My Boyfriend and Best Friend Whispered in Spanish, My First Language Chapter 04

My Boyfriend and Best Friend Whispered in Spanish, My First Language Chapter 04

Over the next few days, Derek was run off his feet.

Everyone at Keller & Associates was scrambling to prepare for the Soraya Group’s visit.

One evening, he actually came home early.

The second he walked in, he couldn’t stop talking.

“Elara, if we land this deal, I’m getting promoted straight to Marketing Director.”

“Soraya’s a giant in Spain’s renewable energy sector. One contract from them and we’re set for three years.”

“That’s great,” I said quietly.

“Great? It’s way bigger than that.”

He took a sip of water, his eyes practically glowing.

“Mira and I have been grinding on this for over six months. This whole project—it’s all on us.”

Mira. Again.

I set my glass down and looked at him.

“She’s on it too?”

“Of course. Her Spanish is even better than mine. The executives eat that up. She’s been a huge part of this proposal.”

“Can I see it?”

Derek smiled. “What for? You wouldn’t get it anyway.”

Then he reached for my hand.

“Once I get promoted, I’m buying you a huge diamond ring. We’ll get married.”

I smiled back. “Okay.”

The night before the meeting, Mira came over.

She said she and Derek wanted to go through the presentation one last time.

The holed up in the study, speaking Spanish again.

Derek sat at his laptop, running through answers to technical questions in Spanish.

The terminology was brutal. He kept stumbling over the pronunciation, and half of it came out wrong.

Mira corrected him from beside him.

I stood outside the door. Heard every word.

Between rehearsals, they joked around.

They called the Soraya Group’s decision-maker a stubborn old man.

They laughed that all they had to do was charm the old Spaniard’s rep, and the money was as good as theirs.

The stubborn old man. The old Spaniard.

They were talking about my grandfather.

The man who’d stood there, eyes red from crying, watching my father and me board that plane when I was ten.

The man who still mailed me a handwritten birthday card every year.

My expression went cold with fury.

At nine the next morning, I left home earlier than usual.

Derek thought I was heading to work.

He had no idea I was going to the hotel where the Soraya Group was staying.

My grandfather’s assistant, Jasper, was already waiting in the lobby.

“Miss Vance, welcome. Everything’s ready.”

I changed into a tailored business suit and clipped on my badge.

It read: [Soraya Group, Special Representative, Elara]

At exactly ten o’clock, the conference room at Keller & Associates.

Derek stood at the front of the room in the most expensive suit he owned.

Mira stood beside him, makeup flawless, clutching the agenda.

Every senior executive was present. The atmosphere was tense.

The department director kept his voice low.

“Stay sharp. The Soraya team will be here any minute.”

The conference room door opened.

Derek and Mira immediately straightened up, smiles plastered on their faces.

Then the person leading the delegation walked in.

She was in a navy suit, her long hair falling over her shoulders.

The second she walked in, she owned the room.

The moment Derek recognized her, his smile froze solid.

The agenda slipped from Mira’s hand and hit the floor.