My Husband Acted Single Before Clients, So I Produced Divorce Papers Chapter 02

My Husband Acted Single Before Clients, So I Produced Divorce Papers Chapter 02

Just then, Julian’s phone buzzed against the table.

Everyone looked over.

His thumb hovered over the screen for two seconds before he finally answered.

“Mom.”

The private dining room had gone quiet, and his mother’s voice carried faintly through the phone.

“When are you coming home for dinner?”

Before Julian could answer, Sabrina leaned closer and called brightly toward the phone.

“Mrs. Mercer, it’s Sabrina. Once we’re done here, Julian and I will come see you.”

There was a brief silence on the other end.

I froze, then looked at Julian.

“She’s already met your family?”

The moment the words left my mouth, Julian’s hand jerked and he ended the call.

His elbow knocked into the plate of neatly stacked crab shells at the edge of the table, sending broken pieces scattering across the floor.

Sabrina startled and immediately reached for a napkin.

“Julian, what’s wrong?”

He seemed to snap back to himself and shook his head.

“Nothing. My mind was somewhere else.”

Sabrina pouted at him.

“You don’t want to take me home with you?”

Julian picked up his water and took a sip, clearly at a loss for an answer.

Watching him, I suddenly remembered a call I’d gotten from Mrs. Mercer not long ago.

“Still no baby on the way?” she had asked.

She said the relatives kept asking, and she was getting too embarrassed to face them.

A few days later, she even had someone from back home bring me a box of farm-fresh eggs.

Sabrina was still teasing him, trying to coax an answer out of him.

I lowered my eyes and pushed back my chair.

“Excuse me. I’m going to the restroom.”

Not long after I left, Julian told Sabrina he needed to return a call and followed me out.

The hallway was dim, and I could hear him hurrying after me.

“Elise.”

I didn’t turn around.

He caught up and grabbed my wrist.

“Let me explain.”

I yanked my hand free and turned to face him.

“Explain what? That you didn’t use your position to give her special treatment back then? Or that you two have already made things official with your family?”

Julian went pale.

“It’s not what you think. My mom—”

“Julian?”

Sabrina’s uncertain voice came from around the corner.

She walked toward us with her phone in hand. A faint smile remained on her face, but there was nothing warm about the way she looked at me.

“You two… knew each other before?”

Her gaze moved between us.

Julian was visibly rattled. He opened his mouth to speak, but I answered first.

“No.”

Sabrina tilted her head, her smile deepening.

“Really? Then what were you talking about?”

“You’re reading too much into it, Ms. Grant. I have somewhere else to be today. We can discuss the project another time.”

I walked past her toward the elevator without looking at Julian.

Sabrina called after me.

“Then why were you grabbing her wrist, Julian? Do you really not know each other?”

Julian seemed to start explaining, but I was already too far away to make out the words.

My thoughts were a mess on the way home.

All I wanted was to get back and clear my head.

To my surprise, before I could sort through any of it, Sabrina acted first.

That night, she posted the hallway video in our project group chat and tagged my boss directly.

Sabrina: [Is this your company’s idea of professionalism—sending someone to hit on my fiancé?]

Sabrina: [I expect a reasonable explanation. Otherwise, I have no problem making sure everyone in the industry hears about this.]

It didn’t take long for the story to spread to the company-wide chat.

There were already hundreds of unread messages.

[Elise made a move on a client’s fiancé? No way. Isn’t she married?]

[Tara said she kept staring at the client’s boyfriend all through dinner.]

I opened the video.

Julian had me by the wrist. My eyes were red, and the hurt on my face was impossible to miss.

I closed my eyes.

A few minutes later, a voice message from Tara appeared.

Tara: [Ms. Grant is very professional. She wouldn’t make an accusation like this without evidence. Ms. Bennett should explain herself. This team has spent more than three months on this project. If it gets put on hold because of someone’s personal scandal, all that work will have been for nothing.]

With one short message, Tara put me squarely in the crosshairs.

The chat went silent for half a minute.

Then it exploded.

Message after message blamed me.

People started messaging me privately, asking what had really happened.

I didn’t answer a single one.