Page 36 of Secret Cinderella
Chapter 14
Jack picked up his glass of beer the waiter brought for him while he waited for Charlotte and finished his drink with Peter. Aurelia had joined them for a few minutes and told him the plans she had for the store and how Charlotte had left fast.
He worried that something was wrong so he quickly set up a time to meet Aurelia in the morning, before any papers were signed, and then rushed to find Charlotte.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and scanned the hotel conference room.
She wasn’t there. She wasn’t in the lobby. Not in the bathroom. Not anywhere that he could find.
His shoulders tensed and he decided to go upstairs to see if she’d returned to their room.
If she'd left the hotel entirely, he’d drive to her store to see if he could find her. He had to find her. She’d never returned and Charlotte usually did exactly what she said she’d to so something might be up.
But as he made his way out of the hotel ballroom, he swung the door open and bumped into her stepsister, Linda, who carried a glass of white wine.
She almost dropped it but caught herself as she batted her eyes like she had something stuck in her contacts, or maybe she was flirting when she said, “Jack, hi.”
He took his hands out of his pockets and stepped back to let others in and out of the conference room. “Linda, what are you doing here?”
Linda jumped to stand in front of him so he couldn’t pass without bumping into her. “We were all invited to the cocktail party. It seems the Morgans are buying out the superstore. Why did Charlotte leave you all alone?”
The last person she’d want to know about her troubles was Linda. He held still and glanced above Linda’s head down the lobby. “She needed a few minutes.”
Linda pressed into him and traced his open suit jacket. “Well, she shouldn’t leave you too long. You might get in trouble.”
With Linda? Unlikely. In high school she might have been queen bee, but he wasn’t a kid and he’d never cared about popularity. He stepped away from her and asked the one question that bothered him, “Did you and Donna plan to show Charlotte that video so she’d leave me?”
Linda’s perfectly white teeth glistened and her eyes seemed to do the same, though he wasn’t sure if it was to laugh or a cry. “Donna just wanted you back in her bed.”
The thought left him cold and he tried to pass Linda without touching her. “That’s not going to happen.”
Linda took a step to the side and ensured she stayed in front of him while she said, “I figured, but Donna wanted to try. You need a more balanced, smart woman who can give you everything you need.”
Minutes had already ticked by. He tried to hold her arm in place to leave. “I need Charlotte.”
She held his jacket with one hand as she tugged him closer. “Do you? What happens if she doesn’t want your family to sell to us? You can’t walk away from the Morgans.”
Money. That was what this conversation was about. He loosened her hold on his jacket. “Linda, you’ve never been remotely nice to me until you found out my birth father’s name.”
Linda let go without a struggle and lifted her wine glass. “That’s not true. I was always nice to you. I never once posted on my blog or said anything about you at all.”
The worst she’d mentioned had been in passing about how he’d hung out with her stepsister. This act of hers was too much. His heart began to pound. “I read every mean thing you ever did to Charlotte.”
Linda took a step as if to follow him. “So what? Do you think she deserves you?”
Charlotte deserved better. Tension tightened the muscles in his back. “Look Linda, find someone else. I’m not the guy for you.”
“Your loss.” She turned away. He hustled down the small hall toward the lobby as Linda went inside to the party.
Once he found Charlotte, he’d tell her what he’d seen and warn her from Linda.
He made his way to the elevator banks and the blonde, blue-eyed girl with those big fake eye lashes he’d once been fascinated with walked over to him. Her heels clinked against the tile floor. “Donna.”
Donna jumped and made it clear she’d forgotten her bra as she said, “Jack, thank you for inviting me.”
Goosebumps grew on his body, warning him to leave. “I didn’t.”
She reached out to show him an invite. “But it’s your name on my invitation.”
