No one wanted me. Not without an ulterior motive. Not without an exit plan.
Cole was my best friend, and he was turning his back on me. He was pursuing his career, and I couldn’t begrudge him that, but I fucking did. And my family treated me like an inconvenience that could be summoned and dismissed at will. The only person that had ever cared about me was Reggie, and he died when I needed him most. Would he have stuck around if I hadn’t made the effort after high school? Or would he have turned his back on me once I was out of sight the way everyone else did?
So yeah, I wanted to believe Iris. But I didn’t.
“What brought this on?” I asked, my voice like crushed gravel.
She licked her lips and gulped, eyes sliding to the side. I could see her marshaling her thoughts, figuring out the best way to let me down gently. She shouldn’t have bothered. I already knew what was coming. She’d tell me that she just cared about me so much, but we needed to have more time to ourselves. She’d back away slowly like I was a wounded animal who would attack if she turned around and ran. And then she’d cut me out of her life the way everyone else did.
That’s what I thought would happen, which was probably why the words she said shocked me so much.
“Roseanne Monk offered me a job,” she said, lifting her eyes to mine. “And it’s not that I was interested-well, I mean, I was
-but it just made me realize that our?-“
“She what?”
Iris blinked. “I haven’t accepted.”
“You’re damn right you haven’t. You’re soliciting work from my clients? Is that what this has been about the whole time?”
Iris took a step back, and I realized I’d lurched toward her. She put her hands up. “Jared, it just got me thinking, is all. It was a casual offer. It just made me realize that maybe-maybe it would be best if you and I… If we did this the regular way?”
I had no idea what the hell she was talking about. All I knew was that Iris had leveraged her position as my plus-one to advance her own career. She was clever, I’d give her that. I didn’t even see the betrayal coming. To use the one thing I was proud of, the company I’d built from the ground up?-
“Get out.”
“Jared-“
“
Get out!
“
She jumped, scrambling for the door. I heard the clip-clop of her heels as they headed for the elevator, and Clara’s voice as she called out to ask if Iris was okay. All I could do was drag in deep breaths as I shoved my fingers through my hair, pulling at my scalp until my vision righted itself.
I heard the shuffle of a foot on the floor and turned to see Clara in the doorway, frowning at me.
“Start Ms. Little’s exit paperwork. She’s no longer employed at Branson, effective immediately.”
Clara stared at me for a beat, then dipped her chin. “Right away.”
The door snicked shut, and I was alone. I almost started laughing. Of course I was alone. How else would I be? Did I really think Iris would swan in here and wrap her arms around me and make everything all right? Did I think she was different?
I was a fucking fool. The worst kind of fool, because I should have known better. Not one single person in my life had stuck by my side. Not unless they had a fat paycheck or used me as a rung up the ladder. My acquaintances were clients. My friends were nonexistent.
Iris had read me properly from the very start. She probably never cared about me at all. She saw the pathetic, lonely, business-obsessed loser that I was, and she decided to work me for everything she could.
But she could have done it for longer, my brain reminded me. She came in here to tell you she wanted to be with you. She wanted a relationship.
I snorted and dismissed the thought. She didn’t want me. She probably saw the precarious position she was in, and she wanted to secure her spot by my side. Get all the perks and no risks. She’d have another job with one of my biggest clients, so she’d have me over a barrel personally and professionally.
Very neatly done. Clever woman.
I should have known.
Iris’s POV
I must have been a special kind of stupid. I really thought I could walk in there, tell Jared Branson-
Jared freaking Branson
-that I wanted a relationship with him, and then we’d skip off into the sunset together.
The tears didn’t hit until I was nearly home. Actually, I didn’t start crying until I walked in and saw my teal couch in my unfamiliar apartment, with all my boxes of junk yet to be unpacked.
This wasn’t home. It never would be home, because I couldn’t afford to stay here unless I found a steady job with a decent paycheck. Even then, did I really want to stay somewhere that Jared’s people procured for me? Did I want that constant reminder?
I stood with my back to the door, and the whole crushing wave of emotion bore down on me. I was broken under the weight of it, pulled out into the open ocean by its undertow. Sliding along the door, I fell until my butt hit the ground, and realized tears were soaking my cheeks and dripping down onto my dress.
What a ridiculous idea-to think I could actually get everything I wanted! To think I could ask for a man to choose me and be delusional enough to believe he would.
I’d never been good enough to be chosen. Not for a promotion, not for a friendship, not for a shopping spree, and certainly not for a loving relationship. What was there to love in a placeholder? There was nothing to me except an empty vessel, a vague shape of a woman that people could use when they had nothing better lined up.
And Jared had no qualms in showing me exactly what he thought of me.
I tried to explain. I tried to tell him that I wanted him-and he didn’t care. He didn’t reject me because of a misunderstanding. He rejected me because I simply wasn’t good enough.
And why would I be? Did I really think this was some kind of Cinderella story? I’d be swept off my feet, and land in the lap of luxury ensconced by the strong arms of a gorgeous, wealthy man?
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.