Through Rivalry Comes Love

Chapter 12

Elena pretty much figured that this was what rock bottom felt like. And if it wasn't rock bottom, she sure as hell didn't want to sink any lower or feel any worse about herself and her life. It had been 15 hours since she had been fired. 3:00 AM and she was still awake, on her stomach on the couch staring at a photo of her on graduation day. She had worked so hard for everything and to watch it all be stripped away from her like that was devastating. Eventually, she would probably have to peel herself up off of her couch and put her life back together. Find a new job and a new boyfriend. But right now, she had no other intentions but to stay on that couch until life stopped sucking.

No. No new boyfriend. They were nothing but trouble and trouble was something she didn't need any more of. She could go solo for a few years, maybe do one of those single's cruises she had read up on at one point in her life.

Elena sighed. She had absolutely no wine in her apartment and she was too miserable to go out and get any.

She let her eyes wander around her apartment for something else that might take her mind off of all the crap she had gone through 15 hours ago. Nothing seemed to do the trick. She let herself think about Stefan suddenly, realizing that she was a single woman now and could have those kind of raw, passionate, and totally inappropriate thoughts about him. He could definitely take her mind off of everything for an hour or so.

But not even hot and sweaty sex with Stefan sounded appeasing to her right then. She knew she truly was a mess then if she was turning down her opportunity to call Stefan up for sex.

So she sighed and closed her eyes. Sleep had to come eventually.

Only her buzzing phone interrupted her attempt. She smacked her hand down on it and picked it up, examining the screen. It was the same damn number that had been calling her since she had left the Salvatore building. Stefan. He probably needed her help on how to read some of her models. Well, he could wait a few days. None of it was going anywhere. Elena had made sure of that.

It wouldn't be long before Gregory realized what she had done. Her models had to be updated every month or so, and no one could update them without the codes she implemented. For security purposes, of course. But none of the information Gregory needed was on her computer anymore in her office.

Because she had taken it all off of there and put it on the memory stick she had given Stefan. The only other copy of all of her information was in a locked box at her bank. Elena let herself smile for a moment as the realization hit her. In another week or so, Gregory's company was going to take a huge dive financially when it came time to update and adjust the models she had put in place. Everything had to be updated at the end of the month because of change in sales and profit. That was her secret – to always keep up with financial change rather than just implementing one idea and letting it run its course.

Soon, Gregory would realize that firing her was the worst change he ever made.

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Elena didn't know what time it was, but she was still going to groan at the obnoxious knocking that was filtering through her apartment. She must have dozed off for a bit because it was almost 6:00 AM now.

She remembered feeling pretty damn good about herself before she drifted off. After all, Gregory didn't stand a chance without her. But upon waking up, that lonely, miserable feeling was back in full force.

The knocking continued and she dug her head further into her pillow and pulled her knees up to her chest. She just wanted the couch to swallow her up so she wouldn't have to think about how her life was no longer going to be what she had planned it to be. She and Gregory were supposed to be a powerful business couple. And he took all of that away from her. She was mad as hell at him, but more than anything, she was crushed. Crushed to know that he didn't want her anymore.