Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
“Because I have the best news ever. Are you ready for it?”
“Ummm, hell yes.”
“Are you really ready for it?” I asked, teasing.
“Aspen Quinn,” she warned.
“You got the job as acting CEO,” I squealed.
“What?” she gasped, eyes wide. “Really? Are you really freaking serious?”
I nodded and gripped her arms as we jumped up and down.
I soaked her in, her sharp cheekbones more pronounced in her smile, with her long braids pulled back. The spark of excitement in her light blue eyes. The happiness illuminating her golden-brown skin. I wanted to remember everything because even if it wasn’t me, I couldn’t imagine anyone else running this company other than the woman who taught me almost everything I knew about it. Focusing on her happiness made accepting the past few weeks okay.
“Oh, my god. Thank you. Thank you so much. I mean, I knew you’d be in my corner, but also knew that Lucian had final say. Since he doesn’t know me well, I wasn’t sure. Of course, my interview went great, but you just never know.”
My smile strained at the corners.
I’d gone over Lucian’s head, straight to my father.
After his threat to hire that abominable woman, I had to do something. Then he canceled the rest of the interviews for the week without checking with me first, and I decided I didn’t need to run anything by him either.
“I thought you had more interviews left?” Shiloh asked.
“Well, Mr. Dark and Douchy canceled them all.” I rolled my eyes. “And frankly, I can’t sit in on another atrocious round of questions with the most absurd answers.”
She winced. “Yeah, I heard about him needing time off. It’s so sa—”
“Rude,” I interjected, finishing her sentence. “I can’t believe he blew his responsibilities off. He comes in with this big talk about wanting to be a part of Quinn Music Group—of caring—and then just, poof, walks away from his responsibilities. What an asshole.”
I was so wrapped up in my heated rant that I didn’t notice her smile falter—didn’t see alarm creep in and tighten her face.
“What?”
“Well, his uncle is sick,” she explained slowly.
“Yeah, Felix,” I confirmed, pain lancing my heart. Over the past week, I’d attempted to shift the hollow weight in my chest into something jagged and harder. While it partially worked, easing my heartbreak over Lucian, it did little to soothe the pain of missing Felix and Grace. I missed their dinners. I missed Felix’s laugh. I missed bringing him tea, and the joyful smiles he managed through his suffering.
I remembered the last dinner we had with them, and how I’d laughed until my cheeks cramped. “It’s such a sad situation, but it’s no reason for Lucian to use him as some excuse to skip out,” I sneered.
“Aspen…”
“What?” I asked, thrown by the way she was looking at me—like I’d just kicked a puppy.
“My understanding is that he isn’t making excuses,” she said. “His assistant mentioned he ran out of here last week after he got a call that his godfather was being admitted to the hospital.”
“What?” I whispered, the sound hollow, fear seeping into the edges.
“She said that he let her know he might not be back for a while since he was going to spend the final days with his family.”
My heart sank like the Titanic to the pit of my stomach. My vision blurred. My hands tingled. I couldn’t breathe.
“Oh, god,” I whimpered.
She studied me, her brows pinched. “I know you guys have a unique arrangement, but this is a big deal. How did you not know?”
“I—” Her revelation consumed me, and I shook my head, struggling to comprehend her question when it hit me. Of course, she would assume I would know, even though she also knew the details of our arrangement. I was supposed to be his fiancée who lived with him. Since we’d never officially called it off, I was left in a complicated situation; I didn’t know where to start explaining—a situation I didn’t want to bother trying to explain right now.
I needed to get to Lucian.
To see Felix and Grace, I added, rushing to excuse thinking of Lucian first.
“It’s complicated, and I-I have to go.”
Her expression softened, the sharpness fading into something quietly sad and knowing. “Yeah. And thanks for the promotion.”
“Yeah,” I answered, but I was already turning away, back to my office.
I created a mental list of what I needed to do next. At the top was the need to figure out the best way to reach Lucian. As much as I wanted to show up at the hospital, I had to take into consideration that he might not want me there.
The thought alone pierced my chest, but death was a messy business, and I knew better than anyone that it made monsters of the best people. This wasn’t a time to make demands or fight to win.