Chapter 41 #2
It looked like a caffeine-covered crime scene.
Sadie had absolutely wrecked the kitchen with whatever she’d wanted to whip up .
A milk frother was tipped over like it’d been in a bar fight, three different kinds of alternative milks were lined up like suspects on the counter, and the espresso machine was hissing steam like it was called Karen and was about to file a complaint with the manager.
“What the heck happened here?” I asked as I strode up to the island. “Are you hurt? This looks like someone might’ve been injured in the behind-the-scenes of it all.”
Softly humming to herself, Sadie smiled at me over her shoulder. “Latte art is a discipline, Laney. You can’t rush greatness.”
“I would’ve been okay with a black coffee.”
She shrugged, her features completely blank. “Well, I wanted to make you a masterpiece.”
Turning her attention back to whatever she was doing, she hummed for another few seconds before she turned and presented me with a mug.
It had some kind of abstract leaf design on the surface of the liquid masquerading as coffee inside.
She motioned for me to sit as she wiped milk foam off the marble counter with the sleeve of her shirt.
I took a seat at the bar, wondering how much it would cost to replace half the kitchen appliances before Sterling got home. “Is, uh, is anything broken?”
“Nah.” She winked at me before picking up her own mug. “Only your sense of humor, it seems.”
“Ha. Thanks a lot. Like my life could get any weirder at this point.”
“Just roll with it,” she suggested as if it was the sagest advice that had ever been offered. “How are you doing?”
Jack materialized out of nowhere and leapt onto the stool next to mine, not even bothering to hesitate before he climbed into my lap like he’d been robbed of it before.
He was heavier than he seemed, all muscle and entitlement, and he kneaded my thighs for a moment before he turned in a half circle and lay down.
In that moment, I decided to take her advice and just roll with it, stroking his impossibly soft fur as I glanced down at him. “I’m fine, but is he? He’s really heavy. I thought it was just his position earlier, but nope. Still heavy.”
She shrugged. “Oh, yeah. That. I forgot to tell you, but he’s supposed to be on a diet. I brought some of his food so you’ve got that for later. For now, I think he deserves some cream.”
“Sadie.” I groaned. “If he’s supposed to be on a diet, he can’t have any cream. That’s not how life works.”
“Neither is waking up next to a billionaire you’re now married to after not knowing him three months ago,” she shot back cheerfully, popping open the fridge like she owned the place and pouring cream into one of Sterling’s crystal tumblers. “Yet, here we are.”
Jack launched himself off my lap like a torpedo and trotted over to the cream immediately.
I took a sip of my latte, which was annoyingly delicious.
“So, uh, you said my company was under siege, like it’s in the past. Sterling made it sound like it was all taken care of and his family didn’t seem overly concerned anymore this morning either.
Do you have any idea what happened? He asked if I wanted to know, but I didn’t at the time. ”
Sadie sighed and cocked a hip against the counter, her expression darkening like a thundercloud had rolled in over her head. “It was Cassandra.”
“Yeah, Sterling made it sound like it was her.” I sighed. “What about the Baby Blossom stuff, though? I assumed she’d posted that picture of me because no one but her and her friends were there at the time, but did she really come after my store too?”
She grimaced and dipped her chin in a curt nod. “Honestly, I knew she was behind all this before Sterling’s team even confirmed it. She’s always been the type to smile to your face but sharpen the knife behind her back so she can stab you in yours as soon as you turn around.”
Shock cooled my blood. I’d taken her for a garden variety schoolyard bully and it really didn’t come as a surprise that she was responsible for that meme, but the stuff with my business?
That went way beyond destroying someone’s reputation.
It was still possible that she’d wrecked my very livelihood.
“Why would she do that? How would she do that? She’s just one girl. ”
“And Sterling’s just one boy, but he has power and so does she.
” Sadie rolled her eyes. “You married the guy she’s been chasing since high school, Laney.
Sterling is the crown jewel of the Westwood family.
