She opened her mouth, but he stopped her.
“It doesn’t matter.” He put the paper down. “I don’t need your pity or your apology.”
Devyn’s face shifted. She was trying to hide the frustration building behind the fake smile she plastered on her face before walking through his door. He watched as the mask started to slip, revealing the frustration pent up inside her. Her muscles reacted. Her eye twitched and her brow furrowed at him.
Chad didn’t want her to apologize for his shitty behavior.
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Is there something you’d like to say to me Devyn?”
Her face relaxed, and she swallowed the insult that had edged so close to escaping her lips. “No, that's it.”
Chad’s stomach dropped, disappointment rising in his gut.
“’Kay. You can leave now.” He lifted the newspaper back above his face and pretended to ignore her.
She walked away, letting the door swing shut behind her.
5
Devyn let her feet carry her down the narrow hallway and back into the security of her office. The door clicked behind her, enclosing her in the dark room. She let her breath out in a rush ragged from holding it in and from verging on hysteria.
She slumped over, wrapping her arms around her middle before sliding down the door and letting a sob escape.
She tried.
She had given him what he wanted and he had thrown it back in her face. She should have known better than to give him anything, considering how awful he had been in the first place. She should have listened to her intuition and left the silly idea of making peace with Chad Weeks. He wouldn’t give her that luxury.
Another sob wracked through her body.
She was done for. He had spent the last six months making her life a living hell, and her only sliver of hope was just washed away.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, shaking her from her state.
She climbed out of the floor, pulling her phone from the waistband of her pencil skirt. The caller ID was blocked, but there weren’t many people who knew her personal number.
She debated whether or not answering the call would be in her favor. She stared down at the buzzing screen and swallowed.
“Hello?”
“Ms. Kennedy I have called you two times already. Is there a good reason as to why you haven't answered your phone?”
Shit.
“I’m sorry Mrs. Girdler. I’ve been trying to get things prepared for the conference this evening—”
“You ignored my phone calls for a conference?” Her tone sharpened. Her boss wasn’t happy. The woman usually never was if Devyn was being honest with herself. Alex Girdler could be angry over anything and rarely found a positive in any situation.
When Devyn was hired, Mrs. Girlder reminded her that she wasn’t home free just because she was chosen for the job. Devyn had a rude awakening when she finally started in her management position. She thought she’d stop working herself into the ground. She had never been so wrong. Devyn had been working overtime to avoid phone calls with her boss.
“No ma’am. I’m just trying to get some last minute preparations ready for you.” Devyn had tried the sucking up approach at first, but she stopped once she realized it only brought punishment.
“Well,” Alex over the phone, pondering the choice of her words carefully, “I’m cancelling the meeting.”
A sense of relief rushed through Devyn, but she didn’t dare show it. She didn’t have the results Mrs. Girdler wanted, and she couldn’t promise to have them anytime soon.
“But Devyn,” her cool voice was sharp on the other end of the phone, “if I don’t have the shipments I want by the end of this week, it’s your ass on the line.”
The line went dead and the anxiety Devyn was all too familiar with began creeping up in the back of her throat once more.
A tear slipped over the edge of her eye, falling to the ground. She couldn’t muster anymore strength. She had been fighting a losing battle since she was promoted here. She wanted to be a CEO and build her own empire, but instead she was standing in her dark office crying while building an empire for someone else.
She thought this experience could take her to the next level. Thus far, all she had learned was how difficult her dream was going to be to achieve.
Devyn took a moment and gathered herself, then flipped on the lights. The soft humming noise from the fluorescent bulbs lessened the intense silence of her office, while the light they emitted showed her that this wasn’t her company. This room hadn’t been designed and decorated by her. But it also grounded her to the reality that this was, in fact, her life.
Devyn forced her way to the desk. She stopped in place, noticing the red card tucked into the notebook on her desk. She slipped it free, and pulled a Christmas card from the envelope.
The green card stock mocked her.
Devyn,
I left you something somewhere in your office. See if you can find it.
She slipped the card stock with Penelope’s scrawled lettering back into place before she sat back at her desk.
She breathed a sigh of relief before her door flew open.
Chad stood in the doorway with a hard expression on his face. He was the last thing she needed to deal with right now, but she didn’t have the energy to protest him. He stalked forward, shoving the door closed behind him.
“What’s your fucking problem?” He threw the question at her without warning. The vulgar word ripped through her reminding her where she was and the standard that were to be met in this office.
Devyn narrowed her eyes at him before standing at her desk. “I don’t have time for this right now.”
“Funny,” Chad scoffed, a half hearted chuckle falling from his lips, “You never have time for anything.”
“Can we just settle this? I’m sick and tired of you going out of your way to mock me and tell me how bad
