Stepbrother Billionaire(58)

“No problem,” Emerson says, grabbing my hand. We storm out the door together, our shoulders squared.

“Good luck, you two,” Cooper calls sarcastically after us as we march across the community work space. “Enjoy your incestuous little cabal while you can.”

Our coworkers rubberneck to get a better view of us as we pass, but one withering look from Emerson and they all pry their eyes away. We charge down the stairs and back out into the light of day. Just a few days ago, I was walking into this office and landing my dream job. Emerson was one of the most important people in this agency. And now here we are, out on our asses. And all because we tried to make a go of being together.

“Well,” Emerson says through gritted teeth, “Guess I was wrong about oversleeping not being a big deal, huh?”

I open my mouth to answer, but the ringing of my cell phone interrupts me. I snatch the device out of my purse and see that Riley is calling. After her dozens of texts and calls over the course of last night, I figure I’d better at least answer once.

“Ri, it’s really not a good time,” I say into the phone, turning away from Emerson.

“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know,” she replies, sounding panicked. “Where the hell are you, Abby?”

“I’m at work,” I tell her, “Or...The place that was work for a second, at least. What’s going on, Riley? Are you OK?”

“I’ve been trying to call you all night,” she hurries on, “Abby, there were some papers delivered to the apartment last night from your grandparents’ lawyer. They’re kicking us out of the apartment, effective immediately.”

“What?” I ask, nearly voiceless with shock. This can’t be happening. Not right now.

“Apparently they weren’t kidding when they said you had to choose between them and Emerson,” she goes on, “They hadn’t heard from you, so they’re kicking us out. Unless you assure them that Emerson won’t be a part of your life, that is.”

I’m silent for a long moment, just watching as the other people on the sidewalk pass me by. Then, for lack of a rational response, I start to laugh. Wildly. Emerson looks at me as if I’ve sprouted a second head, but his confusion only sets me off further. This can’t all be happening to me. And yet, here it all is, landing in my lap in a heap.

“Have you totally lost it?” Riley asks me over the phone.

“It’s possible,” I cackle, gripping my sides, “It’s very possible.”

I should have known better than to feel sunny about my twenty-sixth year. In a matter of hours, I’ve managed to lose my new job, my apartment, and the only family I have left. Every stable thing I’ve muscled into place has disappeared.

“Abby?” Emerson says, as I let the phone drop from my ear. “Why don’t we head home now and talk all this out?”

“Home,” I repeat, my voice going hollow on me, “I don’t think I have one of those anymore, Emerson.”

“What?” he asks, his brow furrowing.

“I’ve been evicted. By my grandparents,” I tell him, wondering at the statement even as it leaves my lips.

“I don’t understand. Why would they do something like that?” he asks, outraged on my behalf. “You’re their granddaughter.”

“Cooper isn’t the only one who disapproves of us being together,” I reply, “My grandparents forbid me from seeing you after the other night. They said I could either be a part of their lives, or a part of yours.”

I watch the news sink into Emerson’s mind. His outrage softens as he understands what I’ve sacrificed for him. And why losing my job now is such a huge deal.

“Well. You can borrow my home, then,” he says, the hardness draining from his voice as he drapes an arm over my shoulder. “Everything’s going to be OK.”

I let him guide me back through the Lower East Side. I feel shell-shocked, blindsided. Like every bit of context organizing my life has fallen away all at once. Or at least, every bit of context besides Emerson himself. For now, just having him by my side is enough. We can figure out the rest along the way.





Chapter Seventeen





After I’ve made sure that Riley isn’t going to be left out in the cold tonight, I settle in for a long, befuddled evening at Emerson’s place. The hours creep past as I try to process everything that’s happened, and what I’m supposed to do now. Emerson and I are both out of a job, I’m out of a home, and he’s bound for Europe at the end of the week. So much for that bright, shiny future I’d been so optimistic about.

Emerson spends about an hour on the phone with Cooper and the other Bastian partners when we get back to his loft. They argue incessantly, trying to hammer out a truce. No one at that company wants to see Emerson leave, least of all Emerson. But with everything that went down between him and Cooper this afternoon, I don’t see what other choice there is.

For my part, I spend the better part of the afternoon absentmindedly patting Roxie’s head and trying to work up the nerve to call my grandparents. Surely, they’re just bluffing. They don’t actually expect me to bend to their will and never see Emerson again.

Or do they?

“Well,” Emerson sighs, emerging from his bedroom having hung up on the hour long conference call. “They’ve backed off the whole firing-me front. Now it’s just a matter of whether or not I want to back off the I-quit front.”