Millionaire Girlfriend

Chapter 47: Chapter 47 - Insecure

Clara woke up with a terrible pain in her neck.

For a few seconds, she couldn’t remember why the fuck she was sleeping on the couch.

Then everything came back.

Ashley had slept with another woman and had even spent the night at her place.

Clara’s eyes immediately flew open.

She stared at the ceiling, completely still, as the memories of that night replayed in her mind. Even though it had been more than three days, she still couldn’t get over it.

That night, she’d waited almost the entire night for Ashley to come back, thinking she would sleep with Elena and then return home.

But Ashley never came back.

What was that supposed to mean?

Had Ashley enjoyed having sex with Elena so much that she’d stayed with her and spent the entire night there?

The answer seemed obvious to Clara, especially considering the state Ashley had been in when she finally came home early that morning.

And the fact that the two women had decided to stay friends afterward gave Clara even more reason to worry.

They were texting each other all day now, and they had practically become best friends.

If Clara weren’t following Ashley around, she would’ve thought she was cheating on her.

Just then, she heard footsteps.

Clara immediately turned around.

Ashley walked out, still half-asleep, heading toward the bathroom.

Clara watched her disappear inside.

A few seconds later, she heard the bathroom door lock.

Clara remained where she was.

Then her eyes slowly shifted toward the bedroom.

Her expression changed.

’I need to know what she’s been talking about with her all the time,’ she thought.

She had never imagined herself becoming the insecure type, but right now, she had every reason to be.

She quickly tiptoed toward the bedroom.

Ashley had left her phone on the nightstand.

Clara picked it up.

It wasn’t locked.

Her senses were on high alert, listening for any sound that might announce Ashley’s return.

She opened the messages.

Guess who the most recent message was from?

Elena.

Clara was already irritated when she saw that the message was wishing Ashley good night, accompanied by a little kissing emoji.

She opened the conversation.

The first thing she noticed was how long it was.

There were dozens of messages.

Clara’s eyes narrowed.

"Why are you two talking this much?"

She scrolled through the conversation.

At first glance, the messages seemed innocent. Ashley was giving Elena advice about dating women.

Ashley’s messages were mostly neutral, but it was obvious that Elena had feelings for her.

She asked about Clara and sometimes criticized her for not appreciating someone as amazing as Ashley. She even said that if she were in Clara’s place, she’d treat Ashley like a queen.

"That bitch. I knew she wanted to steal my girlfriend," Clara muttered.

And Ashley had responded with a heart.

Clara’s eyes widened.

"A heart?"

She stared at the little symbol as if it had personally insulted her.

She nearly threw the phone onto the bed.

Then she heard the bathroom door opening.

Clara’s entire body stiffened.

"Oh, shit."

She quickly put the phone back exactly where she’d found it and pretended to be looking through the clothes in the closet.

A second later, Ashley appeared.

She looked at Clara suspiciously.

"What are you looking for this early in the morning?" Ashley asked.

"I’m looking for one of my dresses," Clara replied, in a much more hostile tone than she’d intended.

"Which dress? I may be able to help you," Ashley said.

"I don’t need your help," Clara shot back.

A long silence followed.

"Did you sleep well on the couch?" Ashley asked.

"Of course not. Your couch isn’t comfortable at all," Clara said.

Even though it wasn’t true, Clara didn’t want Ashley to think everything was fine.

"Then why don’t you go home and sleep?" Ashley retorted as she returned to bed and pulled the covers over herself.

"You know what? You’re right," Clara said before leaving the bedroom.

As she closed the door, she looked down at her hand.

She was holding Ashley’s phone, which she’d managed to take without her noticing.

It was immature of her, but Clara knew Elena wouldn’t take long to send Ashley a good-morning message, asking how her night had been and everything else.

"Not this time," Clara said as she blocked Elena on Ashley’s phone before leaving it in the living room.

By the time Clara got to work, she was getting more and more irritated.

