Page 163 of Hidden Ties

“Oh …”

A feeling of trepidation filled him at Mrs. Boward’s expression.

“When I took the files to the file room, I was talking to Sage and told her I wasn’t able to get lunch for you today because you needed your briefcase. She said she would pick you up something when she had lunch. She must not have had the time.”

“Yes, I’m sure that’s what happened.”

“I could run out real quick …” she began to offer.

“No. I don’t have an appetite right now. Thanks, anyway.”

He closed the door and returned to his desk to stare down at the folder and discs, his hand tightening on the handle of his briefcase, his stomach coiling into knots.

He didn’t have to be told his charade with Sage was over. His gut instincts were never wrong. He had made a fatal mistake. He had built a relationship with Sage on a foundation built on lies. All the lies and the deception that had been inadvertently exposed would send all the trust and feelings he had built for her crashing down, destroying everything in its wake.

Like a breaker unable to handle an electrical overload, his internal switch clicked off, and all the emotions he felt for Sage hit him with the strength of a landslide.

The hand holding his briefcase jerked forward, throwing it toward the lithograph Garrett had proudly pointed out to him when he had shown him to his office after joining the firm. Unable to take the direct hit, the glass broke, sending shatters raining down, but since it was braced to a support beam, the picture frame held in place.

Staring at the frame, he didn’t turn when Mrs. Boward flung open the door and came rushing in.

“What happened?” she gasped.

“I saw a spider,” he lied unrepentantly.

“You destroyed a twenty-thousand-dollar print because of a spider?”

“It was a big one.”

THIRTY-FOUR

Sage made it back to her desk on trembling legs. Setting the bag of food she had bought for Kent’s lunch down, she sat dry-eyed, staring off into space while her mind grappled with what she had overheard.

She could just imagine the silly smile that had been on her face at the thought of surprising him with lunch. If Kent’s assistant hadn’t told her that he had sent her to get his briefcase, and she hadn’t felt bad he would be working through lunch to prepare for his court case that afternoon, she would have never found out about Kent and Livvy’s sexual relationship.

She had been about to knock on Kent’s office door, when she had heard the door being locked and Livvy’s voice. Stupidly, she had stood there, listening to them, while all the dreams she had begun to believe possible were shredded into a million pieces. The sexual sounds coming from inside the office had her leaning against the wall for support.

The noises were reminiscent of the same ones she had made last night after they got back to their hotel room after the concert. Reeling in shame, she had stood there, unable to make herself walk away.

“You okay, Sage?”

Her name being called made her jerk back to reality. Liam Nester’s assistant, Jillian, was standing on the other side of the desk, staring at her in concern.

“I’m fine. I just have a small headache. What can I help you with?”

“I need to return these files I checked out. I know they should have come back yesterday”—Jillian grimaced—“but I would rather take a write-up than having to deal with Livvy again. Every time I am forced to have a interaction with her, I want to quit.”

Jillian was the third complainant she had heard about Livvy.

“You’re okay.” She pointed to the color-coded tab on the folder. “This folder is green,” she explained. Jillian had only started to work at the firm soon after she had. “Red is restricted from leaving the file room. Blue has to be back by the end of the day.”

“That would have been helpful to know. I haven’t been told about the red and blue tabs. Thank you for telling me.”

“Glad to help.”

While she checked the folder back into the file room, she didn’t respond when Jillian continued to harp on how much she disliked Livvy. When Jillian realized she couldn’t draw a response, she left, and Sage wanted to grab her purse and run home. Thank goodness Kent wasn’t able to drive her. She wouldn’t have been able to hold back the overwhelming emotions bombarding her.

She spent the rest of the day alternating between wanting to break down in tears or hating Kent with every fiber of her being; she had never looked forward so badly to the workday ending.