Chapter 12: Stalker

By midnight the post had been shared eleven thousand times.

By two in the morning somebody had recognized me.

A fashion account in Milan put my company headshot next to the dawn photos. "Wait. Isn't this the CEO of Crestline?"

By breakfast in New York it was on three business sites.

CRESTLINE CEO IN PARIS LOVE TRIANGLE.

BILLIONAIRE HEIRESS ACCUSED OF STALKING EX.

I sat on the edge of the hotel bed in a towel and read every comment until Solène called.

"Stop reading," she said. "He sent me a text. 'Sorry you had to see that, sweetheart. I was trying to protect you.'"

At seven my COO called.

"The board wants you on a plane," she said. "Today. The chair used the word 'liability' four times before I hung up on him."

"I'm not getting on a plane."

"Then they want you on a video call at two your time. They're voting on whether to put you on leave."

"Can they do that?"

"They can do whatever six of them agree to." She paused. "I've counted. It's close."

"Then I'll be on the call."

"From where?"

I looked out the window at the gray roofs.

"From where I've been working."

At a quarter to two I set my laptop on the oak bench in the workroom at Maison Valery.

Julien had cleared a space among the scales and the bottles. "You can do this from the hotel," he said. "Nobody would know."

"They'd know."

"Do you want me to leave?"

"No. Stay where they can't see you."

He went and sat in the perfumer's chair at the organ, out of frame.

Eleven faces appeared on the screen.

Nine men and two women sat in boardrooms and home offices across three time zones.

One of the women was my COO, in the bottom corner, in her reading glasses.

Keep reading free with an account. Start After My Fiancé Humiliated Me, I Ruined Him from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.