Contract said no feelings. His lips broke the rules. novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: Withdrawn

His office light was on at ten at night.

I walked in without knocking, the way he had walked into mine, and I put Leland's single page on his desk.

Weston looked up from a folder.

He had loosened his tie and rolled his sleeves, and he looked like he had not eaten since breakfast.

He read the page, and then he read the date.

"March," he said quietly.

"The month you vetoed me."

"Yes."

"Marissa's messages say you killed my promotion. Tell me why, Weston, or I walk back out of this room."

He sat back slowly.

"She came to you."

"She sat on the edge of my chair and cried. You could have saved her the trouble."

"I wanted to," he said. "I wanted to every single day."

He opened the bottom drawer of his desk and took out a locked metal case, and he put a key in it with a hand that was not entirely steady.

Inside was a green folder with a stack of bank statements, and on top a letter from an accounting firm dated that evening.

"Two years ago I found a transfer I couldn't explain," he said. "I have spent every month since proving it. The last report came at six tonight. It's his. All of it is his."

"And me?"

"He meant to promote you and let you sign. I blocked the seat to buy time." He pushed the case toward me. "Then I walked into a corridor and said the worst thing I could think of, in a voice he'd believe. So he'd stop seeing you as someone worth moving."

I looked at the folder, and I did not touch it.

"You could have told me."

"You'd have gone after him that same afternoon, in the open. He would have seen."

"That was my decision to make."

"Yes."

He said it with no defense at all.

"Yes. It was yours, and I took it. I'm sorry, Delaney. I would do it again for your safety, and I'm sorry anyway."

← Chapter 15 · All chapters · Chapter 17 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend