After He Bought His Intern a $100K Bracelet Chapter 06

After He Bought His Intern a $100K Bracelet Chapter 06 Ten Years

Grayson watched Ivy disappear down the hall, and something sharp twisted in his chest.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that if he let her walk out now, he’d lose her for good.

The instant she vanished past his office door, he’d even called out to stop her without thinking.

But when he meant to ask her to stay, what came out instead, for reasons he couldn’t explain, was an order not to come back to the apartment that night.

He’d only wanted to needle her. Ivy was crazy about him, and every time he so much as hinted he didn’t want her, she came rushing back to apologize.

This time, though, she’d actually broken up with him, slammed his office door, and walked out of the building.

It made his blood boil. Clearly he’d spoiled her rotten these past few years, and now she thought she could get away with anything.

She really seemed to believe the company belonged to her family and she could do whatever she pleased.

He’d told Ivy a hundred times that Chloe was his best friend’s little sister. He’d watched her grow up, and doting on her had become second nature.

But Ivy just had to pick fights with her, weaponizing every trick of office politics to make Chloe miserable.

Chloe was a fresh college grad. Was it really so strange that she couldn’t build a spreadsheet?

Was it really so strange that she didn’t know how to handle a client?

He’d placed Chloe under Ivy on purpose. He trusted Ivy to mentor her, both because he respected Ivy’s work and because Ivy was his girlfriend.

And how did Ivy repay him? She’d slapped Chloe across the face in front of the entire office.

Chloe had been pampered her whole life. When had she ever swallowed that kind of humiliation?

Of course he’d been furious. Ivy needed to be taught a lesson.

So he’d docked two weeks of her pay. Canceled her year-end bonus. Dipped into their savings for a bracelet, just so Chloe would forgive her. That was all.

And Ivy had the nerve to scream at him like some shrew.

She’d pushed him past his last shred of patience, so he’d fired her.

Besides, firing her was really just granting her wish.

Ever since they’d started dating, she’d been nagging him to meet her parents and get married.

By firing her, wasn’t he basically agreeing to marry her?

But instead of appreciating everything he’d done for her, she’d thrown a fit right there in his office.

He’d spoiled Ivy too much. That was why she blew everything out of proportion and forgot who he was.

He wasn’t just her boyfriend. He was her boss, too.

Meanwhile, Ivy sat in an elegant dining room with no idea that Grayson’s head was full of such twisted logic. If she’d known, she would have slapped him before she ever walked out.

She kept sneaking careful glances at Sebastian, who sat there in her new place, and only after several of them did she finally hand him a glass of water.

“Um, Mr. Locke, thanks for helping me move today. It’s really hot out. Do you want to use the shower in my brother’s room?”

Sebastian let out a low, quiet laugh.

“Ivy-bug, you always called me Seb when you were little. When did I become Mr. Locke?”

With that, Sebastian patted the top of her head, fond and easy.

The warmth of Sebastian’s hand rooted her to the spot.

Sebastian was her brother’s best friend, and the two of them had run wild together as kids.

Her mom and dad were always buried in work, so they often left her in Ethan’s care.

But Ethan was a little punk who’d ditch her to go play video games.

So before she started grade school, it was mostly Sebastian who looked after her.

He changed her diapers, bought her candy, and taught her nursery rhymes.

As a little girl, she’d been closer to Sebastian than to anyone.

She’d trailed after him everywhere, all Sebastian this and Sebastian that.

It wasn’t until grade school, when Sebastian left to study abroad, that the two of them slowly drifted apart.

Now and then Ethan mentioned how well Sebastian had done for himself. He’d built several companies from the ground up and was still single.

After she graduated college, Ethan had even strong-armed her into a job at Sebastian’s

company.

But she and Sebastian hadn’t spoken in over a decade, so sitting here now felt awkward.

Sebastian didn’t seem to notice, slipping right back into the way he’d been all those years ago.

“You hungry, Ivy-bug? Let me make you something.”

Twenty-seven years old and still getting called Ivy-bug, she felt goosebumps prickle up her

arms.

But watching Sebastian dig through her fridge, she felt something unfamiliar stir in her chest, warm and a little unsettling, and she couldn’t say why.

After they ate, Sebastian said he wanted to take her to a movie.

What he actually did was take her shopping.

Anything she so much as glanced at, Sebastian bought on the spot.

By now his hands were loaded down with bags, and he was heading into yet another designer boutique.

Ivy grabbed his arm in a hurry, half-alarmed. “Seb, please, stop buying things. I… I really don’t need any of it.”

She’d only meant to stop him from spending, but a bitter smile tugged at the corner of his

mouth.

“You won’t even let me spend a little on you anymore?”

The hurt that flickered in Sebastian’s eyes caught her off guard.

Her heart gave a hard, sudden lurch.

She stammered out some clumsy excuse to smooth things over.

Then she made a quick escape from Sebastian, and the moment she got home that night, she

cornered Ethan.

“Didn’t I ask you to come help me move today? Why did Sebastian show up instead?

“Don’t you know Sebastian is my boss? Do you have any idea how mortifying that was?”

Ethan flinched like a cat with its tail stepped on.

“Mortifying? You two were joined at the hip when you were little.

“If he wants to spend money on you, let him. Spend it all. Not letting him is what actually hurts him.

“You think he broke his back building those companies for fun? He did it all for you. And what did you do? You let some bottom-of-the-barrel loser drag you around for four whole years. Now you’ve finally dumped him, and you still won’t let Sebastian near you. Are you trying to kill him?”

Ivy’s eyes went wide with shock. “What are you talking about?”

Ethan didn’t hold back. “Fine, I’ll spell it out for you. Sebastian had his whole life set up overseas. He came back and started that company purely for you. And what did you do? You couldn’t see past your own nose. You let some pissant department manager sweep you off your feet.

“You have no idea. When you started dating that Grayson, Sebastian nearly drank himself into the ground. He’s been in love with you for years. You think he killed himself making money for nothing? He promised when you were little that he’d take care of you someday. And you went and got played by a piece of garbage.”

Ethan’s words hit her like a slap, and Ivy went rigid where she stood.

She was still reeling in the middle of the night when Grayson called, and she barely registered the phone ringing.

Sick of the noise, she just blocked his number and let it go dark.