After I Saved Him My CEO Said We Were Strangers Chapter 08
Reed’s flight landed at JFK at three in the afternoon.
He didn’t go home. He said only one word to his driver.
“The office.”
The driver glanced at him in the rearview mirror but asked no questions and changed lanes.
When they arrived, Reed strode through the open-plan office, his gaze immediately falling on the empty desk by the window.
In the middle of a workday, it was deserted.
Most of her personal effects were gone. Only the small succulent they had bought together remained, its leaves drooping.
He stood there for two seconds.
At the next desk over, Megan was sorting files. She looked up, saw him, and jumped to her feet.
“Mr. Blake.”
“Where’s Blair?”
His voice was flat, betraying nothing.
Megan froze.
“Blair… yesterday was her last day. All the paperwork is finalized.”
Reed said nothing. He turned and walked into his office.
When he pushed open the door, he saw a cardboard box sitting on his desk.
His assistant followed him in, carefully watching his expression.
“Mr. Blake, that’s… what Miss Kelleher left yesterday.”
He didn’t answer. He just walked over and lifted the lid.
During the long flight home, he had thought of nothing but seeing her again.
Now, all the anticipation that had buoyed him sank like a stone.
He recognized every item in the box.
The watch—he’d had it sent from Switzerland because she’d been admiring understated mechanical timepieces.
The necklace—he’d spent an entire afternoon choosing it for her in the Place Vendôme during a business trip to Paris.
The fountain pen—custom-made, with her initials engraved on the barrel.
He knew she liked writing by hand, that she kept a row of colored pens in her desk drawer.
Every time he gave her something, he’d been casual about it, as if it were an afterthought.
And every time, her eyes would light up for just a second before she composed herself and put it away.
He had always thought that was when she was the most beautiful.
Reed stared at the contents of the box, his brow furrowed for a moment before his expression smoothed into a mask.
He shoved the box to the corner of his desk. The cardboard hit the polished wood with a dull thud.
“Tell every department head there’s a meeting at four-thirty.”
The assistant nodded and hurried out of the room.