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CHAPTER 48
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WAKING UP WITH THE CEO CHAPTER 49
John looked at Lance and instead of shaking his hand, he crossed his arms on his chest and let his lawyer do the talking. “Mr. Hamilton, my client instructed me to speak on his behalf during this meeting. Since this is going to be a very brief encounter between the two of you, Mr. Beckett asked me to inform you that he… changed his mind about signing the contract with ‘HL Sportswear’. This decision was taken after very careful consideration. Mr. Beckett wants you to know that…” The lawyer stopped and looked at John who, with a brief movement of his head, urged him to say the exact words. The man coughed just to clear his throat and continued. “Mr. Hamilton, these are not my words, so, please, excuse my language… My client wants you to know he will never sign with a… dickhead such as yourself, a dumbass who doesn’t see a good thing when it crosses his path. You should not have let Annalise Walsh out of your sight, even if she asked you to. Annalise was the real deal and you
WAKING UP WITH THE CEO CHAPTER 50
That day, the silence inside the house was soul-crashing. Lost in her thoughts, Annalise didn’t even realize that her coffee cup was empty. She put it in the kitchen sink and decided to go on the back porch and get some fresh air. Her father bought the house right after the wedding and renovated it all by himself. It was perched near a cliff, though it was situated a good distance from the drop-off. As a child, after reading about mudslides, she’d been convinced that they’d fall into the ocean. Her brothers had told her it was far more likely they’d fall off in an earthquake. Annalise shook her head at the memory of how they liked to torment her. It was peaceful here, and not for the first time during the last few days, she wondered why she’d been so anxious to move away. “Sometimes, a nice, calm, honest talk is the key to solving so many misunderstandings…” Annalise said, sitting on the rocking chair. “Look at Mom and me… We are finally starting to create
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Annalise pressed her lips together. “He told me not to bother looking for him, even if I changed my mind. Well, too bad. I made a mistake… Happens, we all make them. It’s not the end of the world. I’m sure he has made his share. He was angry and I’m sure he didn’t mean half of the things he said. So, since I know now what I want, I’m going to make him listen to me. Then I’m going to take the leap of faith Dad mentioned in the video and tell the man of my life that I love him. I hope that I’m not too late and that he will listen.” Jeremy touched her cheek in a tender gesture. “If he doesn’t, he’s a fool who doesn’t deserve my brave, beautiful baby sister. Whatever happens, I will be right here, remember that! You are not alone.” Annalise glanced down at her rumpled appearance. She shuddered to think what her hair looked like. She spent the last three days going around the house like the ghost of the Christmas past. “I need to go jump in the shower and t
WAKING UP WITH THE CEO CHAPTER 52
She made a derisive sound deep in her throat. The memory strangled her. Annalise hated that helpless feeling. “One evening, I was working late and he dropped in to see how I was doing. He came onto me hard and didn’t intend to take no for an answer. I fought against him, I even slapped him hard a couple of times. I tried to push him away from me, but he was so much stronger… He probably would’ve raped me if his wife hadn’t burst in.” Annalise was trembling, but she knew she had to go on. “I think she knew what was going on… I thought she would help me. But… I was dead wrong. She couldn’t care less. She called me a whore, even if that wasn’t true. She was also his partner, so she used me to make him pay for everything he had ever done wrong to her. And she also had her way out of the marriage.” “What happened after?” Lance asked. “Well, these days you have experienced it first-hand. Because of that woman and her disgusting husband, I was named a homewrecker, an arrogant
WAKING UP WITH THE CEO CHAPTER 53 (a long-overdue epilogue)
A couple of days later, John was signing the contract with “HL Sportswear”. Once he finished, he put down the pen and gave Lance a very serious look. The last time they saw each other, John was calling him a dumbass for letting Annalise go and threatening not to sign the contract if he would not find Annalise and get her back. And now, the three of them, together with the lawyers, were making their agreement official. With Annalise’s help, with John okay, Lance was preparing to make history. “Welcome to ‘HL Sportswear’, John!” Lance exclaimed shaking his hand. “Thank you for doing this.” The young jock looked first at Annalise, and then at Lance. “I did it mostly for Anna. She was your winning card. So, cherish her, Hamilton. Treat her like the fierce, powerful, hard-working queen she is. This woman went through hell to arrive here,” John told him, then smiled at Annalise. “I’m extremely proud of you, baby girl. I really am.” Annalise got close to Joh
WAKING UP WITH THE CEO CHAPTER 1
“Where are you, Elaine?” she said slowly looking outside the window. She then turned and started gazing around the room. Being part of a shiny, rich, boring crowd such as this one wasn’t the way Annalise hoped to spend her evening. She always hated participating in social events but most of the time, they were solid gold occasions for someone in her line of work. However, this fundraiser was a bit different than the usual ones she’d attended. And she knew exactly why it was important to take one for the team. Lance Hamilton was there! The new ‘King of Los Angeles’ was the main attraction of the event. Annalise was standing way back, near one of the large windows of the ballroom, sipping white wine and observing him thoroughly, gazing away every time Lance would look in her direction, trying not to show him how impatient she was to deliver the decisive pitch and start working for him. Being an advertising executive (A
WAKING UP WITH THE CEO CHAPTER 2
A waiter was passing near them and Lance took two glasses of champagne and handed one to her. She didn’t like champagne but she accepted it anyway. “Lance,” Annalise replied, greeting him with a slight nod. “You finally freed yourself from your adoring fans. You were having so much fun…” “Yeah, I was having the time of my life,” he replied in a sarcastic tone. “Come on, Annalise! You know very well I’m not into these gatherings.” “Do I?” she asked and raised an eyebrow. “Even so, you are the ‘New King’ in town. This is just one of the many social events you will have to attend from now on. So, prepare yourself, ‘Your Highness’. Every important person in this town will request your presence.” Lance smiled, and his eyes locked with hers for a few seconds, then checked her from head to toe, lingering way too much on her curves. Annalise started to feel a bit uncomfortable under Lance’s intense scrutiny. “The new King…” he said. He was practically undressing her r
WAKING UP WITH THE CEO CHAPTER 3
Enough socializing for one night… It was time to go back to his hotel suite and unwind. All these events were draining the life out of him. Lance walked out of the hotel that was hosting the fundraiser and went straight to the parking spot. He asked the valet to bring him the car. Up until a couple of weeks ago, his headquarters were in New York. But then, he decided to move the “HL Sportswear” base to Los Angeles. Lance dropped off the old advertising team and started looking for a new one, able to put his company on the right path to universal success. He never thought that all this would include socializing, meeting people willing to do anything to get the big prize, to have his approval, to get their hands on something so important as his pet project. Their behavior was understandable, though. “Hamilton Inc.” was well-known in the business environment and everybody wanted a slice of the pie. But this business development wasn’t the only reason that
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