Just Before My Wedding: Trapped By My Ruthless Boss novel Chapter 74

I poured the third glass and didn’t drink it.

I just stood at the window with it in my hand and looked at the city and thought about what I had said in that office today. Out loud. With my hands on her face and my cock inside her, and her eyes refusing to let me look anywhere else.

I have fallen for you.

After eleven years of making sure nothing got close enough to produce those words, and then Kiss walked into my orbit and dismantled everything I had spent a decade constructing.

I had told myself the sex would burn it out.

It hadn’t burned out. It had done the opposite of burning out. Every time I had her, it pulled me closer in a way I had no framework for managing.

Fuck.

I needed to talk to someone. A friend. A therapist. Anyone.

A thought arrived, and before I could decide against it, I had already picked up my phone and dialed.

Harold picked up on the second ring.

Fuck.

Wrong choice.

“Oceans?” He called.

I was quiet, like a fucking coward. The words suddenly got stuck in my throat and refused to come out.

“What’s wrong?” Harold’s voice was alert now. “Talk to me.”

For the first time in recent memory, I had absolutely nothing to say.

“Never mind,” I said, ended the call, and dropped the phone on the windowsill.

I sat alone with my thoughts for exactly thirty–three minutes, already making decisions I might end up regretting, when my doorbell went off

My heart skipped a fucking beat.

A stupid, desperate part of me thought it was Kiss. Perhaps she was paying me a surprise visit.

I stood up from the couch, walked to the front door, and pulled it open.

“What the fuck? You got me worried for a second,” Harold said, throwing his hands in the air.

Disappointment washed over me.

It wasn’t her.

Harold pushed his way into the living room, shrugging off his denim jacket as he flung himself on the couch.

22

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16:37 Fri, May 22 M

Chapter 74

“What do you want?” I asked as I strolled in. “What other lectures do you have for me now?”

I sat on the couch opposite him and picked up the TV remote.

“Put the remote down.” He said, and I slowly turned my gaze toward him.

Harold leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and looked at me with his usual stripped–back expression.

“What is actually going on with you, Oceans?”

“Nothing you need to concern yourself with.”

“You called me at eleven PM and said nothing.” He held my gaze. “So try again.”

I leaned back and watched him.

He exhaled and rubbed the back of his neck. When he looked up again, something in his face had shifted – the usual judgment was gone, replaced by something a bit honest.

“Look.” He paused. “I owe you an apology.”

I raised a brow.

“I’ve been a dick.” He said plainly. “Everything I’ve said about her – about Kiss – I wasn’t saying it to hurt you. I was saying it because after Vanessa-” he stopped and chose his next words carefully, “-after Vanessa died, I made a decision that I was never going to watch you go through something like that again. So every time I saw something that looked like it could cost you, I shut it down.”

He exhaled. “And I know the marriage to Moon isn’t ideal. I know what Fred is holding over you. I know what saying no would cost you and the company. So I told myself I was being the logical part of you.” He paused. “But I think somewhere along the way I stopped being your friend and started being your manager.”

The silence that settled over us had claws.

“She’s not Vanessa,” I broke the silence.

“I know.”

“This isn’t that.”

“I know that, too.” He held my gaze. “So tell me what it is.”

The battle going on in my head was a mess, but the part of me that desperately needed someone to talk to was winning that

battle.

“Ive fallen for her.” The words came out before I could decide against stopping them. “Deeply. And I can’t-” I pushed my hand through my hair, “-I can’t think straight anymore, Harold. And I don’t know what the fuck to do with that.”

Harold listened carefully.

“I thought-“I laughed, but there was nothing funny in it.“–1 genuinely thought if I fucked her enough, it would run its course. That’s how it has always worked. You feel something, you act on it, it burns out, you move on.” I shook my head. “It didn’t burn out. It went the other direction. Every single time, it went the other direction. And now I can’t purge her out of my system, and I have stopped wanting to.”

Harold was quiet for a long moment, processing all I’d said.

What are you going to do about it?” he asked finally.

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16:37 Fri, May 22 M

Chapter 74

“I want her.” I stated, “That’s what I’m going to do about it. I want her, and I’m done pretending otherwise.”

“She’s getting married. Oceans.

“I don’t give a fuck.”

Harold nodded slowly. Then, “What about the mystery woman? You’ve spent six years-”

“Maybe I was never meant to find her.” I said and waited for it to feel wrong.

It didn’t feel as wrong as it should have.

“Maybe I need to stop looking backward and deal with what’s in front of me.” I looked at Harold. “She saved my life. I made a vow. I owe her a debt I can never repay. But I can’t keep my entire life on hold for a ghost.”

“The threats, Harold said carefully. “The person who’s been sending them-”

“Nothing in weeks.” I leaned back. “Maybe they also got tired. Maybe they moved on, too.” I shook my head. “Either way, Jeff is still monitoring. If something surfaces, he’ll find it.”

We sat quietly for a moment too long. And whatever stance I was taking was solidifying as the seconds went by.

“What do you plan to do about Moon and the engagement?” Harold finally asked.

“I’m going to have my men dig into Fred,” I said quietly. “A man like that has dirt. He always has dirt. And when we find it-“I paused, “I’m going to use it to bury him and walk away from that arrangement permanently.”

“Wouldn’t be as easy as it sounds, Oceans. Trust me. Harold ran his fingers through his hair, “Fuck.” He exhaled, “And until then?”

“Until then, I’ll go to dinner with Moon this weekend.” I picked up the untouched glass finally and drank. “I keep everything exactly as it is on the surface.” I set the glass down. “And I deal with Fred the moment I have something to deal with him with.”

AD