Page 65 of Jealous Boss

So I do the one thing I can manage. I reach for the remote, turn the glass cloudy so it blocks my view of her, kills our eye contact.

Because if I stare at her another second, I’ll shatter.

Because if I callfuck itto Philip’s threat, stride to the door and scoop her up into my arms the way I want to, I’ll be doing the most selfish thing I’ve ever done.

I can’t forget that Pia has no one to rely on besides her uncle. And I can’t jeopardize their relationship by staining it with my needs.

And I don’t know how… but it looks like I’m going to have to learn to exist without her.

* * *

Pia

My feet feel like lead,weighed down with anvils when I finally move.

I sense Maggie trying to get my attention, but I don’t… can’t look at her. I don’t want to hearI told you so.Hell, I don’t want comfort or sympathy.

I just want to disappear.

I don’t remember how I get to the elevator.

How I manage to hit the lobby button with my whole fucking body shaking.

The only thing I remember clearly is the look of cold fury and disbelief on Ethan’s face after Uncle Phil stormed out. The threat everyone in the firm had heard.

Ethan stared straight at me then, his eyes still livid.

Then he turned away. Clouded his glass.

Rejected me in front of everyone.

Uncle Phil’s unexpected appearance in the general counsel’s office where I was waiting on draft term sheets for Maggie had shocked me into blurting out the truth when he’d demanded to know if the rumor he’d heard was true.

The flash of guilt I felt at his disappointment had fled quickly enough. Because yes, I’m only twenty years old, but I’m an adult. And I’d never planned on lying about my involvement with Ethan if it came to it.

I just didn’t expect it to come to it this fast.

Not when I was grappling with knowing I was ass over teakettle in love with Ethan Villiers. That I’d probably fallen in love with him that first morning when I’d flustered my way through asking him for directions to where the other interns were.

It’d been especially humbling when Uncle Phil had shaken his head, looked at me like I was some fragile,broken, and ruined thing he had no way of fixing. Like he hasn’t been able to fix my dad all these years later.

But it hurt even worse in that split second before the glass had blocked my view of him, Ethan—myEthan, the man who’d promised to take care of everything—looked right through me like it was my fault his world had come crashing down.

I’d believed him.

I’d believed in the way he’d taken care of me in and out of bed. The way he’d touched me like I mattered.

But I was wrong. When it’d counted, he’d turned away.

Because he loved something—his ambition, his reputation, the partnership—more than he loved me. When it came down to choosing?

He didn’t even hesitate.

He threatened to sue Uncle Phil instead of fighting for me.

The elevator doors open to the lobby, and I stumble out into the cool marble silence, feeling like I’m moving through water. I don’t recall flagging down a cab, but somehow I make it back home.

I don’t go to my apartment. I go upstairs. To his.

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