After I Saved Him My CEO Said We Were Strangers Chapter 03
I went back to my desk and began organizing the project materials.
Blueprints, proposals, budgets, meeting notes.
Every single document, I had created myself.
Some still bore Reed’s comments in red ink.
He had revised them for me over and over. He had praised them over and over.
He’d once told me that when this project was finished, it would be the strongest line on my résumé.
The night he said that, I had just stepped out of the shower, my hair still damp.
He had wrapped his arms around me from behind, his chin resting on my shoulder, his voice a low rumble against my back.
Back then, I’d thought he was genuinely happy for me.
But now, he had handed everything I’d built to someone else.
I stared at the screen until my eyes ached.
Near the end of the day, just as I was packing up to leave, Sophia stopped by my desk.
“Blair, are you coming to the welcome dinner tonight?”
I was about to make an excuse when she smiled.
“You’re not avoiding me, are you?”
I looked up at her and got to my feet.
“Of course I’m coming.”
The dinner was at an expensive restaurant near the office.
The private room was massive, with a long table that could seat twenty people.
Reed was there, sitting at the head of the table.
He never came to employee functions like this.
I refused to look in his direction again. I chose a seat in the farthest corner and focused on cutting the steak on my plate.
Halfway through the meal, the alcohol started flowing and the conversation grew louder.
Vice President Carter raised his glass to Sophia.
“Director Sophia, I heard you’re a Sutton. Why come work for us instead of your own family’s business?”
“I also heard your family and the Blakes have been trying to set you up with Reed. Any truth to that?”
Sophia gave a tight-lipped smile and glanced toward Reed.
“Our families have discussed it, yes.”
“But ultimately, it’s up to Reed.”
The room fell silent.
In the corner, my knife and fork slipped from my grasp, clattering against the plate.
My vision swam for a second before I ruthlessly shoved the feeling down.
I grabbed the glass in front of me and took a long swallow.
The liquor burned a path down my throat.
I looked down and realized I’d grabbed the wrong glass. It wasn’t my sparkling water, but my coworker’s whiskey.
But after that first searing gulp, the suffocating tightness in my chest actually eased a little.
So I poured myself another glass and drank it down.
Turns out alcohol really did help.
“Blair.”
Reed’s voice cut across the length of the table, deep and resonant enough for everyone to hear.
“If you keep drinking like that, are you planning to make a scene?”
I lifted my head and met his gaze.
He was idly swirling his own glass, his expression unreadable.
No one else would have known, but I did.
He was angry.
The silence in the room thickened.
I let one corner of my mouth lift in a smirk.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Blake. I can hold my liquor.”
“Surely you can spare me a few drinks.”
He stared at me, his voice turning colder.
“Are the project materials organized yet?”
“I’ll be working late tonight. Send them to my email.”
The message was clear.
He wanted me gone.
I set down my glass, grabbed my bag, and stood up.
“Of course, Mr. Blake. I’ll get right on that.”
I turned and walked out of the private room.
My back was perfectly straight.
The hallway was long. I walked its length, step by step, and pushed open the restaurant’s heavy doors. The night wind hit me like a slap.
When I lifted a hand to my face, I realized it was wet with tears.
A familiar black sedan pulled up to the curb in front of me.
Reed’s driver got out and opened the back door.
He was the only other person who knew about my secret relationship with Reed.
“Miss Kelleher, Mr. Blake asked me to take you to his apartment.”
He held out a box of hangover pills.
“He said you need to rest tonight.”
I stared at the pills, a hot flush of shame rising in my cheeks.
Only then did the full weight of the humiliation hit me.
That bastard.
Even now, he still thought I would come running.
I slammed the car door shut.
“Tell him to go to hell.”