Chapter 31
RENéE
The whisk clattered dangerously against the sides of the mixing bowl, sputtering cake batter in every direction like it had a personal vendetta against me. I frowned at the mess of raw eggs, butter, and milk threatening to escape. Why the hell is baking so hard? People on the internet made it look effortless with their perfectly edited Instagram reels, but here I was, battling a mixer on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
And then, it happened.
The mixing bowl popped loose, spinning wildly like a possessed carousel. Before I could do anything but scream, the batter exploded everywhere—on my face, my hair, the counters, even the damn ceiling.
“Shit!” I yelped, staring at the sticky chaos. I wiped at my face, smearing more flour across my cheek. “No, no, no! I only brought one pair of clothes!” I groaned, looking down at my now-ruined outfit.
Without much choice, I peeled off my batter-soaked clothes, cursing Javier for his terrible kitchen gadgets, and stomped toward his bedroom. I rummaged through his closet, pulling out a soft black T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants.
“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind,” I muttered under my breath.
After a quick shower, I felt human again. Clean, warm, and wearing clothes that smelled faintly like him, I wandered into his study. His bookshelf was ridiculously huge, packed with everything from thick classics to what looked like ancient maps. I reached for one of the leather-bound volumes when something else caught my eye.
The photos.
A whole wall of them, clustered together like a chaotic scrapbook. They weren’t organized, just tacked up with no rhyme or reason. My gaze drifted over snapshots of Javier in all corners of the world—grinning with a massive fish in one hand, posing with a surfboard by some turquoise ocean, standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, and even sitting cross-legged in a kimono, looking both miserable and amused.
I smiled at a picture of him grimacing as a tattoo artist worked on his arm. His face was scrunched in pain, but there was something endearing about it.
But then, my attention shifted.
There was one picture that felt different. A younger Javier stood next to a woman with stunning green eyes and copper hair, her smile warm and soft as she stirred something in a bowl behind him. A girl with identical copper hair and playful gray eyes had her fingers up in a V sign. They all looked so carefree, so happy. There was even flour smudged on young Javier’s cheek, his grin wide and unguarded.
His mother and sister.
I swallowed hard, my chest tightening. This must’ve been before—before everything went wrong. Before he lost them.
My fingers brushed against the frame, picking it up. Another picture sat nearby, this one of an older Javier and his sister, Leila. She looked so familiar it made my stomach twist. Her features, her smile, the way her eyes glinted like Javier’s when he was teasing me—it hit me all at once.
Oh my God.
My breath caught, my heart thundering as I pieced it together. Leila wasn’t just familiar—she was…
The shrill ring of my phone shattered my thoughts.
I jumped, nearly dropping the photo.
Every step through the gleaming hallways of this building felt like dragging chains. My stomach churned as I approached Javier’s office, my heels clicking on the polished floor louder than they should have. The space was too bright, too cold. Everything about this place reminded me of the humiliation, the whispers, and the way my confidence had been chipped away bit by bit.
But Javier had called, and here I was.
I pushed open the heavy wooden door and stepped inside.
The tension in the room hit me like a wall. Wane stood near the corner, looking like he might faint at any second. His face was pale, his hands trembling, and he didn’t even glance my way. HR was seated, arms folded, her expression giving nothing away.
And then there was Elise.
She stood stiff and tense, her fists clenched so tightly at her sides I could see the whites of her knuckles. Her jaw was set, her lips pressed into a tight line, but it was her eyes that made me stop short. Cold. Detached. Empty of the warmth I’d always known in her. This wasn’t the Elise who laughed at my terrible jokes or split fries with me on late nights. This was someone else entirely.
“Mr. Densmore?” I turned to Javier.
He stood behind his desk, perfectly composed, his dark suit crisp and his expression calm but unreadable.
“Ms. Margot,” he said, sounding like a lawyer and it felt foreign to my ears. “First of all, thank you for coming.”
Javier straightened, clasping his hands in front of him. “I owe you an apology. The treatment you’ve endured in this office has been nothing short of disgraceful. It was unfair, and it should never have happened. I take full responsibility for ensuring that it never happens again.”
I stared at him, too stunned to respond.
Javier’s attention shifted, zeroing in on Wane, who visibly flinched under the weight of his gaze. And I realized Wane wasn’t acting like he’d seen a ghost—he was acting like he’d seen Javier.
“The responsible parties will face consequences,” Javier continued, his voice lowering in a way that made the room feel even smaller. “You have my assurance on that.”
He turned back to me, his expression softening ever so slightly. “Thank you for your years of dedication to this company, Ms. Margot. Your contributions have not gone unnoticed, and you deserved far better than this.”
