Contractually Yours

CHAPTER 36

Lisa

The next morning I get up early, run like always, then put on a red dress and my favorite diamonds. Taehyung watches, his concerned eyes following my every move.

"You can have Jeremiah handle this," he says.

I curl my lashes and apply mascara. "Jisoo's my problem." I'm surprised at how calm I sound. But it's as though the emotional explosion last night wrung me of pain, leaving nothing but numbness. "I want to deal with her myself first."

"You want to know why she did it."

I pause for a moment. That wasn't the conscious why, but I realize he's right. I deserve to know the reason she betrayed me. "Yes."

"You'll never understand her. People who do things like this to their best friends don't think or feel like we do."

"But I'm not going to get closure if I don't talk to her." I run red lipstick over my mouth, then put it down on the vanity. "This is for me, so I can close this chapter."

"She may give you a sob story to get you to forgive her."

He believes in evening the scales. And fighting. He'd never let somebody screw with him and get away with it. He even forced his family to hand over control over their trusts.

"I won't. I promise." Even if Jisoo has a really good reason—although I can't imagine what that would be—we can never go back to how it used to be. She didn't just burn that bridge. She nuked it.

"If you need anything, call me." He regards me like a small child about to dip her toes into an adult pool for the first time.

"I'll be fine." I'll have to be.

After giving Taehyung a kiss and wishing him a good day, I say good morning to James and climb into the Cullinan. I check my texts and agenda like there's nothing wrong.

But I struggle to focus and finally put my phone down. As James drives to Bvlgari, I recall how shocked I was that That Stalker didn't chase me when I was eloping. Or follow all of us to the steakhouse after the ceremony. Taehyung's right about me not being that famous. His father is a far more significant celebrity, but he didn't have paparazzi harassing him.

I didn't look at all the emails and texts extracted from Jisoo's laptop and phone, but she might've been behind the video that made me look like a dog kicker. It was one of the worst periods of my life with so many people attacking me online. Some even cussed me out in person.

Jisoo always told me it would be best to ignore them because nothing good would come of it. Lawsuits draw attention. She said that's what my lawyers said, too. I wonder if she asked them at all.

But then she overplayed her hand. Eventually I got fed up with lawyers who always said no and hired Jeremiah Huxley myself. And Jeremiah has always contacted me directly, bypassing Jisoo. She said she didn't like going through an assistant on legal matters, in case of miscommunication or misinterpretation.

Thank God.

When I step onto my floor, Jisoo's at her desk. She's in a pretty blue Dior dress I bought for her birthday last year. Her necklace is a stunning platinum and sapphire pendant I commissioned to celebrate our friendship when we graduated from college.

Did she feel any guilt accepting them? Or did she laugh at how stupid and gullible I was?

"Hey, good morning," she says, flashing a smile. "You feeling better?"

No. "Much." I force a smile. It's amazing what humans can achieve. The air still feels like it's full of broken glass, but I can will myself to behave like I'm just fine. "By the way, can you have security send a couple of guards up to my office? And I also need you in there, too."