The Boss Project by Vi Keeland

I walked up next to him. “Oohh… You just made a fresh pot?”

He offered his usual grin and pointed to the coffee dripping down. “This is the good shit. From my personal stash.”

I smiled. “Are you going to share the good shit with me or hog it all for yourself?”

“I’ll share. Although, I should warn you, my stuff is not cheap, but it is addictive.” He winked. “Kind of like me.”

I chuckled. Hannah was right. Will was pretty great.

The pot finished brewing, and Will filled my mug before pouring himself a cup. He leaned a hip against the counter. “So how long is the boss gone for?”

My forehead wrinkled. “Gone?”

“Yeah, he sent me an email yesterday saying he was flying out to California, but he didn’t say when he’d be back. I figured you knew.”

I couldn’t hide my frown. “No, I didn’t even know he wasn’t in today.”

One of the reasons Will was successful was because he was very perceptive. His eyes swept over my face, and he quickly changed the subject. He lifted his chin, motioning to my mug. “So what do you think?”

I sipped. The coffee was good, but at the moment everything had a bit of a sour taste to it. I forced a smile. “Delicious.”

By six o’clock that night, I still hadn’t heard anything from Merrick, so I bit the bullet and sent him a text.

Evie: Hey. Just checking in. Heard you were in California. You hadn’t mentioned the trip, so I wanted to make sure all was okay.

Even though I wasn’t an emoji person, I included a smiley face at the end, trying to make the text feel casual. I sat at my desk, turning a piece of sea glass over and over between my fingers as I waited for a response. After a minute, the text went from delivered to read, so I held my phone in my hand, expecting a message to come in any minute.

But a few minutes passed.

Then ten minutes.

A half hour ticked by.

And suddenly it was almost seven thirty and still no response. Of course, I tried to give myself a pep talk again.

He was probably in a meeting.

It would be rude to text.

He’d message me back soon…

Unfortunately, soon didn’t happen until after ten o’clock that night. And the response did little to alleviate my bad feeling.

Merrick: Just a business trip. If you need anything, Will should be able to help you.

I frowned. I definitely needed something, but it wasn’t Will who could give it to me.





CHAPTER 27

Evie



At least the week had gone by quickly. I had taken today off because I had to be in court at nine for the ridiculous lawsuit my ex had filed against me. My lawyer had said it would only take an hour or two of my Friday, that the judge would hear any motions and the trial calendar would likely be set. It was the absolute last thing I felt like doing after Merrick’s disappearing act this week, but I tried to make the best of a day off and scheduled my bed for delivery this afternoon. I could finally move into my apartment this weekend.

I arrived at the courthouse early and waited outside at the top of the steps for my lawyer, but while I scanned the crowd coming in, I saw Christian instead. The jerk had the balls to wave. I greeted him with a less friendly flick of my hand—flipping him the middle finger.

This week had been such an emotional one, and seeing his face brought so much animosity to the surface. I hadn’t heard from Merrick again after his short text response on Monday, and seeing Christian was a flashing-neon-sign reminder that I had misplaced my heart and my trust before.

It all bubbled to a boil once we got to the courtroom.

“Your Honor,” my lawyer said. “I have a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. Even if everything in the plaintiff’s petition were true, Mr. Halpern has no damages.”

Christian’s lawyer shook his head. “His reputation has been ruined by the defendant, Your Honor.”

I leaned forward and scowled at my ex. “I think your reputation was ruined by you sleeping with my best friend the night before our wedding.”

The judge narrowed his eyes at our table. “Please keep your client from speaking out of turn. She’ll get to say her piece when the time comes.”

Yeah, like any of this would bring me peace. I rolled my eyes but shut up.

My lawyer responded. “Yes, Your Honor. But back to the matter at hand. There is nothing in the petition that remotely indicates how Mr. Halpern was harmed that he should be made whole by my client. What is the basis of any damage claim? How was it calculated?”

“The damages are non-economic,” Christian’s lawyer said. “He was humiliated, suffered emotional anguish, had a loss of enjoyment of activities—”

I couldn’t help myself. I leaned forward again. “He was humiliated? He suffered a loss of enjoyment?”

The judge wagged his finger. “Not another peep, Ms. Vaughn. I’m warning you.”

My attorney held up his hand. “Could I have a word with my client, Your Honor?”

“By all means.” The judge threw up his hands. “We have nothing better to do with our time this morning.”

“Just one moment, Your Honor.”

My lawyer leaned over to me. “You’re going to wind up locked up for contempt if you don’t listen. This is the judge who’s going to rule over a trial, if it comes to that. You do not want to start off like this.”