“Fine,” I murmured. “But I won’t sign it until I see you have the contract written up to guarantee the money.”
“Very well.” She rolled her eyes. “Now, Corey said he has some news to tell me tonight. Have a steak made for him and something special and vegan for me.”
I nodded, but I didn’t miss the icy look in her eyes. It was clear she hated me now, but I didn’t care. Lola’s reputation was precious to her, and ten million dollars would leave a small dent in her finances, but nothing too major, considering she had the charity and her stores to keep her afloat.
It was a small price to pay to keep her perfect reputation, and for what she’d put me through.
* * *
I was surprised to see Lola had the contracts ready the following day.
She called me into her office and was seated on one of the chairs, the contracts on the coffee table, pens carefully placed on top of them.
I carefully read the part about the ten million first, but there was one clause I didn’t quite like. “What the hell is this?” I demanded. “I have to work for you for two terms to get the ten million?” I reread that part of the contract incredulously.
Lola had a smug look on her face when I looked up. “It’s that or nothing.”
“I’ll contact the cops, Lola! I’ll tell them everything I heard and what you did!”
“No, Georgia, you won’t,” Lola snapped, rising from her chair. “And you know why?” she asked. “Because telling the cops or a journalist is too easy, and you’d get nothing out of it. You’d lose money, and you won’t find another job like this one because I damn sure won’t write you a recommendation letter and no one will want to hire a snitch. You want the ten million, you’ll have to work for it, G.”
Wow. I couldn’t believe this.
“What?” She almost laughed. She was cruel that way. “You thought I was just going to hand that much money over to you because you felt you could wave something from my past over my head? You aren’t the one at the top, Georgia. You aren’t in charge! Didn’t you realize that without me you would have nothing? All those stories about how you were desperate for this job, how no one ever appreciated you. Well, I gave you a purpose, and you fucked it up, just the same as you fucked up your marriage. You went into that knowing it wouldn’t work out!”
That bitch! I wanted to slap her, pull her hair, even strangle her. But I held it together because she was right about one thing: The ten million was important to me. I needed it so I could start fresh somewhere else, forget about Lola and live my damn life for once.
I’d never get another job as good as this one if I left, and I would have needed Lola’s recommendation if I looked for a job with anyone else, especially if I wanted any credibility. I was getting older, you see, and these days rich people were looking for younger people with fresh minds and healthy bodies to keep up with their homes and their lives.
“Just do yourself a favor and sign the NDA,” Lola grumbled. “Once that’s done, we’ll both sign your new contract, you’ll finish your first term, and then your second will begin in a few years. It’s that simple.”
I was vibrating with rage. I flipped through the contract several times, assaulted with emotions I couldn’t quite explain. But then I stopped at a clause that I’d misread at first, and I read it three times to be sure I understood it.
Suddenly, I was no longer shaking with anger.
I was fighting a smile.
That clause, and that clause alone, was the only reason I signed the new contract. It would have to do, and it was my only way out. It would make me perform the lowest of all lows, but I would have to use it. At that point I was willing to do anything to rid myself of Lola. Anything.
I willingly signed the NDA because I knew I’d no longer need it. She could have the wreck. Several ideas had hatched in my mind, and now they were sprouting wings, and they were much, much worse than blackmail.
Lola thought she’d won by getting me to sign both contracts. She’d put on a superior grin as she looped the ls of her last name. She thought she’d conquered her troubles and put me back in my place.
But the truth was, Ivy, she had no fucking idea what was coming to her.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
IVY
I hated Lola Maxwell with a passion.
My hatred for her was one of the main reasons I’d agreed to meet Corey in Destin for a getaway. Just us two, one-on-one. He’d found my number in Lola’s phone and sent me a text after I stormed out, asking me what had happened. I didn’t know what to tell him. I didn’t need him looking at me differently, and Lola had been vague with him.