Page 35 of Vengeful in Love
From Alex
She stared at it for a moment, unbelieving. Then, taking a deep breath, she put the choker back in the box and snapped it shut.
Her hands shook so much she spilled tea on the counter as she poured it into her cup. She gripped the teapot, oblivious to its heat. How could he think that a string of rocks would make everything all right? And that card! Couldn’t he have said something little more personal than “To Natalie”? Obviously, he couldn’t even bother to write it himself. Who’d selected the choker and sent it? Natalie wondered if he’d even seen the gems.
Alex was just like her family, keeping her at arm’s length and sending her money and gifts to avoid having to deal with her. Brian was the only one who had ever occasionally spared an hour or two for her, but even he was usually too busy.
Her sense of betrayal and disappointment was so strong it was almost hallucinogenic. It was as though a strong wind had suddenly blown her off a high balcony, the support under her feet sliding away and disappearing in an instant.
Still, in the midst of her outrage, there was a small voice in the back of her mind asking why Alex’s cavalier treatment hurt so much more than it should.
Chapter Twelve
“OH, HE DIDN’T!” Kerri said.
“He did,” Natalie said and leaned back in her office chair.
“At least they were expensive rubies.”
“I guess. But it’s not about that.” Was their weekend quantifiable, able to be reduced to a string of sparkly rocks? Expensive rubies, indeed. To someone like Alex, the price wouldn’t mean anything.
“Get a new boyfriend. He isn’t the only one around who can give you multiple Os.”
Natalie snorted.
“Seriously. I wasn’t joking last time when I asked you to join me here. Who needs men when you can have a career?”
“I have a career.”
“Sleeping with the boss? Working for a boring government contractor?”
“Hey, not everyone’s born to be an investment banker.”
Kerri made a rude noise, which was somehow more eloquent than speech. “If you don’t want to be in Hong Kong, fine. Go to New York City. Ignore the tax benefits.”
“Yeah, yeah. You just want to boss me around at work.” Natalie swiveled in her chair. “Unlike you, I actually need to sleep, so banking is out.”
“Uh-huh. Hold on.” Kerri said something to someone in her office then came back on the phone. “So what are you going to do about this…Alex?”
Natalie tapped her desk. “I don’t know. But I don’t want him to think I’m running away.”
“Natalie, you’re always worried about proving something to the people around you. There’s nothing to prove. They either accept you the way you are, or they don’t. Either way, it’s got nothing to do with you. Hold on.” There was another pause with muffled conversation in the background. “I gotta go. You’d think the second-year analysts would know what I want them to do without my having to spell it out. I’ll catch you later.”
The cubicles were deserted when Natalie finally emerged from her small office. She didn’t blame her coworkers. It was already a little after six on a Friday, and even the janitorial staff was gone. One of them had come into her office about half an hour earlier. He’d given her a look, then shaken his head while dumping all the papers from her trash bin into a milky plastic shredder bag. She bet even that old man thought she was insane to stick around when everyone else was enjoying their weekend.
As she walked through the mostly empty parking lot, Natalie rummaged around in her purse. She found her keys, pressed the unlock button. There was the usual electronic chirp, and ahead of her the Audi’s headlights flashed.
“Natalie.”
She turned and saw Belle approaching. She had on a small black dress and a pair of stilettos, but the nervous way she moved reminded Natalie of a Chihuahua. It always had.
“Aren’t you a little overdressed for a parking lot?”
Belle walked right up to her. “I told you to leave Dad alone.”
Oh, for pity’s sake. “Belle. I haven’t seen Brian since the party.”
“I didn’t say you saw him. Stop siccing your nasty boyfriend on him.”
