“Right?” Maya giggled. “It’s almost like she was looking for an excuse. Maybe the affair gave her an excuse to go after who she really wanted.”
My hand froze on the coffeepot.
What the hell?
“And now she’s engaged? After what… just a month?” Sara’s voice lowered, but I could still hear every word. “I’m not saying she trapped him with the baby, but…”
My throat tightened.
“You’re totally saying that.”
“Okay, yes. I am saying that. What single mother wouldn’t want to lock down Derek Peterson? He’s rich, gorgeous, and apparently a total pushover for damsels in distress.”
Monica snorted. “Think she’s using the divorce as an excuse to climb the social ladder? Because that’s a hell of an upgrade from a middle-management husband to a billionaire lawyer.”
Their words stung as I stood there, coffeepot in hand, frozen and mortified as they continued gossiping about my life and commenting about how he could do better.
Finally, they grabbed their snacks and left, still laughing. I waited until their footsteps faded before setting down the coffeepot with shaking hands.
Is that what everyone thinks? That I orchestrated this? That I was using Derek?
I made it back to my desk before the tears started, and I blinked them back furiously. I wouldn’t cry at work.
But I couldn’t shake the comments. I couldn’t stop wondering whether they were right. If I was damaging Derek’s reputation, making him look like a fool who had fallen for his assistant’s sob story.
I caught glimpses of him throughout the day. In meetings, on phone calls, moving through the office with that confident stride that made everyone step aside. I saw the tension in his jaw when he passed by a cluster of gossiping associates. The way his concerned eyes would find mine across the room.
Am I a liability to him? Was his reputation being damaged by our relationship?
The thought sat heavy in my stomach for the rest of the day.
That evening, after Lily was asleep and the penthouse was quiet, I found Derek in his study. He looked up when I entered, and his expression immediately shifted to worry.
“Hey. Are you okay? You’ve seemed off all day.”
I closed the door behind me and leaned against it. “They are saying I trapped you and using you.”
His expression darkened. “Who’s saying that?”
“Everyone,” I said, hugging myself. “The paralegals, the associates, probably half the office.”
“Who cares what they say?” He asked, standing up and moving around his desk toward me.
“The judge will care, Derek,” I said, my voice cracking. “Jack’s lawyer is already painting me as a gold-digger who abandoned her marriage for her rich boss. And now I’m engaged to you? Now we’re posting pictures all over social media?” I shook my head. “It looks exactly like what they’re saying as if I planned this.”
“We have evidence Jack cheated first,” he said, his voice gentle. “We have documentation going back to your second trimester. We have witnesses. This won’t stick.”
“But what if it does?” I asked. “What if I lose Lily because of this… because of us? Because I was stupid enough to think I could fake date my boss and there wouldn’t be consequences?”
“That won’t happen,” he promised, his hands settling on my shoulders. “We have been friends… best-friends before you worked for me. We have history, and I won’t let it happen, Paige.”
I looked up at him, and all I could hear was the gossiping.
Maybe the affair gave her an excuse to go after who she really wanted.
“Can you promise me that?” I whispered. “Can you promise that our fake relationship won’t cost me my daughter?”
Derek’s hands tightened on my shoulders as his jaw worked as if he were physically restraining himself from saying something. When he finally spoke, his voice was rough with barely controlled emotion.
