“Why’s she sitting all the way over there?”
“We didn’t want to overwhelm you. She thought it was better that I talked to you about the business stuff first, and then if you were keen, then maybe you wouldn’t mind chatting to her as well.”
“Oh my God. Get her over here.”
Verity York clambered to her feet when I waved to her to come over. She was so lovely and enthusiastic about all things LP Mayweather. Once I’d assured them both that I didn’t mind discussing the books at all, that it was fun for me, they really let themselves go. After an hour Madeline had to excuse herself for another appointment but the Yorks were still going strong.
“And the audiobooks are awesome,” Verity raved. “You’re getting me through the last stages of this endless pregnancy with stupid enforced rest.”
“It’s not stupid, Verity,” Harry growled and Verity rolled her eyes.
“Honestly, your books are keeping me sane,” she told me.
“Now, about that map which you’ve put at the end of book five in the Ransomed Kingdom series,” Harry cut in, leaning forward in his chair and using his hands to emphasise his pointas he questioned me on the geography of the world I’d created. To be honest, after a while it felt like the Yorks knew more about my own fantasy world than me. When we finally parted ways, I hugged them both. Verity asked if I’d consider coming over some time, offering reassurances that they would try not to spend the whole time talking about my books.
“I’ll ask some normal people,” she told me then shook her head in sharp jerk. “Shit, not that your readers aren’t normal people. It’s just we’re well aware that our fandom is a little… extreme.”
I smiled at her. “I love your fandom. I can’t tell you how flattered I am. And I really love that I had a hand in getting you together.” They’d told me about their courting phase, when a shared love of epic fantasy books helped their romance along the way. They weresucha cute couple.
So by the time I left the coffee shop I felt that, after a shitty start, the day had been salvaged. I was in such a good mood, and my confidence had been bolstered so much that I was actually looking forward to going into the office tomorrow and sorting everything out with Felix. Letting HR know about Will. Standing up for myself.
I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.
Chapter 22
Broke my trust
Lucy
Felix didn’t ring or text me that night. It was the first time we hadn’t seen each other in the evening since we got together, and I felt a bit weird about it. But I didn’t want to be the clingy girlfriend who couldn’t go one night without her man. We’d only been together for a couple of weeks. I shouldn’t be at the stage when I couldn’t sleep properly when he wasn’t in my bed. That would make me a bit of a desperate case, and the last thing I wanted to do was scare Felix off. He’d had a few stalkery-type situations in the past – I knew that one woman was permanently banned from his building by the doorman after she let herself into his penthouse unannounced when he’d broken up with her. He wouldn’t tell me her name, but I got the impression she was a minor celebrity. Maybe the gloriousness of Felix could turn me into an obsessed weirdo that hung around his building too. The thought was terrifying, but to be honest, I was so in love with him at this stage that I couldn’t guarantee my dignity staying intact if he dumped me either.
So the next day when I went into the office, I did it in mysmarter stuff – silk shirt and everything. It wasn’t the warmest, but I decided that I could sacrifice a bit of warmth to make a good impression for one last time. I strode in there with purpose, leaving my huge puffa at reception so I wouldn’t be tempted to sneak it on halfway through the morning, as was my wont. Adrenaline was keeping the blood pumping to my fingers anyway. This was my last day, and I was going to make the most of it.
I started with HR and went directly down there to report Will. Martha, the head of the department, was the one to speak to me after one of her assistants realised what a big deal this was going to be. I could see Martha becoming steadily more and more incensed as I catalogued the ongoing targeted and systematic bullying that I had endured from Will. When I showed her the bruise on my wrist, her face went red with fury and her voice was thick with restrained anger as she asked if I wanted to report him to the police. I didn’t want to go down that road, which disappointed Martha, who was now clearly out for Will’s blood. She told me to go home for the rest of the week, reassuring me that it would all be dealt with officially and that I didn’t need to do anything more. I said that I wanted to grab my notebook from my desk and say bye to a few people, but that I’d leave straight after. I knew Will was due to be at a meeting across London all morning, so at least I wouldn’t have to run into him.
Unfortunately, when I did make it to my desk, there was a very smug-looking Will sitting behind it. My heart dropped and I felt like I might throw up with fear.
“You’re late as per fucking usual,” he said with a self-satisfied smile on his stupid face.
“Will,” I said in as firm a tone as I could muster. “I’ve just come to get my things then I’ll be leaving. I’m not going to be working for you anymore. Your behaviour has been unacceptable.You should know that I’ve reported you to HR.” There, I said it. I felt unbelievably proud of myself.
Will’s face twisted in anger as he pushed up off my desk. “You little shit,” he sneered. “Whingeing about nothing. I’ve been the best boss to the shittiest employee in the history of shit employees. You should be grateful, not crying wolf to HR.”
“I wasn’t crying wolf. You?—”
“Don’t think you can threaten me,” he said, taking two long strides towards me. He was in my space so fast I didn’t have a chance to retreat further. “I’ve got some serious shit on you, and now that Felix knows what you’ve been up to there’s no way anyone’s going to believe a word that comes out of your mouth.”
I frowned at him, my eyes darting to the desk where my notebook was now sitting and then back at his scowling face. I had no idea what he was on about, but I needed my notebook. It had all my outlines in it, and I stupidly hadn’t made any copies. I really didn’t want to take the chance that Will would destroy it out of spite. He’d clearly been rifling through my stuff. So I took a stupid risk. I darted around him to make a grab for the notebook.
“I’ve worked too hard to let some cock-tease little shit fuck everything up for me,” he said as I rounded him and snatched up the book, holding it to my chest. He lunged at me before I could clear him and grabbed me by the shoulders, giving me a rough shake. “You’ll regret making accusations about me. Go back to HR andtake it back.”
I was gripped by real panic, so thick I couldn’t think clearly. So instead of screaming like I should have done, I kicked him in the shin in an attempt to get him off me.
“Ow, you bitch!” he spat out, a wild, furious look flashing in his eyes. Everything from then happened really fast. He threw me back against the wall so hard that I was winded and couldn’t scream even if I tried. Pain burst from the sideof my head, shoulder and chest. Then he slammed his body against mine, pinning me there. I thought I was going to be sick as his mouth moved to my neck. He licked me over my pulse point before whispering in my ear. “It doesn’t end well for girls like you that get in my way.” Then he let me go and stepped back so suddenly that I had to brace myself to not slide down the wall. I was still wheezing to try to get air into my lungs.
As he slammed the door to his office, there was only one thought in my mind and that was to escape. So I stumbled down the corridor, feeling too shocked to cry even though I could feel my eyes stinging. I made it to Felix’s door and lifted my hand to knock on it, but it was yanked open before I could make contact. I let out a huge sigh of relief as I took in Felix in all his glorious, solid handsomeness, holding the door open. But my relief was short-lived.
“Come in, Lucy,” he said in a cold tone that caused a shiver to run down my spine. Felix never spoke to me like that. I walked into the office on shaky legs and blinked as I noticed Vicky and Tabitha both standing by Felix’s desk facing me. I was still in shock from Will’s assault, and my brain was feeling sluggish so I was slow to feel the hostility in the room and notice that Vicky, Tabitha and Felix were all glaring at me.
