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"You should know," Donovan replied coldly. "With that, the matter is settled. The contract goes to Cameron. And I'll make sure thatCarco Batteriesloses out more often in such tenders in the future.Family comes first.In some cases, you have to pay for it with your own professional success. Don't bother appealing to the other board members atElecar Corporation. They're on my side." With these words, he turned and left.
I stared after him.
Shit.
The deal was gone.
Donovan's words left no doubt: I could do whatever I wanted, he would block everything. And not just atElecar Corporation, but beyond that as well. As far as it was possible for him.
The beautiful Isabella Abbott had just given me the kiss of my life.
And with it, screwed up the deal of my life.
My dream of being featured on the front page of theNew York Times, alongside the President, vanished into thin air. In my place stood... my brother Cameron.
It couldn't get any worse.
And the cause of all this was Isabella Abbott.
For that, she owed me something.
And quite a lot at that.
I slowly turned to face her.
Chapter 7 ~ Isabella ~
Iblinkedthreetimesto make sure I wasn't dreaming. Then I raised my arm and pinched my cheek lightly.
Nothing changed.
I was still standing next to the handsome Carter Jenkins, who had his arm around my waist and was gently kneading my bottom. The caress sent warm shivers through my entire body. My skin tingled all over.
Or was that still from the kiss we had just shared?
What was meant to be a light, playful kiss had turned into the most passionate kiss I'd ever received. The eyes with which Carter Jenkins had surveyed me on the street less than an hour ago hadn't promised too much.
A kiss that was meant to be a punishment.
And now I was... engaged?
I shook my head.
It must be the alcohol, right? Earlier, I had thought that such things only happened in Hollywood. A woman rear-ends a man's car and the two become a couple. Or: A woman meets a man at a bachelorette party and they leave the evening as newly engaged.
I giggled, which was partly due to the alcohol.
Engagement.
How had Carter come up with this idea? Surely he didn't get engaged to every woman he kissed. And I had never thought about an engagement either. In all the time with Owen, I had never imagined what it would be like to be engaged or married to him. Or to grow old with him. That alone should have warned me. If I couldn't even imagine such a thing in my most secret dreams, then it wouldn't become reality.
Now I had just been introduced as a fiancée.
By the attractive Carter.
A very pleasant thought, to belong to him.
The older gentleman was just leaving the bar. I hadn't quite understood what it was about. Somehow he seemed angry with Carter. He was threatening him with some professional consequences, at least that's what I thought I heard.