Page 100 of Bargain With the Boss

“I’m fine,” I said into my skirt.

“You don’t look fine.”

“I am. My stomach is just—off.”

Because everything I tried to eat turned into an acid bath in my stomach.

“Let me go get my car.”

“No.” I sat up. “I don’t need an urgent care.”

“Then what’s going on?” He sat next to me on the bench. “We really do need you, Syd. FHK has been so organized since you started helping out. I knew having you here would take the pressure off while we get to know Nessa.”

Of course he needed me for work. It was what I did best.

“But I need you here.”

“You don’t need me.” I swallowed down the knot in my throat.

“Okay, Iwantyou here. I want you to be Aunt Sydee to my kids. I want you to have a life and not work all the time. Maybe to find someone you love.”

“That’s not for me, Jude.” But Xavier’s face instantly came to mind. Even though I ruined it all.

“It could be.”

Not after what I did.

“I know I’ve been wrapped up in Maddie, but I’ll do better. I promise.”

“Jude—”

“No, listen. I totally fucked up. I can’t believe Xavier of all people had to make me see that. But I just expected you to comehere and do everything for me. That was so selfish of me. Just like our fucking mother.”

The lump in my throat seemed to get bigger. “Jude?—”

“I don’t want to be her. That everythingis all about her and she can’t see anything but what benefits her. Even to our detriment. I came out here to get away from her and she probably made your life hell.”

That wasn’t even the half of it.

“She never cared about me—it was always about you, Jude.” My voice was shattered glass.

“Oh, Sydney that’s not true.”

“It is.” I reached for his hand. “She sent me here to...”

God, it was so hard to say. The lies and the stress of her plan sat in my chest like an icy boulder.

He sighed. “I know she wants me back. I’m not going, Syd. I can’t.”

“I know.” My voice was little more than a whisper. “But you have to.”

“There’s no way in hell.”

“The merger is going to fail if you don’t.”

“Fuck the merger. She doesn’t need to be any bigger than she is.”

I laughed and could hear how crazy it was. “Tell that to the board of directors.”