didn't. Keeping that information about the Board from Mia was essentially lying to her. I didn't blame her for never wanting to see me again.
I lay face down with my face pressed into a pillow and another over my head. I wanted to disappear, fade away into the darkness. Without Mia by my side, I felt more lost than ever before.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. I flung the pillow off my head to be sure. Yup. Someone was knocking, but I wasn't interested in fresh towels or any other kind of bullshit disturbance by the hotel maintenance. I just wanted to lie in the dark and feel sorry for myself.
But the knock on the door continued.
I groaned, “Go away!”
For love of God, couldn't a guy wallow in regret and sadness in peace?
Soon, the knocks became insistent.
For fuck’s sake.
I climbed up off the bed, pissed now. Whoever it was better have a good reason to harass me like this! I threw the door open without even looking in the peep hole or flipping on the lights.