Page 41 of Chance of Romance
Olivia rolled her eyes. “Not that it’s any of your business, but Anil has an arranged marriage this summer, a merger of two very wealthy families. He’s a friend.”
How stupid did she think Sabrina was? They were obviously hooking up. And then it all made sense. “No wonder you were so jealous of Logan having a woman friend. Becauseyouwere guilty of cheating. People always harp on the thing they’re most guilty of.”
Olivia tossed her brush in the desk drawer, looking mildly irritated but otherwise too self-satisfied to care about Sabrina. “Look, I ended it with Anil. That was just our goodbye.”
Oh, hell no!“Logan wanted to move out here for a committed future with you, and you’re cheating on him all this time, leading him on?”
“I wasn’t cheating. He’s not here yet, is he?”
“But you have a long-distance relationship.”
Olivia flopped down in her desk chair. “Whatever! I don’t have to explain myself to you!”
Sabrina quickly put the pieces together. “You played him. You used Logan to put pressure on Anil, and it didn’t work. Anil’s still going through with his arranged marriage.”
Olivia leapt from her seat. “Fuck Anil and fuck you!”
Sabrina whirled and rushed for the door. This was all kinds of wrong. Logan deserved so much better than this manipulative bitch. She’d just reached the door when Olivia threw out her last jab.
“If you tell Logan about Anil, I’ll deny it. It’ll be my word against yours!”
Sabrina turned, opening her mouth to inform her she most certainly would be telling Logan, when Olivia went on in a much calmer voice.
“Logan proposed to me in college. Circumstances weren’t right then; now they are. So be a good friend to him and keep your mouth shut.”
Sabrina suppressed her shock. He’d proposed? But he’d told Sabrina it was hard for him to imagine committing to forever when the odds were stacked against it working out. Was Olivia the reason he felt that way? Did Olivia want to marry Logan to rub it in Anil’s face?
Olivia spoke up. “You can go now.”
Sabrina just stood there, taking in this beautiful woman who was a manipulative cheating liar. A terrible partner for Logan.
Olivia picked up the phone on her desk. “I’m calling security.”
Sabrina left without another word.
She stepped outside, thought about calling Logan and telling him everything she’d just witnessed, and then quickly decided she needed to tell him in person. It was a delicate situation that had to be handled with great care. Logan was staying at Claire’s house, so she texted Claire for the address. Definitely better for Sabrina to just show up than to tell him they needed to talk and have him worry until she reached him. All she had to do was get to him before he left for dinner with Olivia.
A few minutes later, she was on her way with Claire’s blessing. “Go get him!”
~ ~ ~
Logan drove north to Claire’s beachfront home, a surprisingly modest four-bedroom Cape Cod-style home worth millions purely for its location. He’d taken Claire up on her offer to stay there mostly because she’d asked him to look in on it and make sure everything was in order. She had a caretaker, who stopped by twice a month, but she wanted him to give her the real scoop. He suspected she just wanted to take care of him. Ever since she’d married his brother Jake, she fussed over the rest of them. When he’d arrived yesterday, he’d discovered the caretaker had fully stocked the refrigerator for him, laid fresh towels out, and made up every single bedroom with supersoft gazillion-thread-count sheets. He’d taken the king-size bed in the master bedroom when he’d arrived last night and couldn’t deny he relaxed more at Claire’s house than he would have at a hotel.
He pressed the code for the metal gate and pulled into the driveway. The security here wasn’t as tight as he’d thought it would be. There was a waist-high brick wall around the street side of the property with the metal gate, but a determined Claire Jordan fan could easily scale it or approach from the private beach and climb up the back deck. Of course, there were security cameras, and Claire normally stayed there with her bodyguard in the nearby guest cottage on the property.
He let himself in the front door with the security code, stepping into the bright open-plan first floor. The great room with high ceilings, white walls, and light hardwood floors was the main living space, with the kitchen just beyond it. Colorful geometric area rugs defined two sitting areas and a dining area. The beige sofas and chairs held bright colored throw pillows. It was all very cozy, not sleek and glam like he’d expected.
He made his way through the great room to the gourmet kitchen with its stainless steel appliances, white cabinets, and light tan granite countertops and set his jacket and tie over the back of one of the wrought-iron swivel stools at the center island, leaving his laptop on the island counter. He snagged a bottled water from the refrigerator and took a long drink. He’d filled Ben in on Elias’s generous offer and stipulations on the drive up. Ben had been thrilled, of course, exclaiming loudly for several minutes about the amazing news.
Now there was nothing to do but celebrate. Claire had left a bottle of champagne in the fridge with a note that saidFor your celebration. Such a sweetheart, her faith in them absolute.
He leaned against the counter. All that buildup, all the worry and stress and preparation, and here it was—success. This was what success felt like. Exhilarating, satisfying, but oddly quiet.
He wished Ben were here to celebrate with. He supposed he could have champagne with Olivia later, but for some reason, he didn’t want to celebrate this with her. She didn’t know all the work that had gone into this moment. Sabrina knew all the nitty-gritty, had listened to him go on and on about it, but she was down in LA. Maybe he could text her the good news. She’d told him goodbye, but a text wasn’t too personal, and they had been in touch when his name got linked with hers again in the gossip rags.
He pulled out his phone just as a chime went off in the house like a muted doorbell. He stuck his phone back in his pocket and headed over to the front door. Maybe it was the caretaker checking in to see if Logan needed anything. He checked the monitor screen by the door that showed the outside view. No one was there.
He stepped outside and saw a red Jeep by the gate. He walked a little closer, and the driver’s side window powered down. Sabrina poked her head out with a wave. “Hi, it’s me! Can you let me through?”
