Chapter 29
Twenty-Nine
James
“James, can you come back in here now?”
He blinked, squinting at the jagged cut of moonlight slashing across Sophie’s face. “Everything okay?”
Her eyes were a bit too wide, but her body relaxed. “Yes, I just think you need to hear this.”
His brows rose, but he slipped into the room, taking a seat behind his desk.
Glancing at his assistant, he ignored the heat swirling in his veins and cleared his throat.
She stared at a bookshelf, lips pursed and hissed a breath out her nose. “I thought you were different than your father, James, but he really did pass his penchant for figuring things out for yourself down to you, didn’t he?”
James lifted a brow, confusion lancing through him. “I’m sorry?”
Jackie laughed. Her hazel eyes, once so warm, iced over. “Don’t act like you weren’t the one who made me do this. Better yet, don’t act like you didn’t want me to.”
James stared at her, eyes wide and hands suffocating the arms of his chair.
Was Jackie delusional? How could she possibly think that the entire time, he was silently goading her to take control of the situation?
A ball of nausea skipped into his stomach, rolling to a stop.
“No PR is bad PR, isn’t that right, Sophie?
” Jackie bit out. “I overheard Philip talking to James in his office. Philip was concerned that the past quarterly projections had not been as high as he would’ve liked.
He wanted to bring in a client with a higher profile, not only to raise our profits, but also to draw in potential clients. ”
Dread flooded James’s system as he laced his fingers together.
Jackie’s words from months ago floated in his ears.
‘Sorry to interrupt, but I couldn’t help but overhear … what about George Delacroix? I remember you said he was looking to decorate the new branch of Cross Law.’
James blanched, heart kicking into overdrive.
“Initially, I hired Davenport to make sure that Delacroix was squeaky clean, and I was going to tell you what I did, but then … he found a few things that didn’t add up.
” She clenched her fists in her lap. “I knew that if I told you after that, there was a high chance I’d be fired.
So, I told Davenport to use the things he found against Delacroix.
It was either do business with us and spend a certain amount, or have his crimes leaked. ”
James sucked in a breath. “He didn’t try to reach the amount because he thought you were bluffing.”
Jackie let out a maniacal laugh. “His mistake. I thought you would be proud of me for doing what I did. After all, I learned it from watching you. You weren’t as quiet about it as you thought.”
James gritted his teeth and laced his fingers beneath his chin.
But she ignored his expression and continued with a glimmer in her eye.
“I put Lotus in the public eye, even though it was the result of something negative. I knew it would result in us getting attention. We’d start drawing in clients and money as soon as everything blew over, and I would take over Gemma’s position because I brought in such a big account in the first place. ”
James stared at a point on the wall just beyond Jackie’s shoulder, his jaw clenched to the point of pain.
What started as a small lie had snowballed, and instead of confessing, she let it fester.
Jackie’s expression fixated between glee and disgust, and the effect was terrifying.
“When I overheard you talking to Cami and Gemma about how you had found Davenport, I panicked. But luckily, you said you weren’t going to do anything until after Adam’s engagement party.
” She sneered. “Still, I couldn’t risk you tracing it back to me.
That’s why I went to the press when I did, and told them what I knew, making sure they kept me anonymous. ”
James’s fists trembled on the arms of his chair. His throat grated with each swallow.
Jackie had to know that he never would’ve given her the job, didn’t she? With her position as his assistant and her previous experience, it wouldn’t have made sense to give her the role of COO.
“Jackie, do you know what you cost me?” James’s voice trembled with anger, and he shook his head. “Cost Sophie?”
Years of work, just trying to escape from the shadow of his family. It almost swirled down the drain.
Jackie lifted her chin. “From where I’m standing, all I see is that what I did brought you more publicity, more clients, and more money.”
It took all his power to keep his jaw from unhinging as his eyes bugged. Ringing began in his ears, and his leg started bouncing under his desk.
Jackie was too far gone to be reasoned with.
“You know I have to fire you, don’t you?” he asked even though they all knew the question was only a courtesy. “You’ll get a considerable severance, of course, and I’ll make sure you and your family are looked after.”
Jackie gaped at him, too shocked at the obvious answer. “You ungrateful—”
“Careful, Jacqueline.”
Scorn filled her face, but she nodded once and stood. “All I wanted to do was help you,” she got out quickly. She walked toward the door, lip trembling even as she threw daggers with her eyes. “That was all I wanted. James—”
“Jacqueline,” he snapped.
She stared at him before she left, shutting the door behind her.
With the click, he slumped forward, squeezing his eyes shut, and sucking in rattling breath after rattling breath. God, he wanted to punch something.
“James.”
Gentle hands rested on his shoulders, and he lifted his head, glancing at a wide-eyed Sophie.
God, I must look terrible.
In one swift motion, he pulled her down onto his lap and crushed her into a tight hug.
The light seeping in through the window gilded her hair in glimmering bronze. The Jasmine flowers in her shampoo mixed with the autumn smoke from outside, snaking up his nose.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured into her hair. “You shouldn’t have been dragged into this.”
God, he was so fortunate to have her by his side. Even though everything was crumbling around him, at least she was there amongst the wreckage.
“It’s okay,” she whispered. She clung to him, everything laid out in her touch.
And yet, he still wanted to whisper a thousand and one apologies.
He didn’t know how he had managed to get through the week.
The days passed in a haze of meetings and paperwork, and on top of that, he had interviews for a new assistant to oversee. By the time Friday rolled around, he was dead tired.
Collapsing into the Uber, he directed the driver to Sophie’s apartment.
Sighing, he tucked his chin back and crossed his arms. He could shut his eyes for a few seconds.
“Hey. Hey!”
He blinked and looked out the window, squinting against the sharp lights of nighttime traffic zipping by.
The car had stopped outside the noodle shop that stood below Sophie’s, and the driver stared at him.
Apologizing, James quickly paid and got out, wiping drool from his mouth. He shook his head and rang the buzzer for her apartment, rubbing his eyes as he waited.
The door opened a few moments later, and Sophie beamed at him.
All his exhaustion promptly faded away, and his lips crashed onto hers, his arms looping around her body.
“Hey,” he murmured against her mouth, and she laughed.
“Hi to you, too,” she whispered. “As much as I’d love to stay here, we’re attracting attention, so let’s go inside.”
He tramped up the threadbare carpet lining the stairs, hiking over the creaky step at the top.
“I did want to talk to you about something,” he said as they entered her apartment. “Now that Jackie is gone, what does it mean for me and Covey?”
He assumed they were done, since what he had originally sought them out for was over.
“Technically, you don’t need us anymore,” she confirmed. “But there’s the bit with Marilyn lying to cover our relationship.”
He frowned, sitting on the couch and hugging a throw pillow. “So, she just leaks another story, right? She says she was wrong, and we actually have something going on.”
Sophie shook her head. “It’s not that simple.
If Marilyn leaks another story, people will start to wonder why she’s the one going to the press.
I’m the account director now, so I should be the one to say something, and since you’re not our client anymore, we’re not stopping you from saying anything, either. ”
He nodded, his brow furrowed. Focusing on a knot on the coffee table, he clutched the pillow in his lap tightly.
She smiled and grasped his hands. “But don’t worry. We’ll figure it out.”
“I think we should figure it out now,” he protested.
She shook her head. “Believe me, I know how important this is. But truthfully? I need some time to think of what to do.”