He was unattainable until you came along, but I’m pretty sure she thought she could eventually wear him down if she was persistent enough. ”
I averted my gaze from hers, still finding it difficult to believe that just one jealous girl could do this much damage to someone she didn’t even know. I’d really thought she’d jumped on the bandwagon with that meme after some other company had started the smear campaign against Baby Blossom.
Since I worked with so many other businesses in the neighborhood, I didn’t have many professional enemies, but there were slightly larger retailers in the same industry that had threatened me before.
As I thought back to that fake smile and the venom in Cassandra’s eyes though, I realized that she was far more dangerous than any of those companies.
“Did Sterling ever notice her?” I swallowed hard, a lump of dread suddenly forming in my throat. “She’s gorgeous. And rich. And obviously powerful. Were they ever…”
Sadie snorted in derision. “Oh, he noticed her alright. Sterling notices everything. He just didn’t care.”
A thoughtful gleam entered her eyes as she fell silent, but she didn’t seem to be done quite yet, so I kept quiet. Moments later, she refocused on me and smiled. “I always wondered how he could be so unaffected by her. I mean, I know she’s ugly as fuck on the inside, but on the outside…”
She let out a low whistle and shook her head.
“She sure is something else. Anyway, after I heard about you, I finally figured it out. Sterling was never going to go after someone like her because he was looking for something else. Something real, I think. As pretty as she is, Cassandra has never been that.”
Her eyes softened as she looked at me. “The way I heard it, you walked into his life, speaking your mind and telling him to go screw himself, and he didn’t stand a chance.”
I flushed. “It wasn’t like that. I didn’t?—”
“Mean to make the most eligible bachelor in our world fall in love with you?” she said with a smirk. “I know, but now you have an impossibly rich, powerful husband who looks at you like you hung the stars. Don’t you get it? You’re what he was waiting for and Cassandra can’t stand it.”
Turning my gaze to the floor-to-ceiling windows behind her, I watched the late afternoon sunlight glint off the bay and shook my head. “I just can’t believe she’d go that far to get his attention, and if she did, is she done? Do I have to worry about something like this happening again?”
“Nah. Your devoted husband will make sure she never even looks at you again. I don’t know what he’s up to, but it sounds like he’s on the warpath.
My mom told me she heard that he’s tearing her down brick by brick, starting with her access to any exclusive restaurant, club, bar, and event in town. It’s pretty impressive, actually.”
I swung my head back toward her and gawked. “Are you serious? Can he even do that?”
“Sterling Westwood can do just about anything he wants. No one else is dumb enough to mess with him, and if they don’t blackball her from their lists, that’s exactly what they would be doing.”
“Wow. I would feel bad for her, but, well, you know.” I shrugged. “Having to stand in line outside a club is hardly anything compared to destroying a business that many people, myself included, depend on as their only stream of income.”
She snorted softly. “Clearly, you don’t know much about Cassandra’s world.
Standing in line outside a club or being refused access to certain restaurants is like being exiled to social Siberia and her social standing is all she’s got.
No career. No real ambitions. Hell, she doesn’t even get involved with charities unless her mother forces her to participate in fundraisers. ”
“That’s…” I blinked hard. “That’s pretty sad.”
“Yep.” Sadie looked much too cheerful about it, though. “Anyway, the fake reviews are gone. Social media has been scrubbed. That Megan girl put out some dumb apology video and said she’s starting a foundation for ‘victims of internet bullying’ like herself.”
I sniffed. “She wasn’t really a victim, but okay. At least she’s starting a foundation for victims. Maybe she’ll actually help someone who’s really been harmed.”
She crossed her fingers and held them up. “I hope so.”
Nodding absently, I turned back to the water, seeing Jack padding back over from the corner of my eye. He pressed his head against my knee, purring like he was trying to take the credit and get a few ear rubs for having fixed everything.
Sterling wasn’t back yet, but I could suddenly feel his absence like gravity. I couldn’t help but wonder where he was, what he was doing, and if he was still fighting my battles without even once trying to get attention or credit for it.
I also wondered what I’d done to deserve him—and what it would take to get to keep him.