Congrats, ‘Daddy’! Just Kidding—My BFF Stole You, I Got the Abortion Chapter 02

Congrats, ‘Daddy’! Just Kidding—My BFF Stole You, I Got the Abortion Chapter 02

Next day I went to my studio like normal.

Used to trust Joelle with everything. After she started working there, never even looked at her computer.

This time I did. Opened her files.

My whole body went numb.

All my designs. Every single one. Organized by date, full backups, everything.

I texted future Holden right away: [did you know joelle copied all my designs?]

He wrote back later that afternoon.

[yeah i knew. your studios getting bought out this year. some new company. joelles behind it]

[i gave her the money. she stole everything off your computer]

I sat there staring at my screen.

All those sketches. Every one of them I’d pulled all-nighters for.

Three years ago I walked away from my corporate job to start this place.

Holden backed me up completely. Gave me every cent he had.

Now he was gonna rip it all away and give it to HER.

Joelle showed up that night with coffees.

“Sloane, you good? You look like shit. Spa weekend?”

I looked at her.

“Yeah. Sounds good.”

Soon as she left I texted him again.

[do you regret it? what you did to my studio?]

He hit me back fast.

[yeah. that was everything to you. shouldnt have touched it]

[but joelle said she wanted her own thing too so]

That night Holden made dinner. My favorite—beef stew.

He turned around when I walked in, smiled.

“Hey, you’re home. How was work?”

I sat down at the table. He handed me a fork.

“Sloane, next month we’re getting married. You want a church thing or something outside?”

I forced a smile.

“You pick.”

After he fell asleep that night, I took a shower.

The scar on my right shoulder was still there.

Fifteen years ago I got hit trying to protect Joelle from her stepdad.

Back then she was too scared to go home ’cause he’d beat the shit out of her. I stayed up with her every single night.

I thought after all that, we were basically family.

I opened my phone.

[tell me everything else joelle did. dont leave anything out]

Took him a few minutes to answer.

[worst thing she did wasnt about your career. it was about your dad]

[your dads got a bad heart. ive been setting up his specialist appointments every month]

[the day he died we couldve saved him. but]

The text just stopped.

Soon as I saw “your dad” I fucking lost it.

Kept texting him. Over and over.

Nothing.

Nothing till sunrise. Then my phone blew up.

He must’ve been sitting there forever trying to figure out what to say.

[ok so next month. your dads gonna have a heart attack]

[youre gonna be out of town. work thing]

[i set up this whole specialist team to be there. best cardiac surgeons. all lined up]

[then joelle calls me that morning. says she just miscarried. begging me to come over]

[so i go. tell my assistant make sure everythings covered at the hospital]

[what i didnt know was joelle already called them. told them to cancel the specialists. just use whoever was there]

[by the time i show up at the hospital its already over]

[youre on the floor outside the OR]

[you didnt even look up. just sat there. whole night]

[i still see that sometimes. you sitting there. and i feel like shit every single time]

I read all that. Just closed my phone.

Then got in my car. Drove straight to my parents’.