“Call me if you ever need anything else,” he said. “I won’t tell Mr. Cross. Best of luck, Miss Stone.”
He walked away, and the moment the door shut, my heart finally gave in and fell out of my chest.
Tears streamed down my face as I paced the floor, heaving.
“Such a liar,” I hissed under my breath. “Foolish, foolish girl.”
“Um…” Everly stepped inside my bedroom, arms crossed. “You want to tell me what’s wrong, or continue attempting to put a hole in my floor?”
“I want to keep wearing a hole into the floor.”
“Okay then.” She shrugged. “Well, it’s good to see you here, but I’ll be in my room if you need me.”
“Screw Harrison Cross. Screw him and his entire life.”
Her eyebrow lifted.
“I should’ve known better, Everly.” I shook my head, pacing again. “I should’ve listened to you and Lisa.”
“About what exactly?”
“Everything,” I said. “He’s an evil person who only cares about money.”
“I’m pretty sure he cares about you, too…”
“What did you just say?” I narrowed my eyes. “Who are you right now?”
“I misspoke, sorry.” She gave me a sympathetic smile. “Tell me all the ways I was right about your soulless egomaniac boyfriend.”
“Ex-boyfriend.”
“Since when?”
“Since today. While he was literally screwing me in his bed and all over the office, he was stabbing me in the back and lying to my face.” My voice cracked. “Can you promise not to judge me for the next twenty minutes?”
She nodded and plopped onto the couch, patting the cushion beside her.
I sank down and leaned against her shoulder.
“He’s laying off nearly half the staff,” I said. “He promised me he wouldn’t lay off a single soul.”
She clasped my hand.
“If you look at the numbers, there’s really no way around it, but I thought…” I paused. “I thought he, of all people, would find a different way, and that he wouldn’t lie to me.”
“I thought you made him put everything in writing.”
“I did.” I paused. “He has the best lawyers in the world, so I’m sure there’s some clause that makes his promise invalid.”
“Are you still going to work as the CFO?” she whispered.
“No.” Hot tears spilled before I could stop them. “I’m not taking anything else from him except my last paycheck and the bonus benefits… Then again, he might decide to renege on those, too.”
Everly went still, watching me.
“Okay,” I said. “Go ahead. Let me have it. Pile on extra pettiness, hundreds of ‘I told you so’s.’”
“No.” She shook her head slowly. “I’m not going to do that.”
