Chapter 31
Juliet
I could hardly believe what I was hearing with my ear pressed snug against the door of Chester’s office. I pushed open the door, nearly falling in with the force behind it, fueled by the words I had just heard.
New assistant.
Anger ran through me, but instead of being red hot, it was a cool chill running through my veins.
I wasn’t sure if it was anger or sadness and lethal rage pulsing in me, but I looked at Chester sitting behind his desk dumbfounded and wanted to scream.
I had come here to quit, but wasn’t expecting to find I was already being replaced. I couldn’t believe him.
My heart sank even more when I spotted Mia sitting across from him, looking over her shoulder with her mouth gaping at my hasty entrance. I had to do a double take, not wanting to believe that Chester was replacing me with her.
Her, who had been making my life a living hell the moment I stepped in this building. Her, with her raven black hair that matched the dark shade of her heart. Her, who had spread rumors about me my very first morning here.
Her, who had a past with Chester that made me sick to think about. A reminder that he really did use people before disposing of them. I was just his latest conquest.
I snapped my eyes back to Chester, who sat behind his desk now looking cool, calm, and collected.
Frustratingly so. My heart felt like it was swelling and shrinking all at once.
I had missed him. As much as I hated admitting that to myself, it was true.
It had only been a few days since I had seen him last, and the absence in the office made me feel hollow.
Even though he had hurt me as bad as he did, I couldn’t help but wish he was there.
Now that I was pregnant with his baby, it hurt even more.
His brown eyes were dark, the color of chestnut, as they searched mine. Of course, he was wearing my favorite suit of his. It was blacker than a midnight sky, cut perfectly to his solid form. It was disarming.
He was disarming.
I almost forgot what I was here to do.
But I couldn’t fall for it. For him. Not again.
“How dare you,” I said sharply and slowly.
His brow furrowed as he looked up at me. His act of confusion wouldn’t work on me though. It was clear what I had walked in on.
“Juliet…” he started, my name sounding like a favorite song from his lips.
“You couldn’t have the decency of firing me before looking for my replacement?” I asked, my voice growing louder.
“That’s not what—”
“I’m not done,” I snapped.
Chester pressed his lips together, swallowing hard.
“I was damn good at this job,” I said. “I did everything you asked and more. I put up with your ridiculous demands and particularities. It’s honestly no wonder you haven’t been able to keep a personal assistant with how high maintenance you are.”
Mia let out a choke of a laugh, looking from me to Chester, clearly enjoying the show. I ignored her and kept going.
“I’ve done your stupid tasks. Making me pick up your dry cleaning. Running around town with contracts. Playing waitress.” I raised my brows at that last one, remembering how stupid I had been. So eager to do everything he wanted.
It had been right here in this office. So much had happened right here.
I closed my eyes tightly, trying to shut the memories out.
The smiles. The looks of lust. The laughs.
The callouses of his hands, gentle yet sharp against my bare skin.
The conversations over lunch, getting to know the man behind the money.
I clenched my fingers into fists and forced myself to look at him again.
“You are the one who requested me to be transferred. You sought me out for the job. And now you’re throwing me away without so much as a conversation. An email. A text. Nothing.” My voice grew shaky. “I should have never left accounting. Hell, I should never have taken this job!”
I knew that I was letting my hurt get the best of me. This wasn’t about the job. This was about what happened between us. How he pretended to care about me until I fell for him, just to discard me so easily. Just to find his next plaything in my mortal enemy.
I wouldn’t say any of this in front of Mia though.
I didn’t need to give her more ammo to use against me.
She already had her assumptions about Chester and me, but I never confirmed it.
I wouldn’t do that now, not even when my feelings were threatening to leap from my throat.
She would gain too much satisfaction from knowing she was right. From my heartache.
I clenched the resignation letter in my hand tightly, the sharp edges of the paper crumpling as they dug into me. It was a reminder of what I was doing here. I came to quit. To never see Chester again. To raise our baby on my own.
I fought back tears, as I tossed it on Chester’s desk.
“What’s this?” he asked softly, reaching for it curiously. He slid it across the desk and lifted it up to his painfully perfect face.
“My resignation letter,” I said firmly. “You may have already found a new personal assistant, but just know that I had already quit.”
“At least, let me have that,” I added softly, hating how my voice betrayed me.
“Juliet…” he said, his eyes running over the typed-up page I had haphazardly put together the night before.
“And you…” I said, ignoring him and turning my attention to Mia who sat up straight in her burgundy suit that matched the shade of lipstick on her lips that were quirked into a slight smile. “Why would you want to work for him? Again?”
Chester looked between us, confused.
“After everything you told me yesterday? Or are you doing this to spite me? Now who is the one with no self-respect? You’re so miserable and blinded by hate. I almost feel bad for you,” I said, digging into her more.
Her dark eyes watched me, and something behind them told me she was enjoying this. She really was an awful human being.
“How do you two know each other?” asked Chester, pointing between us two.
“Accounting. Obviously. You do know who works for you, right?” I asked irritated.
“Apparently not,” said Mia with a shake of her head.
“Were you ever going to tell me that a former fling worked for you?” I asked Chester, narrowing my gaze.
Mia was awful, but Chester had allowed her to work for him. Not once, but twice now.
“I didn’t know…” he said. “I’m not in charge of hiring every employee, Juliet. I have a team for that.”
Mia scoffed.
“She was so unmemorable, I wouldn’t have recognized her if I had hired her myself,” said Chester coldly.
