Just Before My Wedding: Trapped By My Ruthless Boss novel Chapter 115

Chapter 115

KISAREL

“Moonie asked, and 1 could say no.”

Those words kept resounding in my subconscious like it was a mantra. They followed me everywhere – the cafeteria, the restroom, even to the two meetings Oceans had with his board, which he didn’t allow me to be a part of.

He had asked me to wait for him in the small anteroom just outside the conference hall, which was extremely strange.

I usually sat in on those meetings, taking notes and organizing documents for him. But today, he had taken the files from my hand at the door and said, “Wait here.”

At some point, Noella came out and asked for the supplementary valuation file Oceans had requested earlier.

She was in there, but I wasn’t.

I tried not to read meanings to these things. Maybe he just didn’t want our secret to become too obvious to everyone, and that’s why he did the things he did sometimes… That had to be it. It had to make sense, because I couldn’t keep up with dealing with this ache in my heart each time I thought about it.

So, I had sat there with my laptop and a stack of files I didn’t need, listening to the muffled rise and fall of voices through the door.

About forty minutes into the meeting, I had to hand him an important file he’d forgotten when I heard something one of the board members was saying.

“…good thing the RiverTalley estate is part of the deal.”

At that instant, RiverTalley took over half the space Oceans‘ words had taken all day in my head.

RiverTalley… I knew that name.

That was the exact estate my father had spoken about when I was a child.

He had sat me on his lap while tracing lines across documents I had been too young to understand.

“RiverTalley is yours, Arel. I built it in your name. When you’re old enough, I’ll hand it to you properly.”

I remembered asking if it had a river.

He had laughed and said no, not really, but that it was only meant for people who worked hard enough to earn it.

My chest tightened.

So, what did Oceans‘ company have to do with an estate my father had said belonged to me?

Or could it be a different estate around RiverTalley? RiverTalley was vast. And I recently heard that people were beginning to acquire more properties in the area.

Or maybe I had even heard wrong.

It could also be that I was already too sensitive today, turning every word into another big thing.

I intend to ask Oceans, but not now, since we weren’t really talking.

After the meeting, I was arranging Oceans afternoon schedule when the door pushed open.

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11:28 Sat, May 30 MM.

Chapter 115

I looked up from my screen, and my stomach dropped.

Fred stepped in, dressed in a charcoal suit that fit him well, his silver hair combed back.

I hadn’t seen him since the night I watched him and Jace walk into Harrington’s office.

He stopped when he saw me, and his smile widened. “Kisarel. My dear girl.” He approached my desk with the kind of confidence one who had never once doubted his welcome possessed. “You look well. Considering everything

I didn’t stand up to greet him. “Uncle Fred.”

His face was kind and open, and every time I looked at him, I saw my father.

The resemblance was so striking that it hurt.

“How are you feeling?” His eyes moved over me, assessing me slowly. “We were worried.”

Were you?

The question sat uncomfortably behind my teeth, but I swallowed it.

“I’m better,” I said.

“Good. Good.” He reached out like he might touch my shoulder, then seemed to think better of it. “You gave everyone quite

a scare.”

“I didn’t mean to.”

“I know, dear.” His smile held. “These things happen.”

‘These things.

As if people ended up poisoned at night markets every other weekend.

Fred didn’t wait for me to say anything else. He patted my desk once, like I was a child he was humoring, and walked straight to Oceans’s office.

I watched through the glass as they shook hands. Fred sat across from Oceans, and for the next hour and forty–five minutes, they talked, reviewed files, and argued about things I couldn’t hear.

Fred smiled a lot.

Oceans did not.

At one point, Fred leaned forward and tapped something on a document. Oceans shook his head. Fred laughed, as if the disagreement amused him.

Ten minutes later, Oceans stood and walked to the window, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a file. Fred kept talking to his back.

I could not hear a word, and that made me uncharacteristically uncomfortable.

By the time the meeting ended, my head hurt.

The door opened, and both men stepped out.

Fred was smiling, while Oceans looked like he had spent the last two hours being asked to swallow glass.

Always a pleasure.” Fred said.

31. 31.

11:28 Sat, May 30 MM ::.

Chapter 115

Oceans forced a small, barely there smile. “My attorney will review the changes.”

“I expected nothing less.”

Fred turned from him and walked toward my desk. “There she is,” he said, his voice dropping into that uncle tone he used when he was certain people could hear him. “Our bride–to–be should be resting more than this.”

I almost scoffed.

“I’m fine.”

“Of course you are.” He smiled. “You’ve always been stubborn. Your father was the same.”

That hurt.

He knew it would.

I looked down at the pen in my hand and tried not to let it linger.

Fred continued, “Come to the house tomorrow evening. Your aunt is making dinner.”

I looked up. “Dinner?”

“Yes. Family dinner. Nothing frightening.” His smile stayed calm. “There’s something important we need to discuss with you and Jace.”

My stomach shifted.

“What thing?”

“Tomorrow, dear.” He patted the edge of my desk lightly. “Get some rest today. You’ll need a clear head.”