Page 78 of Irresistible Temptation
I knew that I was letting my hurt get the best of me. This wasn’t about the job. This was about what happened between us. How he pretended to care about me until I fell for him, just to discard me so easily. Just to find his next plaything in my mortal enemy.
I wouldn’t say any of this in front of Mia though. I didn’t need to give her more ammo to use against me. She already had her assumptions about Chester and me, but I never confirmed it. I wouldn’t do that now, not even when my feelings were threatening to leap from my throat. She would gain too much satisfaction from knowing she was right. From my heartache.
I clenched the resignation letter in my hand tightly, the sharp edges of the paper crumpling as they dug into me. It was a reminder of what I was doing here. I came to quit. To never see Chester again. To raise our baby on my own.
I fought back tears, as I tossed it on Chester’s desk.
“What’s this?” he asked softly, reaching for it curiously. He slid it across the desk and lifted it up to his painfully perfect face.
“My resignation letter,” I said firmly. “You may have already found a new personal assistant, but just know that I had already quit.”
“At least, let me have that,” I added softly, hating how my voice betrayed me.
“Juliet…” he said, his eyes running over the typed-up page I had haphazardly put together the night before.
“Andyou…” I said, ignoring him and turning my attention to Mia who sat up straight in her burgundy suit that matched the shade of lipstick on her lips that were quirked into a slight smile. “Why would you want to work for him?Again?”
Chester looked between us, confused.
“After everything you told me yesterday? Or are you doing this to spite me? Now who is the one with no self-respect? You’re somiserable and blinded by hate. I almost feel bad for you,” I said, digging into her more.
Her dark eyes watched me, and something behind them told me she was enjoying this. She really was an awful human being.
“How do you two know each other?” asked Chester, pointing between us two.
“Accounting. Obviously. Youdoknow who works for you, right?” I asked irritated.
“Apparently not,” said Mia with a shake of her head.
“Were you ever going to tell me that a former fling worked for you?” I asked Chester, narrowing my gaze.
Mia was awful, but Chester had allowed her to work for him. Not once, but twice now.
“I didn’t know…” he said. “I’m not in charge of hiring every employee, Juliet. I have a team for that.”
Mia scoffed.
“She was so unmemorable, I wouldn’t have recognized her if I had hired her myself,” said Chester coldly.
“Says the man who practically eye-fucked me upon meeting me,” said Mia, her voice rising. Clearly, he had gotten to her.
“I doubt that very much.”
“Admit it, Chester. You wanted me. You just didn’t give in to the possibility of us.”
“There was nous,” said Chester exasperatedly.
I looked between the two of them, more confused than ever. Mia had told me she had ignored Chester’s advances toward her and that was why he had fired her. But now she was making it seem like she had wanted something more. My head was spinning.
“Tell me the truth,” I said, looking up at him. “Were you two ever involved?”
“Never,” he said with a firm shake of his head.
I felt a pull to believe him.
“Not everyone gives it up so easily, Juliet,” Mia sneered, her teeth white against her dark lipstick.
“Shut up.” My eyes narrowed in on her, my cheeks ablaze.