“Wane,” Javier said, and Wane’s head snapped up, and the sheer terror in his eyes was something I’d never forget. He took a shaky step forward, then another, before his legs buckled and he dropped to his knees.
“I’m sorry,” he whimpered, his hands shaking as he clasped them in front of him. “Ms. Margot, please... I didn’t mean for things to go this far. It was a mistake. A terrible mistake. Please forgive me.”
I blinked at him, utterly at a loss for words.
Wane, groveling? Apologizing? My mind couldn’t keep up with what I was seeing.
He kept babbling, his voice frantic, but I couldn’t hear him anymore. My gaze flicked to Elise, standing silently to the side, her jaw tightening with every passing second. She hadn’t moved, hadn’t spoken, but her icy glare was locked on me, and suddenly I realized—I didn’t know this person at all.
The sharp knock at the door startled me, and before anyone could respond, two uniformed police officers stepped in. My stomach dropped.
“Ms. Elise Bennett?” one of the officers said.
“You are under arrest for the unauthorized dissemination of private information and materials belonging to this company. You have the right to remain silent...”
The words blurred in my ears. My eyes widened as I stared at them, then at Elise. This couldn’t be happening.
“What?” My voice cracked as I stepped forward, almost stumbling in disbelief. “No, no, there has to be some mistake. Elise can’t—she wouldn’t—” I turned desperately to Javier, my voice rising. “Javier, say something! This can’t be right!”
Javier’s expression was unyielding, his lips pressed into a hard line. He didn’t move, didn’t speak, just watched the scene unfold with a detachment that made my skin crawl.
“Stop it.” Elise’s voice was sharp and venomous.
I froze, turning to look at her. Her face, usually so composed and familiar, twisted with something dark—anger, resentment, bitterness.
“Stop the act, Renée.” Her words dripped with scorn. “I did it. Okay? I leaked the pictures. I blamed you. It was me.”
I felt the floor tilt beneath me. The air was sucked from the room, and for a moment, I thought I might pass out. “What?” My voice was barely a whisper, trembling with disbelief.
“I. Did. It,” Elise repeated, enunciating each word like she wanted to drive a knife through my chest with every syllable. “I leaked everything. Every single piece of dirt they threw at you? That was me.”
My head shook automatically, my mind refusing to process her words. “Why?” The word came out choked. “Why would you do this? I trusted you. I thought we were—”
“Friends?” She laughed, but it was hollow, bitter, almost cruel. “I was never your friend, Renée. Not really. You took everything from me. Do you even realize that? My promotion? Mine. My job, my stability, my life—it all fell apart because of you. Because you decided to join this company!”
I could barely breathe. “I didn’t take anything from you,”
She stepped closer. “Because of you, I lost my home. My boyfriend walked out on me. I was broke, struggling, and all I ever saw was you , sitting pretty in the spot I deserved. And you didn’t even have the decency to notice.”
“That’s not true,” I whispered, but it sounded hollow even to my own ears.
“Oh, it’s true.” She sneered. “You walked around this place like you owned it, while I was scraping to get by. And you know what? I’d do it all over again. You deserved it.”
I didn’t know how to respond. The betrayal was too deep, the wound too fresh, and her words too sharp to make sense of anything. I just stood there, staring at her like I didn’t even recognize her anymore.
The officers moved forward, taking Elise by the arms. She didn’t resist, but she didn’t look away from me either. Her glare was still sharp, her lips curled in defiance.
“Wait—” I tried to step forward, my hand outstretched, though I didn’t know what I was reaching for. “There’s been a mistake. This can’t—”
“Renée,” Javier’s voice cut through. “Enough.”
“What the hell just happened?” I demanded, turning to Javier, my voice sharper than I intended. “Is she out of her mind? Like, seriously—what kind of person does something like that?”
The room was silent now, everyone else having made a quick exit, leaving just the two of us. Javier stepped closer, his hands steady on my shoulders, but it did nothing to cool the fire raging inside me.
“She stood there, listing every little thing she thought was wrong with her life—and pinned it all on me?” My words came fast, almost tumbling over each other. “Like I was supposed to magically know she wanted that promotion? I didn’t even know she was in the running when I joined for the role!”
I laughed bitterly, the sound harsh even to my own ears. “Un-fucking-believable.”
“Renée.” Javier gently tugged me into his arms, his embrace solid and warm, but I barely registered it.
“She’s had issues before,” he said quietly. “Psychological records. There’s a pattern, Renée. A victim mentality. It’s not about you—it never was. She just needed someone to blame.”
I exhaled, the sharpness in my chest dulling slightly but not disappearing. “Now that I think about it,” I muttered, “she was always there. Every time something went wrong with my projects. Every. Single. Time.”
