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I could al her here in front of me I didn’t realize I missed my sister so much until now "Skype just doesn’t cut it, you know," I say, h as I clearit

Violet rolls her eyes and suess what? You’re stuck withback to London for us except to visit"

I’rateful for her warht knot inas I prepared to co Daddy, Grandma, Rose, and Violet … and worst of all, that evil witch Pilar … I wasn’t looking forward to it, and that’s the understatement of the year

I was petrified really, afraid of what any of theht say I’d rather pretend the fact that I ran away to Maui to escape my problems--especially a problee, I’

I don’t even want to talk about Maui and what happened there The man I met The man who somehow, some way, double-crossed me Stole from me …

I haveconfirmed yet, but come on I had jewelry in my suitcase--expensive jewelry Cash inYet he took my laptop and that’s it The fucker stole fro for Pilar?

No It couldn’t be possible, just some weird coincidence Maybe he didn’t steal froed my Mac I hadn’t checked on it in days For all I know, it could have beensince the day I stashed it up on the shelf in my closet

That’s the problem I don’t knohat happened, when it was stolen or why I can suspect Max all I want It makes sense in a way He held , groggy and hung over, he was gone Disappeared like he’d never existed in the first place He didn’t even leave a note I searched for him everywhere By the pool, in the lobby, down by the beach, in the hotel restaurants, but he wasn’t there

I went to his hotel room only to find the door cracked open and the one The

He didn’t even bother saying goodbye

It hurts that he didn’t believe oodbye Worse, he lied to ain and then ditched ht, e had sex, I gave hiht he wanted I wanted to please him, wanted to be the submissive woman, not only to ood I liked handing over the control to Max so I could get lost in the pleasure It arousedways, the words he said, the demands he made on my body I wanted more I wanted all of hi hoht nearly sent ht hoh practically the entire trip Went home and crashed into bed only to wake up at three in the ive in to ot up, picked out , hot shoent over what I would say to everyone again and again in my head while I blew dry my hair, and hoped like hell I didn’t make a complete idiot of ood

"I thought you were serious about staying in London indefinitely," I tell her as she goes around her desk and settles into her chair as if she’s never been gone from the Manhattan headquarters of Fleur They kept her office intact and for good reason She’s such an integral part of the co it one day And I’m sure Daddy realized quickly that she couldn’t stay away for too long

I settle in the chair opposite her desk, arimace on her face "We didn’t want to deal with Pilar--that’s e stayed away for so long Ryder and I both thought it was for the best But then gru around here Lots of rumors of how people weren’t happy with the direction she was taking the co and release plans with our perfu me constantly he neededo tense at first et that Pilar and Ryder used to be a thing, which I shouldn’t because hello, that’s huge And weird Though I don’t fault Ryder, since Violet toldup

"There’s gru the co about? What sort of control does she have, anyway?" I ask, curious If Pilar had her way, she’d bump all of us and take over completely Not that I’m a threat per se since I don’t even work at Fleur, but I still own a percentage of the company and I know that drives her crazy

I know all three of usup ays to take us out--and Violet’s her biggest target

I should tellto sell trade secrets to Fleur’s competition, but ho can I break it to her without co Ryder on a e? I can’t risk it