Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
How could she want it to happen?
How could she want to see him again?
To push someone away only to want that same person back – it was like something straight out of a romance novel. She’d have laughed if she could, would’ve laughed if only she didn’t find the realization so deeply shameful. Oh, how she would’ve laughed if only she didn’t know it made her the weakest woman in the world, to care for such a thing in spite of his betrayal.
And so the mask stayed, her heart gradually stopped beating so fast, and the pain faded a little bit more each day. Life returned to normal, and she began to convince herself that she could forget him – the way Marcus Ravelli had so easily and obviously forgotten about her.
IT WAS SUPPOSED TO be just another day at work when Anneke was called in to her eldest brother’s office. Or at least it was so until Willem had asked her to sit down before dropping the bombshell on her.
“I beg your pardon?” Anneke just couldn’t believe she had heard her brother right. But when Willem only raised a brow at her, she knew she hadn’t misheard him, and she shook her head incredulously. “I don’t understand. Marcus Ravelli has been our partner on this project from the start, and you never saw fit to tell me?” Her words having gradually gained volume, Anneke was appalled to hear her voice turn unintentionally shrill by the end, and she quickly snapped her mouth shut. Her body was trembling hard – too hard – and she hastily tried to control this telltale reaction, too, taking deep breaths and willing herself to calm down.
It finally happened – no, wait – why was she still thinking like this?
Shouldn’t she have stopped caring about it?
Shouldn’t she have forgotten what it even meant?
“I apologize for keeping this from you.” Willem’s quiet voice drew her attention back to him. “But this was also the reason why we thought it better—-”
“We?” Anneke’s voice was stiff. “So he knows you’ve kept this a secret from me?”
“Yes.”
Oh. She could feel her composure evaporate with that single-worded admission, and she fell back against her seat, feeling weak all of a sudden. He knew that Willem had to keep their business partnership a secret from her. Did it make him think she still wasn’t over him?
“Why would you do this behind my back?” Anneke, head still bowed, spoke the words in a threadbare whisper.
“Because I never thought it that way.” A complete and utter lie, but it was also a risk that Willem had decided to take completely on his own. He simply couldn’t bear seeing his sister waste away any longer and had known something drastic was required. “Since you seemed to have gotten on with your life pretty well, I didn’t think you’d mind DKE doing business with Ravelli’s company—-”
Willem paused when Anneke kept shaking her head. He waited for her to speak, but his sister only kept her head bowed, not meeting his gaze.
“Was I wrong?” Willem finally asked. “Have you not gotten over him?”
The question stung Anneke’s pride, enough to make her lift her head and say stiffly, “Of course I have.” She bit her lip hard. “But—-”
“It’s just occurred to me I’ve failed to mention he’s only a silent partner on this one, which means you wouldn’t even have to worry about meeting him under any circumstances. In fact, Ravelli and I have talked about this, and he was the first one to offer skipping the launch—-”
“I don’t mind if he attends,” Anneke heard herself interrupt and wanted to cringe the moment the words left her mouth. Crap, oh crap. What the heck was she saying?
Willem’s fingers tapped rhythmically on his desk
Anneke frowned, sensing her brother’s reservations. “I mean it.”
“You’re certain?”
“Yes.”
“Alright then. I’ll take your word for it and let him know—-” Willem paused once again as his sister started shaking her head, and he asked patiently, “What is it?”
“I can do that for you.” Anneke was proud to hear her voice unshaking. “It’s not like we’re still kids and you have to worry that I’d freak out every time I see him. You’ve got more than enough on your plate with work, so let me handle this.” She forced a smile. “If that’s all then?”
Minutes after Anneke left, Willem remained on his seat, his fingers still drumming on the desk. Had he done the right thing, meddling between his sister and her estranged husband?
Coming to his feet, he walked to Serenity’s desk, where his PA-slash-fiancée was hard at work. She automatically looked up, asking politely, “Is there anything I may do for you, Mr. de Konigh?”
As always, he countered this, saying patiently, “Willem.”
A little frown marred her smooth forehead. Even though they’d been engaged for almost a year now, Serenity still didn’t like having the lines between them blurred during office hours.