Chapter 30
Anger flares through my body at the thought, and I revel in it. It’s been keeping me alive these last few days. With no word from Melissa, waiting for the questions to come, adrenaline has been coursing through my veins on a loop.
This is the end for me.
Zach will get the company, and I’ll be gone within the first three months. Roy will either discover the truth—that we lied—or he’ll think I’m such an asshole that no woman wants me. That I lost the only one who mattered.
Closing the door behind me, I set my eyes on gorgeous Giselle. She looks up in surprise at the sound.
“Have you had any communication from Melissa Atkinson?”
The question comes out measured. As if I’m asking after any other employee with Dupont. Not my fiancé.
Giselle’s eyes narrow.
“Excuse me?”
“Has she reached out to you at all? Provided an update as to why she didn’t show up to work Monday?”
Giselle scoffs. She turns her chair in my direction. Normally, an HR representative is professional to a fault. She’d offer me a seat.
But not today.
Her glare sears my skin and I almost flinch, a sliver of guilt working its way into my heart.
“This department doesn’t exist to notify you why your fiancé may be mad at you, Jason, or unavailable.”
My mouth drops open in defense, but no words come out.
“I imagine if she hasn’t reached out to you, there’s a reason. But on a professional level, since you’re asking—in a professional capacity—” her look here is meaningful “—Melissa is out on leave due to a family emergency. I’ve approved three weeks, and she’ll be in touch soon if she needs more than that.”
My heart drops.
Jodie.
She’s the only family Melissa has.
I drop into the chair across from Giselle, staring blankly out the window as my mind tries to catch up. Why didn’t she say anything when I called her the day after? Why didn’t she let me know something happened?
The thought that Jodie might have passed runs through my mind, and nausea rolls through me.
Damn.I burned that bridge. If I call her now, I doubt she’ll pick up.
“We need to talk, Jason.”
Giselle turns her full attention to me, purple nails clicking on the desk as she folds her hands. I blink at her in surprise, eyebrows drawn together.
“About Melissa? I know I shouldn’t have asked—”
“Not that. I’ve had some complaints.”
Giselle isn’t one to sugarcoat things.
“Complaints about…?”
Zach, I’m thinking, or the fact that only a limited number of employees got to go on the company retreat this year, or that the east wing elevators are down for maintenance for the next week.
“About you. Specifically, the way you’ve been treating everyone lately.”
My mind goes completely blank, then clicks back into gear, whirring with anxiety and disbelief.
“What?”
“There have been complaints that your attitude is unprofessional. You’ve been disrespectful and short with everyone. You walked out of a meeting yesterday.”
I wince; that one is true.
Maybe the rest are, too. I haven’t exactly been regulating my emotions. This conversation, sitting across from Giselle and her direct expression, is an awakening.
It cools off the anger, anxiety, and betrayal that’s been brewing like a storm in me these last few days.
“How bad is it?”
“It’s bad.”
She doesn’t need to say more. Giselle knows what my plans are for the company. She knows that I won’t,can’t,let Zach have it.
But here I am, hurting and scaring the very people I’ve been trying to protect.
“How can I make it better?” I ask, a pleading edge to the question.
When Giselle’s eyes soften and she sighs, I know I’m in deep.
A black hole opens up underneath me.