My Online Boyfriend Lives In The Next Room Chapter 13

My Online Boyfriend Lives In The Next Room Chapter 13

Eric Halden turned to Sloane, perfectly composed. “That was incredibly rude. Maybe save that kind of talk for somewhere that isn’t a black-tie event.”

Sloane’s face went white with rage.

She looked ready to explode, but Graham called her over before she could make a scene.

Eric and I talked for a while. He was easy to be around.

Alistair appeared at my side. “Alistair,” he said, extending his hand to Eric. “I’m a friend of Laurel’s.”

He said “friend.” It didn’t sound like “friend.”

Eric grinned, reading the room instantly. “You two look great together.”

“Seriously, man. You’re a lucky guy.”

I opened my mouth to correct him. But I caught the smile Alistair was trying and failing to hide.

The gala started.

The emcee called the top three scorers to the stage.

My speech was on asset management, based on ideas I’d been developing for months.

I’d prepared for this. And once I was up there, something clicked-I wasn’t nervous at all.

When I finished my five-minute speech, the room broke into applause.

I could feel every pair of eyes in that room on me.

At that moment, I received more than applause.

I left the scared little girl behind on that stage.

Sloane watched from the corner, frozen.

Graham frowned. “I told you to take this seriously. You had every advantage over her, and look where you ended up.”

“She put in the work and walked into this room on her own merit.”

“You got expelled because you couldn’t bother showing up. I spent two million dollars on that seat.”

Sloane forced her expression neutral. “I get it, Dad. I’ll do better. Can we drop it?”

Offstage, the business cards started coming. People I’d only ever read about told me they were impressed.

If I was interested, they said, they’d trust me with a portion of their portfolios.

I tucked each card away carefully and kept the conversations going.

Alistair watched me from across the room, and I’d never seen him look at anyone the way he was looking at

me

The comments scrolled past. [Am I the only one who thinks Laurel acts more like the female lead?]

[Seconded. From this moment on, Laurel is the female lead in my heart.]

The evening wore on.

I slipped away to the powder room at the end of the hall to touch up my makeup.

Alistair followed. The way he looked at me made it hard to breathe.

“Laurel. You were incredible out there.”

“Would you be interested in becoming my private wealth manager?”

1 remembered the long string of zeros in Alistair’s bank account. I thought about what I could do with that kind of capital.

I knew I could grow it. I was sure of that.

“What would the annual salary be? Would I receive a share of the profits?”

“An annual salary of one million dollars, plus thirty percent of the profits.”

A million a year was standard for a wealth manager. But thirty percent of the profits was absurd. Most managers started at three percent and worked their way up.

“A million a year, plus ten percent of the profits,” I countered “We can renegotiate later.”

Alistair almost smiled. “Okay”

I was finishing my lipstick when I heard footsteps in the hall

Sloane was speaking on the phone, and her voice drew closer.

Alistair pulled me into the stall beside us. Sloane pushed through the powder room door a second later.

Alistair eased the stall door shut.

Sloane dropped into the vanity chair. “I didn’t think Laurel had it in her.”

“You should’ve seen the attention she got tonight.”

“I can’t stand watching someone like her climb past me.”

“She took my man and she took my spotlight. I’m destroying her.”

“But I already know how I’m going to handle her.”

“She’s only been gone three months. I can’t find any real dirt on her…”

“So I’ll make something up. I’ll put her in prison if I have to.”