Page 107 of Brassy Bigwig

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHLOE

Iwas dressed and out of the penthouse within fifteen minutes. Cliff hailed me a cab when I got out front, and I managed to make it to the office in decent time. I scanned my badge in the lobby and hopped onto the elevator. As I make my way to D’s floor, I try to take a few deep breaths and clear my head.

It almost works, but then I feel the heavy envelope in my hand, and I remember what’s in it. And the anger seeps back in. The agony bleeds into my heart. When the elevator doors open, I march across the lobby and don’t falter one step before I make it to his office.

“You fucking asshole!” I shout.

Unfortunately, I didn’t realize he was in a meeting with two other colleagues until it was too late.

Fuck.

“Uh, Randall, Luis, do you mind if we pick this up later?”

“Uhh, ye—yeah,” Randall can barely get his words out. “That works.”

I move to the side as the two of them walk toward the door to leave. I can’t look at them, so I keep my eyes trained on the floor the whole time.

“Chloe?”

When I look up, I’m face-to-face with a very serene looking D. Either he has no idea why I could be this angry or he doesn’t care.

“Do you care to explain this to me?”

I throw the envelope of pictures on the ground at his feet. His confusion is quickly overtaken by the shock of my actions. He reaches down and picks up the envelope. Opening it, he looks at the pictures, stunned.

“Look at the timestamp. You told me you were meeting with your guy. Sure doesn’t look like a guy to me.”

D takes a deep breath and rubs his forehead. Anger sears me from within.

“It’s not what it looks like.”

“Tell me what it is then. Who is she?”

“My ex-wife.”

“Your—your what?”

His ex-wife?

All this time, I thought he’d never been married. I didn’t ask him, but he also never mentioned it. I told him everything about me. My family, my history.

“My ex. Emilia.”

As realization hits, I understand her shitty attitude on the phone now.

“Emilia. Emilia Karylyle is your… Oh my god.” I need to sit down. I feel like I’m going to be sick. Clutching my stomach, I walk the two steps to his sofa and take a seat.

“Chloe,” D sits next to me and puts his hand on my back.

“Don’t touch me.” I pull away from him.

For the first time ever, I can’t stand the feel of his hands on me.

“The day you showed up here, I asked you if there was anything else I should know before making a decision to give us a chance or not. You said no. Don’t you think this is something you should have told me then?”

He looks at me but doesn’t say anything.

---