Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 374(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 374(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
And now it seems like one day soon, I might have to do the same thing for Gavine.
Because those women were right about everything. I am out of my depth. I am naive and inexperienced and completely wrong for someone like him. I will drag him down, make him look desperate, cost him opportunities.
The woman who belongs at his side is sophisticated and confident. She knows about boardrooms and business deals and probably a thousand things I’ve never even heard of. She doesn’t blush when he looks at her. She doesn’t gasp and tremble at the simplest touch.
She certainly doesn’t fall apart in the back of a car like some desperate virgin who’s never been touched by a man.
Fresh tears spill down my cheeks as the truth hits me.
I’m still the wrong sister.
I’m still the placeholder he’s stuck with until he can find a way out.
And while I know the kindest thing I can do for both of us is to stay out of his way, just like I’ve done in the past to avoid ruining Jessica’s life simply by existing...
We are always where God wants us to be.
Clarice’s words come back to me out of the blue, and I bite my lip hard upon remembering the housekeeper’s advice, when I admitted to her one afternoon how I still feel out of place in Gavine’s world.
As for how long we’re supposed to stay, what we’re supposed to do, and who we’re supposed to talk to...that’s all Him, too. He’ll give you all the answers you need, but He won’t force you to believe it.
That same night, Clarice had shown me the incredible collection of Bibles in my husband’s library, tucked away in a hidden drawer at the back and collecting dust since his mother’s passing. “Here, Mrs. Launcelot...” The older woman pointed out a passage to me. “You can hold on to this every day of your life.”
Philippians 4:13 AMP I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].
THE MERGER DOCUMENTS sprawled across Gavine’s glass desk like a paper battlefield, each page dense with terms and conditions that would reshape two companies by morning. Floor-to-ceiling windows lined the corner office, offering a commanding view of the city skyline, while sleek steel shelving displayed industry awards that caught the late afternoon light.
Roxanne watched her boss scrawl his signature across the final acquisition agreement, his fountain pen scratching against the cream-colored paper with practiced efficiency. The Hartwell Industries deal had taken months to negotiate, and these were the last documents standing between Gavine and his newest conquest.
But her mind wasn’t on corporate takeovers.
It was on the sweet young woman who’d walked through these doors an hour ago, looking around the sterile executive suite with wide violet eyes full of genuine wonder. Not calculating appraisal like every other woman Gavine had ever brought here. Just...wonder.
May the Lord have pity on her, Roxanne thought, suppressing a shudder as she remembered the way Wednesday had gazed at her husband. Pure, starry-eyed infatuation written across every feature of that heart-shaped face. The girl didn’t have a clue what she’d gotten herself into.
Or who she’d married.
“That’s the last of it,” Gavine said, capping his pen and leaning back in his leather chair.
Roxanne snapped back to attention, gathering the signed documents with brisk efficiency. “Thank you, Mr. Launcelot.”
She should have left then. Should have filed the papers and called it a day like she had every evening for the past ten years. Instead, she remained standing in front of his desk, the weight of unspoken words pressing against her chest.
Gavine’s dark gray eyes sharpened. “Out with it.”
He knew this had to be about Wednesday. He had seen how his secretary had transformed the moment his wife appeared, with the usually stern woman melting into someone warm and maternal as she’d shown Wednesday around the executive floor, pointing out artwork and offering coffee like she was welcoming a beloved niece.
“Say what, Mr. Launcelot?” Roxanne’s voice carried that deceptively innocent tone that meant trouble.
“Don’t play dumb.”
“I have to,” Roxanne answered. “Otherwise, what I want to say could make me lose my job—”
“I can still fire you, you know.”
“Because it makes one wonder, when looking at your wife—”
“I changed my mind,” Gavine interrupted. “Go back to playing dumb.”
“Why in the world would she marry someone like you?”
“Why don’t you ask her?”
“Because I’m not dumb. I know if I asked your wife, her answer would likely be so sincerely sweet that it would have me gagging and questioning her sanity...”
His lips curved in satisfaction. “You like her then.”
“Not as much as you like her—”
“I never—”
“HR told me about your call. You had those three women who were spreading gossip about your wife suspended.”