Page 156 of The Boss Situation

“Because you’re mine, princess, and I don’t share.”

33

ASHER

“Shit,” I hear Billie whisper beside me as she hops out of bed.

I roll over, sunlight streaming in, and see her typing away on her phone.

“What’s up?” I ask as she rushes around naked. I can’t help but admire her.

“I overslept! I’ve got a meeting in five minutes about the fashion show, and we need to finalize our seasonal designs,” she says. “Oh, and check this out.”

Billie hands me her phone and heads to her closet to get ready for work.

I glance at the article headline from LuxLeaks—“Who Is the Other Woman?”

There are a few blurry pics of Louis with someone. It’s clear itwasn’tBillie he was kissing. The long light-brown hair gives it away.

“When I said it needed to end, I didn’t mean like this,” I say loud enough for her to hear.

“This wasn’t planned,” she replies, and I hear clothes rustling.

I sit up and quickly read the article. “Who the fuck is this?”

“No idea. He won’t tell me who he’s seeing. I’ve asked several times.”

“Not Louis’s secret girlfriend. LadyLux.”

I continue reading.

Not to say I told you so, but I knew His Royal Highness wasn’t Billie Calloway’s king.

Billie doesn’t respond, but eventually, she steps out, wearing high heels, a short black skirt that shows off her long legs, and a black sheer shirt with a long split between her breasts. She leans against the doorway to her closet, looking like a snack.

“Wow,” I say, blinking up at her. “Bringing back the black?”

“Until the fashion show,” she says. “Everyone expected a royal wedding, so I wore a white pantsuit to play the game. With this scandal, it’s back to black until Fashion Week. I’m in mourning for Josh Lustre’s career.”

My girl is a fucking firecracker.

“I’m going to find out who LadyLux is and stop her,” I admit.

Billie tenses. “Don’t.”

I try to read her like a book as I slide on the slacks I wore yesterday. “You know who’s behind it. Weston and Easton do as well. Yesterday, they called me into their office to threaten me to leave LadyLux alone.”

She stares at me. “You weren’t there to discuss me?”

I smirk. “Don’t flatter yourself, princess. You weren’t the topic of conversation until you bolted into the office, ready to burn the place down.”

She playfully swats at me. “I needed to curse out my brothers for meddling. You being there and seeing Stormy set me off. It felt like a betrayal.”

“I’m sorry. They wanted to meet with me because I emailed LuxLeaks and told her I’d find out who she was. And I will,” I say as she nearly freezes in place. “If it’s you …”

Billie shakes her head, moving toward me. “It’s hilarious you believe I have time to run a billion-dollar fashion corporation andtalk shit about my brothers and friends. Also, if it were me, I’d have written plenty of scathing articles about you over the years to destroy everything you werewithoutapology.”

A chuckle escapes me. “That’s a good point. Almost forgot you throw every punch you can.”

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