AMB~she~OUS

THIRTY THREE

"....you don't need him anymore."

Of all the things that could have popped up in my mind after that statement, I could only ask 'Did I?'

Did I not need him anymore?

Once again I was wondering if this was the highest I could go.

Nick was already the CEO, a good one for that matter of fact. Even if I did find something that could ruin him, what guarantee did I have that I could be a possible candidate?

Craig was still on the board but his influence could only go so far considering he wasn't the CEO anymore. I doubt there was anyone who could back me if I ever made that move. I didn't even trust Craig at this point, his sights were elsewhere now.

There was nothing to solidify my position at D&D, my marriage was the only thing I had and even that didn't seem to be strong enough.

"You think you know what my needs are?" I asked in disbelief.

"I might not know everything about you but I know that you don't need my father anymore. He's not even worth it." The hint of venom in his words caught me completely off guard.

"Let me remind you in case you forgot, you don't know a damn thing about my marriage." I hissed.

"But I know my father, he's g-..." He paused midway and sighed running a hand through his hair, an innocent move that shouldn't have looked so damn hot.

"Just stay out of my business, Nick. I've been doing well without you for the past two years, don't think you know what I need." My words were much calmer but firm.

A heavy silence blanketed the room for a minute before the doorbell rang.

Nick took a step back and released a heavy sigh.

"The food is here, hope you're up for some Mexican." There was a strain in his voice that I chose to ignore but I knew this wasn't the end of the conversation.

                                ***

"Penny, bring me the briefing notes you took down so I can go through them."

I instructed Penny who had been filing some of the detailed reports I had been working on. It seemed like I was the only busy one because there was so much office chatter, you could swear it was Friday when it was midweek.

"There you go, shall I make a copy for this and send it to Mr. Daniels since he missed the meeting as well?"

"You can ask Suzanne to do it, I need you to finish the filling. And have you any idea why there's so much commotion in the office?" Not that I was interested in trivial office matters but I really didn't need people distracted when we had such an important event coming up.

"Oh, you haven't heard? Mr. Daniels and his fiancè called off their engagement."

My fingers that were furiously typing on my laptop froze over the keys.

"What?" I blinked at her.

"It's all over the internet. Mr. Daniels released a statement through our PR department saying that him and Miss Stella are parting ways early this morning." My assistant explained.

Broke off the engagement? I couldn't wrap my head around why. And to release a statement so publicly when the engagement had been done privately in the first place.

Was that why he didn't come to work?

"Oh, okay. Finish up and email me the details of the upcoming gala and hotel opening."

"Yes, ma'am."

I tried keeping my face neutral and uninterested in the whole ordeal but I felt the complete opposite. My hands itched to reach for my phone to read the tabloids even when I knew better than anyone that they were anything but reliable.

Work became a bit hard to focus on, just like any other time when he invaded my thoughts. I was eternally grateful when the clock struck 6pm, then I had an excuse to leave work. It was useless staying at the office when I could barely get anything done.

"That was such a dick move, Nick!" Was the first thing I heard the moment I stepped foot into the house.

"And you didn't even have the decency to tell me that you wanted to call off the engagement. Imagine how stupid I looked when I found out on the internet that my fiance was breaking up with me!" A female voice shouted.

"Do you know how embarrassing that was?!"

Embarrassing indeed. Who knew Nick was such a dick?

I mean, I did but still, he didn't need to hit that low.

"Stella, I'm sorry." I heard him say but I could tell by his tone that it was the furthest from the truth.

"Like that's going to solve anything. Now I have to deal with all the tabloids, they will want to know why we broke up. What am I going to tell them when I don't even know why."

There was a little crack in her voice at the end. I almost felt sorry for her.

Almost.

"You can tell them whatever you want, I don't really care."

"Unbelievable. And me? What should I tell myself huh? Was I not good enough for you?" Her voice lowered a bit, was she crying? I wondered.

"Ste-..."

"You are not...perhaps in love with someone else?" The question came out like awhisper, I wouldn't have heard it if I wasn't listening carefully.

There was a long pause and a piercing silence in the room. It felt like an eternity before Nick replied with a soft no.

A weird sense of relief flooded me, for a second there I thought he was going to say yes. And I don't know what scared me more, the idea that he had fallen in love with someone or the possibility that, that person could be me.

"I see. I'm going to leave then, I have a campaign shoot with Celine this evening. We will talk about this again before I give a public statement."

Footsteps followed and I watched the poor girl stalk out of the house with tears running down her face. A determined look sat on her face and it made me feel like she wasn't easily going to let this go. Oh well, it wasn't any of my business.

"I didn't take you for an eavesdropper."

"What could I do when she was being so loud? Curiosity gets to the best of us." I spoke, watching him from the corner of my eye.

"Were you entertained?"

"Adequately," I smirked at him.

"Though I'm curious as to why you would break the poor girl's heart in such a cold manner." I turned away from the staircase to fully look at him.

"Isn't it obvious? What other reason would a man need to leave a woman if it's not for another woman." He cocked his head to the side in a questioning manner.

"But I heard you deny being in love with another woman."

He scoffed at me before he started moving in my direction.

"I'm not in love with her...not yet so brace yourself."

He was out the door before I could even comprehend his words.

--------‐-----------------------------------------