“Says the man who practically eye-fucked me upon meeting me,” said Mia, her voice rising. Clearly, he had gotten to her.
“I doubt that very much.”
“Admit it, Chester. You wanted me. You just didn’t give in to the possibility of us.”
“There was no us,” said Chester exasperatedly.
I looked between the two of them, more confused than ever. Mia had told me she had ignored Chester’s advances toward her and that was why he had fired her. But now she was making it seem like she had wanted something more. My head was spinning.
“Tell me the truth,” I said, looking up at him. “Were you two ever involved?”
“Never,” he said with a firm shake of his head.
I felt a pull to believe him.
“Not everyone gives it up so easily, Juliet,” Mia sneered, her teeth white against her dark lipstick.
“Shut up.” My eyes narrowed in on her, my cheeks ablaze.
“You can’t deny it, Juliet,” she said coolly.
“You don’t know anything.”
“I know more than you think.”
I sighed exasperatedly, turning for the door. I didn’t need to be here anymore. I didn’t need to hear this. Not again.
“I’m the one who sent the photos,” said Mia after me, her voice with a satisfied trill to it.
I stopped in my tracks before slowly turning toward her.
“Y-you?” I stammered.
She nodded slowly. “Trust me, I know everything.”
My mouth snapped shut as her words sunk into me.
“Surprise.” She grinned.
“You’re the one who left the photo on my desk?” I asked, looking toward my office behind me, remembering the grainy image. The scribbled note.
“What photo?” interrupted Chester, looking at me with concern.
Mia tsked. “Chester. Baby. You think you were the only one I sent the photo to? Where is the fun in that?”
I felt a wave of nausea roll over me as my knees grew weak. I hadn’t been the only one to receive a mysterious threat. Mia had been threatening us both. I wondered how long this had been going on.
Why hadn’t Chester told me?
Was this why he had turned so distant?
I looked at him, begging for answers, but he just looked at me sadly, confirming what I was already putting together in my head. Then a thought came to me.
“Is this why you’re giving her my job?” I asked him.
“I’m not going to do it,” said Chester quickly, confirming my suspicion.
He wasn’t replacing me by choice. Mia was forcing his hand. While I wish it made me feel better, it didn’t.
“But the photo…” I said worriedly, the grainy image popping in my head again. A night that had felt so good, that had led us closer, was now ruined forever.
“She can release it,” he said calmly. “I’m not going to be blackmailed.” He looked at Mia coolly, his eyes slicing into her like daggers. I had never seen that look before. It sent a chill up my spine.
I knew what this meant for him. For his company. For everything he had worked for. If Mia released the photo, he would lose it all. He was willing to give it all up just to not give in to her diabolical plan.
My heart started pounding in my chest. I was only worried about Chester in that moment.
Yes, the photo coming out would be embarrassing for me, but I’d done some stupid things lately.
What was one more? But for him… it would be life-altering.
The papers would run it as a front-page story.
He would be asked to step down from his own company. Everything he’d built… gone.
“You’ll change your tune,” said Mia, sitting back in her chair and interlacing her fingers confidently as she looked at Chester.
“Chester…” I started, wanting him to think about this. “You can’t…”
He looked up at me, sadder than I had ever seen him.
“I don’t care about me, but you…” I continued, my voice pleading.
“I’m not giving her what she wants,” he said with a shake of his head.
“You have a day to change your mind.” Mia shrugged, as if she wasn’t in the midst of ruining someone’s life.
I hated her.
My anger and sadness roiled in my stomach. Feeling nauseous, my knees began to weaken. I had to sit down. I wobbled toward the chair next to Mia, reluctantly taking a seat beside her. I pressed my fingers to my temples and took a deep breath.
“Juliet, are you okay?” asked Chester, reaching across the desk, but I pulled away from him.
I shook my head, trying to catch my breath.
“I’m about to ruin her life. Both your lives. Of course she’s not okay,” said Mia with a smirk.
“Mia…” he warned her.
“Stop,” I said with a shake of my head, feeling woozy. “Please, stop.”
“Oh, come on. Are you really going to let this man take you down with him?”
“Did you really think you would get a relationship out of this man?” she continued, pointing at Chester. “That spreading your legs would make him fall in love with you?”
I shook my head, wanting to block out her words.
“You can’t trust men like him, Juliet. Men like him make you feel special and then they rip the rug right out from under you,” she said, leaning toward me, her perfume making me even more nauseous.
“If you want…” she said, sitting back in her chair thoughtfully. “I can cut you in on the deal. Afterall…we both got fucked over, right? I mean, quite literally.”
I said nothing.
“Think about it. You could get your money. The photo doesn’t get out. You can save what’s left of your dignity.”
I couldn’t believe what she was suggesting. That I would actually want to be a part of the heinous act of blackmailing. I might not know how I felt about Chester in that moment, but I would never do that to him. Or anyone for that matter.
I didn’t want to hear one more word from her foul mouth.
“You have three seconds,” I said calmly as I looked at Mia who was waiting for an answer.
“For what?” she asked, raising a dark brow.
“Two seconds…”
Mia laughed.
“One…”
Mia looked at Chester and shrugged, a confused smile on her face, before turning back to me.
I drew back my elbow just before slamming my fist into her face. Her neck snapped backward, her eyes wide, just before she fell backward onto the floor.
“Jesus!” Chester cried out, standing from his chair and looking over his desk at Mia and back to me wide-eyed.
As pain radiated through my knuckles, I stood from my chair and looked down at her knocked out cold on the rug.
“Never fuck with a pregnant lady.”