Page 21 of Unwrapping the Billionaire

“And you do?” I say, glaring at him, feeling weirdly indignant on behalf of some phantom husband I haven’t even met yet, and never will until my brain and my heart divorce themselves. “On the phone earlier, you sounded pretty determined to snuff it out.” I reach into my bag, and chuck the red silk tie at his chest.My last piece of him.“Here. Go use it on someone who actually wants to have sex with you, and not because she’s desperate. I told you when we first met, Jonas, that you needed to treat me with respect. Well, guess what? You didn't, so I’m out of here.”

He shakes his head at me violently, and lets the tie slip to the floor. It lands at his feet like a coiled snake.Why are his oxfords covered in dirt?“You’re not a vase like them, Gracie, and you never were.”

This is getting weirder and weirder. “No, Jonas, I amnota vase,” I say slowly.

“I had these visions… At the start, I thought I was going fucking insane, especially when my father came back from the dead…”

Oh My God, he’s having a breakdown.

I inch toward the phone on his desk. “I’m just going to call down to—”

“Please, don’t.” He rips his fingers through his hair as he grapples for some of his old composure. “That last vision was the worst.”

“Jonas, you’re scaring me.”

He shakes his head again. “It doesn't matter. All I care about right now is that I’m here, and you’re here… No one’s dead. There are no badly attended funerals, and there never will be.”

Okay, I’ve heard enough.

“I’m leaving, Jonas,” I say backing away. “I suggest you get some serious help. When you’re a little moresedated, we’ll talk about my father’s company.”

At this, he seems to pull himself together. “I never sent that email, Gracie.”

I pause in the doorway. “What are you talking about?”

“My father and Nathan... Think about it sweetheart. I’m an asshole, through and through, but I never would have done that to you. You were perfect, like a ray of sunshine in the heart of a cyclone, and then I allowed myself to get swept away in the bullshit of everything else.”

My chest feels funny and tight suddenly. “This is crazy talk,” I gasp out. “Like I said, you need help…”

“Mr. Farley?”

A slender blonde woman has appeared in the wreckage of his office. She glances nervously between us, before stepping past me to hold out a document file to him.

“Ava? What are you doing here?”

Jonas seems as shocked as I am to see her here, making a cameo in the final moments of his sanity.

“Mr. Farley. I’m sorry to disturb you so late, but I know how much you wanted the sale of Parker & Fisk to go through as soon as possible. I’m going to have to insist on taking that extra day’s holiday, so I’ve taken the liberty of preparing the final pieces of paperwork for you to sign tonight.”

There’s a beat of silence as we all scramble to decode her words.

“You bastard,” I whisper. “You were planning to put me through hell and back, and then you were going to complete the sale of my father’s company anyway.”

Jonas looks stunned. “No… Jesus. Fuck!”

“Goodbye, asshole.” With tears in my eyes, I start my long march of chastisement back down the hallway.How did I not seethatdouble-cross coming?

“Grace, wait! You need to hear me out!”

The sound of heavy footsteps behind me makes me turn around, just as the elevator carriage arrives.

“You know what, Jonas?” I tell him coolly, as he skids to halt in front of me—all breathless and stupidly handsome—so much so that I want to send my senses to their bedroom for being so teenage girlie over him. “I told myself on the way up to your office that violence was never the answer to a situation, but I’ve decided to revise that life affirmation.”

With that, I raise my hand, and slap Jonas Farley’s perfectly arched cheekbone…

Hard.

14

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