Lucky This Isn't Real: MacBride Brothers Series St. Patrick's Day Fake Fiance Romance by Jamie Knight (good books to read for beginners txt) 📗

it almost drove us insane. Despite the strength of my argument, I decided not to broach the subject. Partly from a fear of what the answer might be, as well as a reluctance to possibly destroy the peaceful moment, which was allowed to reign.

Chapter Twenty-Three - Darcy

I felt like I was dressing for a funeral, black a major theme, my hands shaking as I buttoned up a fresh blouse, the torn one long ago thrown away.

“What are you doing?” Sean asked, emerging from behind the room divider.

“Getting ready for work.”

“But, you can’t.”

“I can, and am, just look. Here are my work pants, here is my blouse. I just need to put on the jacket, and I will be dressed for work.”

“I mean, you can’t possibly go to work.”

“Why? Is there something wrong with the car I don’t know about?”

“Honey,” he said, gently coming to me.

I clenched my fists. “I have to do this.”

“Why? You’re probably fired. Although I’m not sure.”

“Probably isn’t the same as definitely. Me not even turning up is exactly what he wants, which makes it easier for him and others to sweep what happened under the rug and pretend that it never happened, but it did happen. I wish more than anyone that it hadn’t, but it did, and it was only because of you that it wasn’t a lot worse. He can’t get away with that, not again.”

“Again?”

“From what I hear, he’s a serial abuser. I’m not sure how far it got with the others, but he has a reputation among the women at work. Nicole tried to warn me, I did what I could to protect myself. I know, I just shouldn’t have gone to work with him, but it was a choice between that or having no job and having to go crawling back to my dad.”

“Frying pan or fire,” he said, giving me a squeeze.

“Exactly, I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about it then. All I can do is try and get past it. The first step is not letting him win.” I rolled my shoulders back, determined not to run and hide.

“Just be careful? And promise you’ll call if you need me.”

“Promise.”

“Love you,” he said.

“Love you more.”

With a quick kiss, I was gone, my stomach in knots but confident in my decision. I didn’t tell Sean so as not to implicate him if things went south, but I had the camera in my bag. Since the audio was such an issue with the last recording, I’d also figured out the recording function on my phone to add much-needed context, making sure I’d get a nice, clear shot of Chau’s weaselly face where he to try something again.

I never had a designated parking spot, though I usually managed to find a space in the same general area of the office. As I searched the endless lines of cars, I started to get paranoid. The more I thought about it, though, the more it made sense. He was so rich they could all be his cars, parked by underlings in a bid to keep me from going in. Probably hoping I’d give up. He clearly didn’t know me at all.

“Cutting it close,” said the friendly guard.

“Trouble parking.”

“Sorry to hear about the demotion.”

“Demotion?”

“Yeah, it must sting, hey? To be promoted to assistant to a founding partner only to get kicked back down to the junior floor. Someone must really have a grudge.”

“Yeah, they must,” I said, pressing so hard I nearly ripped the page as I signed in.

It was good in a way. If I chose to keep working there, at least I would be far away from Emil. I’d never seen anything in the junior partners that put me on edge like Emil. They could be smarmy snobs, but that was vastly preferable in comparison. Then again, I might just quit.

I’d thought a lot about Sean’s earlier proposal to get married for real and move to Ireland with him, although he hadn’t mentioned that again. At first, I’d written it off as drunken dreaming, but, in light of recent events, particularly him ripping up dad’s check, which I confirmed with mom, it seemed like much more of a possibility.

My rage replaced by hope and love, I took the elevator to the junior floor, hoping to return to some semblance of normalcy. I still planned to confront Emil, but that could wait until I checked if I still had a job.

“You’re back.” Dana at the main desk beamed.

“Not a minute too soon either.” I meant every word of it. No one would likely believe that I never wanted the forced promotion initially, but it was true. For now, I was more than happy working for Nicole. I’d already had more, much more, and left it behind. It came at too high a price.

“Too bad about Nicole,” she said.

“What happened to Nicole? Was she fired?” Guilt ate me up inside. I hadn’t checked in with her since yesterday.

“Oh, worse than that, she’s been blacklisted. No firm in the city will touch her with a ten-foot pole. Chau has made sure of it. Apparently, he has a lot of people who owe him favors.”

“Dana, do me a favor?”

“Of course.”

“When you have a minute, could you type up a letter of resignation for me?”

Shock widened her eyes. “What? Why?”

“Because I want to quit before I’m fired.” I stomped back to the elevator.

My hands shook as I set up the camera and phone, adrenaline making my heart thunder. I knew Nicole didn’t much mind getting fired, but the fucker had gone too far.

“Where is the bastard?” I said when I stepped out of the elevator.

“Wh-what, who?” Hazel, his receptionist, asked.

“Oh, do you need me to be more specific? I know there are