My Boyfriend and Best Friend Whispered in Spanish, My First Language Chapter 09

My Boyfriend and Best Friend Whispered in Spanish, My First Language Chapter 09

The acquisition was finalized a week later.

The Soraya Group officially became the majority shareholder of Keller & Associates.

A new board member was appointed-me, Elara.

The first department to be restructured was Derek’s.

I wasn’t settling a personal score. I just followed company policy.

Derek had cost the company a major client. Per company policy, he was let go.

Mira was also fired. Her Spanish certification was fake, and she’d only gotten the job through Derek. Both

termination notices went out the same day.

Connie texted me, barely hiding her amusement.

[Elara, those two are at it again-full-on screaming match downstairs.]

[Mira’s demanding Derek pay her back. Derek says he’s broke.]

[Told her the house money’s all going to you, so there’s basically nothing left. They’re totally losing it.]

I just replied: [Let them fight.]

The court had already ruled on the house and every dollar I’d transferred to Derek.

He was ordered to repay me in full. I got back everything that was mine.

As for Mira’s two hundred fifty thousand dollars, there had never been any written agreement.

Legally, it was just a private transfer between her and Derek.

Since Derek couldn’t pay, Mira sued him.

The two people who’d once flirted in Spanish right in front of me were now facing off in court over money.

In the end, they turned on each other.

With nowhere else to go, Derek came looking for me again.

He found out where I lived and waited outside my apartment building.

“Elara, please, let me come back to the company.”

“My mom’s condition has gotten worse. I don’t have the money for her treatment.”

I stood before him, studying his haggard face. My expression didn’t change.

“The last time your mother was in the hospital, I covered eighty thousand in medical bills. Remember?”

He dropped his gaze.

“I remember. I remember everything.”

“What did you tell me back then?” I asked.

He stayed silent..

“You swore that once you made it, you’d pay me back a hundred times over.”

“You told me not to bring up the money with your mother-said it’d make me look cheap.”

“Then you turned right around and took Mira to a concert. Eighteen hundred a ticket.”

His eyes reddened.

“Elara, I really know I was wrong. The only person I ever loved was you.

“Mira’s the one who threw herself at me. I just… gave in.”

The same routine. Admit a mistake. Play the victim. Then tie it all up with “I love you.”

It used to work. Not anymore.

“Derek, you want to know why I never told you I spoke Spanish?”

He looked up in surprise.

“Because I wanted to see how you’d treat me when you thought I had nothing.”

“Now I know.”

“This is how you treat the woman you believed had no family, no power, and no one to rely on.”

I turned and walked toward the building.

He shouted after me.

“Elara! You can’t be this vicious! We were together for five years!”

I stopped, but I didn’t look back.

“Five years, more than enough to see exactly who you are.

A car pulled up outside the building. The window rolled down.

It was Simon Roth, the Soraya Group’s newly assigned legal counsel.

His Spanish was flawless, and he handled everything with calm efficiency.

Over the past few weeks, he’d helped me more times than I could count.

More importantly, he never made decisions for me.

Before every meeting, he’d always ask, “Ms. Vance, what do you think?” or “How would you like to handle

this?”

Whenever he caught me with coffee, he’d quietly swap it out for a warm glass of milk.

“Your stomach’s been bothering you lately. Ease up on the coffee.”

I’d only mentioned that once. He rentembered.