Javier’s hold on me tightened, grounding me as the realization hit me like a punch.
“She probably sabotaged them,” he said, his lips brushing against the top of my head.
A bitter laugh escaped me; the sound hollow. “How could I have been so stupid?” I tilted my head back, meeting his steady gaze. “I trusted her, Javier. I let her in. I really thought she was my friend. And now... now I find out she’s been behind everything?”
“You’re not stupid,” he said firmly, his tone leaving no room for argument. “You’re not wrong for trusting people, sweetheart. That’s not on you—it’s on her.”
I closed my eyes. “I just—I thought she was different. I thought I could trust her.” My voice cracked, and I hated how small I sounded.
“You can’t blame yourself for this,” he said, his voice gentle. “You believed in someone. That’s not a flaw.”
I took a shaky breath. “Thank you,” I whispered. “For everything. For clearing my name. For... being here.”
Javier’s expression darkened slightly, regret flickering across his face. “I should’ve done more,” he admitted. “I should’ve stood up for you sooner. That day in the meeting—I let that bastard talk down to you, and I didn’t do anything.”
I shook my head, managing a weak smile. “It’s done, Javier. And... I forgive you.”
His lips found mine in a soft, grounding kiss, and for a moment, the chaos in my head quieted. When he pulled back, I sighed, exhaustion settling into my bones.
“I still can’t believe Elise did this,” I said, shaking my head. “She had my laptop password, for God’s sake. She had access to everything. I might have even set up myself for all this. How could I have been so blind? What was I even thinking?”
“You were thinking that she was your friend,” he said softly, his hands running gentle circles on my back. “That’s not a bad thing, love.”
I looked up at him, searching his face for something—anything—that would make sense of all this. “It just feels like trusting people always gets me burned.”
He gave me a small smile. “Maybe. But if you stop trusting, you stop being you. And I don’t want that.”
“Still,” I said with a weak laugh, “this blind trust thing? It always comes back to bite me in the ass.”
“Let me take you home, love. What’s done is done. We can’t change it.” He paused, tilting his head slightly. “You don’t need to deal with this alone.”
I nodded slowly. “What about work?”
He shrugged, the corner of his mouth twitching into a lazy smile. “Nobody cares if I’m here or not.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
Javier smirked. “Didn’t I tell you? I was only in the office to see you, nothing else.”
I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms. “And they were paying you for that? Just to show up and make my life harder?”
“Oh no,” he said, his grin widening. “I was paying myself for the pleasure of basking in your divine presence.”
“What?” I blinked, completely thrown off.
He leaned in slightly, his voice dropping as if he were about to reveal a great secret. “I own half the company, sweetheart.” He punctuated the sentence with a wink.
“Huh?” The word came out sharper than I intended, my hands pushing against his chest. He stumbled back a step, looking at me like I’d just grown horns.
“What?” he said as if I were the one being ridiculous.
“All this time,” I started, my voice rising. “All those late hours, the impossible deadlines, the mountain of work—it was you ?”
“I... uh…” He blinked.
“And here I was thinking maybe I’d misjudged you,” I snapped, glaring at him. “That maybe you weren’t as infuriating as I thought. But no! It turns out you were the puppet master pulling all the strings!”
“Renée—I—I”
“I—I,” I mocked his stuttering, throwing my hands in the air. “Save it, Javier! Don’t even think about coming near me for the next six months!”
“Six months?!” His voice cracked, disbelief plastered all over his face as I spun on my heel and stormed out of the office.
“Baby, please,” he begged, his tone bordering on desperation. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. Don’t do this!”
I reached my car, unlocking it with a sharp click. “You’ll survive,” I said, sliding into the driver’s seat.
“I won’t!” He said desperately. “Anything else! Please! Just don’t ban me from touching you for six months. I’d die if I couldn’t hold you for even a day—let alone…”
“Then I guess I’ll send flowers to your funeral,” I said with a saccharine smile before slamming the door shut and driving off.
Of course, Javier wasn’t about to let it end there. Barely a minute later, I spotted his car in my rearview mirror, tailing me to his apartment.
When I stepped inside, I found this morning’s disaster staring right at me. Shit.
“Love, just listen—” Javier followed me in, stopping short. His gaze flicked to the kitchen, then back to me. He tilted his head, one eyebrow raising in curiosity.
I cleared my throat awkwardly. “I, uh... I forgive you,” I blurted out, leaning up to plant a quick kiss on his lips before bolting toward his bedroom before he could grab me.
“Renée Margot!” he called after me. “You better be naked on your knees, ass up, by the time I get in there!”