“About four months after you left.”
The flat statement had me staggering back.
I felt like I’d been shot in the chest.
All my sacrifices had been for nothing.
I’d given up the love of my life, my fucking soulmate, and for no reason at all.
The grand hall of the estate was pretty much empty. Save for a circular table that sat close to the front door which had a large bouquet of flowers soaring from a tall vase. I staggered back into the table, heard the rocking as the vase swayed with momentum and almost crashed into the table until Lauren leapt forth to catch it.
“What the hell’s wrong with you?” she demanded, her bitterness stinging me like a thousand wasps on the attack.
“Lauren?”
A cool voice called out from somewhere in the house. She stiffened at the sound. “Yes, Justin. I’m in the foyer. I’m bringing Mr. Daniels to your study—he’s just arrived.”
There was no reply, but she didn’t seem to expect one. She gestured with him to get away from the table, but he shook his head.
“My legs aren’t working”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she retorted.
“Just give me a second.”
It was hard to come to terms with the fact you’d wasted nearly all your life…Not that she knew that, of course.
And Lauren just thought I was being melodramatic.
The fucking irony was enough to make me want to weep.
“Come on. Justin wants to see you.”
Her hiss had me jolting, but mostly because I didn’t like the intimate sound of her employer’s name on her lips.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Are you fucking him?”
She jerked back like she’d been struck—it was a day for that it seemed. Each of us wounding the other with verbal blows that made us feel like we were being punched in the
solar plexus.
“No! Of course not. He’s my boss. Plus, he’s not like that.”
I sneered at her, then looked her up and down. She was beautiful, as always. Her chestnut hair gleamed in the light, auburns and blond strands were picked up too. Her eyes glinted gold, her skin was as creamy as ever.
In the neat pencil skirt she wore with a form-fitting blouse, she looked like what she was.
A secretary.
Except, this one was beautiful. And she was also mine.
She didn’t know it yet, but she was.
I’d done without her for seven goddamn years. I wasn’t going to do without her again.
Chapter 5
LAUREN