Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 59690 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59690 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
But the lesson here had been when to back down. What good would any of it have done? He wasn’t going to change his mind about me or my family. And he certainly hadn’t changed my mind about him.
Chase silently stewed as he pulled out of the gated house through the gated community and back to his house. Bowie was still playing at full volume when he parked in the garage.
When he killed the engine, the sudden silence was unbearable.
“What a fucking asshole,” I exploded.
Chase nodded. “Yep.”
He opened the door, and I followed him into the house. I tossed my purse on the table. I just wanted to rage. The whole thing had been bullshit.
We should have seen it coming. Maybe we’d known it would be bad. But I certainly hadn’t expected this.
“Maybe we should have just let Ashleigh tell him,” I said as I went to the record player and chose an AC/DC album at random.
“I should have just told him at the office.”
He disappeared into the bedroom to let Bowie out. The dog bounded out after us and then through the new doggie door. At least someone was happy.
“Probably, but then you would have had this happen at work. That wouldn’t have been ideal.”
“No,” he agreed.
He leaned back against the back of the couch and crossed his arms. I didn’t know how he was so calm. But of course, he wasn’t the one who had been told he was like the person he hated most in the world. At least as far as I knew.
“I’m sorry about what he said to you.”
“Yeah, fuck him.”
“Perfectly reasonable response,” Chase said softly.
“I mean, I know he’s your father, but I can’t believe you still talk to him after all this shit. You saw how he treats Dayna. He’s never going to raise Silas. I don’t even know what he cares about.”
“Status,” he said.
“And you have to work with him.”
Chase cleared his throat. “About that.”
I turned around in confusion and realized that I hadn’t been reading him right at all. I’d thought he was furious like I was. But apparently, I had been projecting my anger onto him.
No, he was mad. But he was also…somber. Maybe a little freaked out.
He was slumped forward, his hands laced together over one knee. His eyes locked on his hands.
What the fuck was going on?
“About what?”
“I don’t have to worry about that anymore.”
“What does that mean?”
He coughed and then met my gaze. “I quit.”
“Excuse me?” I gasped.
“I quit my job.”
I stared at him, slack-jawed. Those could not have been the words that came out of his mouth. I must have misheard him. But he’d repeated them. He had said them twice. And still, it didn’t compute.
“You can’t quit your job.”
“Yeah. Well, turns out, I can.”
“Chase,” I said slowly, as if I were approaching someone who was a flight risk, “you can’t quit your job.”
He crossed his arms. “I don’t know what you expected me to do. He was being irrational. He insulted you. He threatened to disinherit me.”
“He did what?”
“He thought he could win any argument, and I refused to play his game.”
“That’s fine, but that doesn’t mean you quit your job,” I reiterated.
“It’s already done, Harley. I don’t think you’re hearing me. It’s over.”
I took a step back. “Chase, are you hearing yourself? You love your job. You’ve been putting up with your dad for literal years because you’ve always wanted to run the company.”
“Yeah, well, I guess that’s over.”
“What? Why? Because he was a dick?” I gasped, completely flabbergasted by this answer.
He jumped to his feet and gestured to me. “He doesn’t get to dictate this relationship. He doesn’t get to insult you and get away with it.”
“Wait,” I said horrified, holding up a hand. “Are you saying that you quit because of me?”
“I mean, partially,” he admitted. “He said that I couldn’t have my inheritance if I was with a Wright. That I couldn’t work at the company if I was dating a Wright.”
The bottom dropped out of my stomach. “So, you quit.”
“Yes.”
I shook my head and took another step backward.
Oh no. Oh no, no, no. I couldn’t handle this. This could not be happening.
“You can’t quit because of me.”
“Fine. I quit because of him,” he said with a shrug. “Who fucking cares why I did it? It’s over. I’ll go back to the law firm or whatever. It’s fucking fine.” He stomped across the room, running his hand back through his hair and making it perfectly clear that it was not fucking fine.
“No,” I said.
He whipped around. “What do you mean, no?”
“I mean, no, Chase. No, you’re not quitting because of me. If that’s what you want, fine, but I know it’s not.”
“Well, it happened,” he snarled.
I reared back at the anger in his voice. “Watch your tone. I am not the bad guy here.”