It had been almost a week since I had seen or talked to Theo. After seeing the video, I ran out of Pictogram immediately. Without giving too much information, I sent Brandon an email that I wasn't feeling well. Even if Theo had lied to me, there was no reason for me to let my team members down.
It was a full twenty-four hours before I even would talk to Jill about what happened. When I burst into our dorm suite looking undoubtedly like hell, my eyes red and face splotchy from crying, I rushed into my room refusing to answer when she knocked. After some coaxing, I let her in and told her everything that happened with Penny.
She was, at first, doubtful of Penny's claims. ”Do you think the Board would ask him to marry you?” she asked. “That seems so far fetched. They can't control his personal life, can they?”
Lying on my bed motionless, I replied flatly, “They can if they want to. I'm sure they can do anything.”
Jill stood and began to pace. “That Penny chick. She just doesn't seem like someone you should trust. She could be making it up.”
“You didn't see the video,” I countered. Moving to pick up my phone, I asked, “Do you want to see it?”
“No! I don't want to see it, but what if there is a plausible explanation for it?”
“Plausible explanation for having sex with his personal assistant?” I mumbled.
Jill sighed. “I don't know, but Theo asking you to marry him at the Board's request just doesn't seem like something he would go along with.” She stopped pacing. “Request a copy of the board meeting minutes. Then you will know for sure,” she suggested.
Right away, I requested the minutes and then just waited it out.
Theo had called, texted, and sent me Pictogram messages since that very night Penny confronted me, but I wouldn't answer. Each day his pleas to talk to me grew more desperate. Long winded voicemails. Lengthy emails about how much he loved me. Flowers. Candy. More flowers. Macaroons express shipped from a French patisserie in Nice, France.
I would accept none of it, but my heart couldn’t let go. Even when dumping the flowers, candies, and pastries in the dumpster outside the dorm, I still had hope that everything was a terrible mistake.
Before I could respond to Theo, I needed to see the minutes to know the truth. When the packet arrived two days later, Jill and I just stared at it before opening it.
Jill sat me down on the couch. “Whatever it says, good news or bad news, don't let it define you. You were a badass before you met Theo and still are.”
Taking a deep breath, I opened the envelope. Scanning the pages quickly, it was clear Penny had been telling the truth.
“At the recommendation of the board, CEO Wainwright is to develop a family-friendly persona with the end goal of revamping Pictogram’s image.”
A cry caught in my throat as the papers fluttered from my fingertips. Unable to speak, I just pointed to the line with a numb finger. Jill saw what I was pointing at and drew in a sharp breath. Hugging me as I cried, she said, “I'm so sorry, Mia. So sorry.”
Of course, she had been worried about Theo's playboy past, but she never imagined he would be sleeping with someone else within the company and even manipulate me to marry him. Jill was just as shaken as I was.
“He only proposed to me because they want to change the company's image after the orgy pictures.” My sobs were erupting from my mouth like sorrowful explosions.
Looking at my beautiful diamond ring on my finger, the pain of the truth shot through me. I was just a pawn in Theo's game. We would have gotten married, and the whole time he would be sleeping with Penny.
He was a monster. Theo and Penny both were. Theo tricked me into falling in love with him just for the sake of his company while Penny, his real girlfriend, knew about it the entire time.
Jill hugged me. “They are both manipulative scheming assholes that deserve each other.”
My best friend's efforts to soothe me fell flat. My heart was broken in a million pieces.
What was worse was that I still loved Theo. I had proof of his dishonesty, but something inside screamed that it just couldn't be true. Our time in Tennessee felt genuine. He had tears in his eyes when he told me how much he cared for me.
Our engagement felt just as sincere. The way he looked at me, his eyes peering back into mine so full of love.
But Theo was a superb actor pretending to love me and care for me. Every moment we had together hadn’t been real. The last few months of my life were all lies.