The Paper Wife’s Empire novel Chapter 10

The other was the core data from the project she had developed for Jotham’s company.

She had always kept the first one locked away in her desk drawer, but now it was gone. Jotham must have taken it.

The other item was stored within Jotham’s company itself, and she didn’t have the clearance to retrieve it.

Both things represented her painstaking effort; there was no way she was leaving them behind for Jotham.

Early the next morning, Ramona received a call from Jotham. There was a racket on his end, likely because he was still on the highway.

“Ramona, did you get my message last night?”

“Yeah, I saw it,” she replied, stirring her coffee with a steady hand, her tone unreadable.

“Sorry about that, I had to leave unexpectedly and didn’t get a chance to talk to you first. But Ms. Prescott is a guest, I couldn’t let her take Milo out by herself.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for. It’s only right that you kept Ms. Prescott company.”

Ramona’s response caught Jotham off guard.

He’d assumed she was ignoring his message because she was angry, but with Brianna around last night, he hadn’t been able to stay in touch with Ramona anyway.

Yet now, her voice was casual, almost indifferent.

“Ramona, I noticed you didn’t reply last night, so I thought—”

“I was swamped yesterday,” Ramona cut in, breezy and light. “I went straight from house-hunting to a business meeting. Didn’t even have time to check my phone.”

Jotham let out a breath of relief. “I knew you were just busy. Don’t work so hard, you know it worries me.”

Ramona frowned. She hadn’t been able to stomach breakfast as it was, and his words only made her appetite vanish altogether.

“Daddy, don’t talk to the mean lady!”

Suddenly, Milo’s voice came through the phone, quickly followed by Brianna’s attempt to hush him.

“Alright, I need to get back to driving. I’ll see you tonight.”

This time, Jotham hung up before Ramona could say another word.

With Jotham out of the office for once, Ramona’s first order of business at work was to search his office for the files she needed.

She combed through every drawer, checked his computer—nothing.

Still racking her brain, she was interrupted by someone hurrying in.

“Ms. Jarrett, Mr. Holt’s out today. There are a few grant contracts that need your signature.”

Ramona picked up the contracts and scanned them.

These projects weren’t the sort that Holt Group could typically secure; she’d worked herself to the bone and pulled every string just to close these deals.

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify