Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 59445 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59445 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
I scrunched my brow at her, shifting my iPad beneath my arm so I could hold the magazine. While I appreciated the loyalty, I was totally confused. “Why would you need to walk out with me—”
My stomach plummeted as I flipped over the magazine, spotting Lena on the cover. And it wasn’t because I didn’t care for her or the gorgeous, honey-glow smile she sported—it was the three-carat emerald cut diamond ring on her left-hand ring finger that made my stomach churn.
I knew that ring.
I’d seen Weston’s grandmother wear it at his high school graduation, and I’d heard the significance she placed on the ring, stating that she’d pass it down to Wes to give to the girl he decided to marry.
“No,” I whispered, flipping through the pages to the article.
Lena Nelson, heiress to Nelson Tech corporation, gives Vogue an exclusive to remember as she talks about the struggles of being a working model and her new engagement to on-again off-again boyfriend Weston Rutherford.
“The timing was never right before this,” Lena explained when asked about her up and down relationship with Rutherford. “We’re both very successful people for a reason—we’re busy. But things have started to align recently and we’re taking the next step to solidify our relationship both in business and personal matters…”
I slammed the magazine shut, unable to read another word.
There was no way.
None.
Weston…he would never do this to me, right? Besides, I was with him all the time, when would he and Lena have even talked?
Panic streaked through my veins, my chest tightening as I scoured my memory like I might’ve missed him telling me we weren’t exclusive. Might’ve missed him saying he was still seeing Lena at the same time he was seeing me.
The memory of the fight between him and Lena months ago fluttered to the surface of my mind, the ultimatum she’d placed on him hanging over me like an axe. She’d even said she wouldn’t mind if he slept around, she just wanted the last name and his attention on occasion.
But Wes wasn’t about that life.
Icy cold washed over my body.
We’d talked about the future, about telling everyone who we were to each other, but we never did because I hadn’t wanted it to look like I slept my way to this position. Could that have thrown him off? Made him think twice about me and my feelings for him?
And I’d never said I love you, because everything had happened so quickly. I didn’t want to scare him off, but I’d felt it.
I swore I’d felt it.
Had he just been using me for some fun while he waited for Lena to get her act together? Or was he planning on marrying her for an advantage in the tech world while fully intending to keep me on as his assistant and side piece?
That’s not the Weston I knew.
“Brynn?” Amelia asked, cutting through my panic. “They’re all waiting for you now.”
The meeting.
My big break.
Right.
I straightened my spine, tossing the magazine on the desk behind me.
Compartmentalize.
First, nail this pitch.
Second, talk to Weston. That’s the only way to figure out where I stood with him, and I’d be damned if I was going to have an emotional breakdown right before this meeting. After…well, we’d see.
“Thank you, Amelia,” I said as she held the door open for me, and I headed into the conference room—
Only to find the video proposal already playing on the screen and—
What the absolute fuck?
Seth stood off to the side of the projector screen, smiling from ear to ear as his spot ran instead of mine. Instead of the one me and my team had spent countless hours perfecting and testing and perfecting some more. Weston had told us to have two options, but with the way the owner had responded to my early tests, I thought we’d agreed to go with mine.
Seth’s video was heavy-handed with the male gaze, which was exactly opposite of what I’d been going for in my proposal. Why the hell had Weston gone with Seth’s? He’d told me my test proposal had gone over amazing last week. What changed his mind?
How could so much shit go south in the span of not even twenty-four hours?
I took my seat as quietly as possible, trying like hell not to crumble into a million pieces in front of the Nike execs. God, was this Weston’s way of cutting me out of his life entirely? Did he plan this? Snuffing all my hard work and then having Lena’s engagement come out at the same time?
Anger sliced through me so hot and fierce I could barely breathe around it. Weston was better than this…wasn’t he?
I forced myself to focus, glancing casually at the female execs at the head of the table, watching their reactions as they watched Seth’s proposal.
Fuck, it wasn’t good. Two of them looked confused, the other looked downright pissed.