Page 53 of Fighting Mr. Knight

He stays silent.

“Svalbard’s mine,” I snarl.

“I’m sure Norway would beg to differ.”

It’s the damn twitch of his lips that makes me see red. Before I understand what I’m doing, my hand has connected with the open bottle and is spraying water over his face like a victorious Formula One driver.

He reacts too slowly. Water runs down his face and shirt.

There’s a collective gasp around me. I got him good.

He gawks at me open-mouthed, blinking water away from his eyes. “Are you out of your mind?”

“You’re an asshole. I hope your dick falls off.”

“Mature, Bonnie. Really mature.” He stands up, wiping his shirt down. “I don’t have time for this. I expected you to react like an adult. Do you realise we have to be at Lexington in thirty minutes? Lucky for you, I’ve got a clean shirt.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have time-boxed this.” I can’t even see him properly through my tears. I didn’t think I had any tears left for Max. But he keeps on delivering.

“I’m willing to forget this but pull yourself together before the meeting. Do you want me to send Nisha down?”

He hovers over me.

I shake my head.

“Let’s talk about this when you’ve calmed down.”

“It was our honeymoon,” I choke out as he walks away.

Eight weeks. Eight weeks was all it took to get over me. The first four weeks were spent cancelling the relationship. How did he have time?

And it’s not even a shag. Or a fling. You don’t go on holiday with a fling. No, a holiday is a promise of intent. An agreement in principle that this may be serious.

Svalbard.Out of the two hundred or whatever number of countries there are in the world, he had to go to the place we picked for a honeymoon destination? I hope he gets eaten by a bear. Or better, his dick gets gangrene and really does fall off.

When I track this on the mood spreadsheet my therapist is making me keep, the graph will go into a negative spike. I’ve been incrementally on the up. This will look worse than a crypto crash.

My phone vibrates in my bag. Nisha.

Max is probably back at the office already in work mode, rallying the troops. I cancel the call and message her saying I’ll walk to Lexington by myself.

At least there’s one thing I know for sure—this day can only get better.

15

Jack

With a knock on the door, my PA, Jess, pops her head in.“Jack, Bradshaw Brown are waiting for you in boardroom four.” She looks at her notebook. “Then you have the board of directors at eleven. I’ll have lunch ready for you at twelve thirty. I’ve booked dinner at The Ivy tonight for you and your mother. Your sisters cannot attend, unfortunately.”

“Thanks, Jess.” I nod. “On my way.”

An army of them, suited and booted, are waiting for me when I enter the room. Not surprising considering the contract on the table for a company of their size.

Max jumps to his feet to shake my hand. “Jack.”

I don’t like Max as much as he thinks I do.

“Max.” I shake hands and take a seat at the front of the room beside Sean and two of my other senior managers.

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