Everyone was smiling at her, wishing her a good morning and a great day, completely unaware that Clara’s day was anything but good.

’If only they knew,’ she thought.

Yeah, if only they knew.

"What? Did I make mistakes in my report?" Ben asked.

He’d been standing there for more than five minutes, waiting for Clara to tell him whether everything was in order.

If only he knew that Clara hadn’t even been reading the damn document.

"No, everything is fine. You can go," Clara said, finally snapping out of her thoughts.

Clara realized this couldn’t go on. She needed to focus on work and stop thinking about Ashley and Elena.

But first, she needed something to eat.

Normally, she would’ve simply ordered lunch and had it brought straight to her office, like she always did. But today, she needed to get out of her office and clear her head.

"I’m going for lunch. I’ll be back in an hour," she told her assistant.

She took the elevator down several floors to the company cafeteria, a place she rarely ever visited.

The moment she stepped out of the elevator, the first thing she saw was a poster of herself.

It was the official poster announcing her as the interim CEO, as if the entire company hadn’t already known.

’He should’ve asked me for another picture if he was planning on putting my face on posters. I look terrible in this one.’

Without thinking twice, Clara ripped the poster off the wall.

Everyone nearby stared at her.

But the moment they realized who she was, they quickly looked away.

Nobody wanted to get on the new CEO’s bad side, especially when she looked like she was ready to bite someone’s head off.

"I actually liked that picture."

A woman’s voice came from behind her.

Clara turned around, ready to snap at whoever had dared to talk to her when she was clearly not in the mood.

But she immediately recognized her.

It was Olivia from Human Resources.

"You looked cute in it," Olivia added.

"I always look cute in pictures," Clara shot back.

"What happened, Ms. CEO? You don’t look very happy today," Olivia said.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about. Everything’s fine," Clara lied.

"I don’t think that poor poster would agree with you," Olivia replied, reminding Clara of the crumpled poster still in her hand.

"Whatever. If you need someone to talk to or clear your head, I’m in the same office," Olivia said before stepping into the elevator.

She gave Clara a knowing smile.

Clara knew exactly what that smile meant.

They’d had their share of fun together in Olivia’s office before.

Clara barely ate her lunch.

She spent most of her time staring at her phone, waiting for updates from the bodyguards she’d assigned to protect Ashley.

At this point, they were basically her spies.

Clara couldn’t take it anymore. She needed to talk to someone, so she decided to go see Olivia—not for anything else, just to talk.

Knock. Knock.

Clara knocked on Olivia’s office door.

"Come in."

Clara opened the door, and Olivia smiled as soon as she saw her.

"I didn’t think you’d come this quickly," Olivia said, getting up from her chair and walking over to Clara.

She slipped an arm around Clara’s neck and tried to kiss her, but Clara pulled away.

"I really need to talk to someone," Clara said.

"So this time you really just want to talk? Okay. Sit down and tell me what’s wrong," Olivia said.

Clara sat down and told her everything—how Ashley was trying to get revenge on her by sleeping with someone else.

"That’s why I’m not okay with this situation. She wants to stay friends with her hookup. I’m just saying, no offense," Clara finished.

"No problem," Olivia said.

"I think I know what you’re really upset about. You’re not happy that Ashley can’t just ignore the people she sleeps with afterward like you always do."

Clara remained silent.

"You’re afraid Ashley might get too attached to Elena and realize you’re not as perfect as she thought you were."

"I mean, how many times have you cheated on Ashley during your relationship? She probably noticed at least some of it. You can’t possibly be as good at hiding it as you think."

Clara thought about Olivia’s words for a few seconds.

She had cheated on Ashley during their relationship. That was true.

But Clara was sure she’d erased every trace before coming home each time. And Ashley had always acted completely normal whenever she returned.

Still, knowing the Ashley she’d been with in the past, even if she’d caught Clara cheating, she probably would’ve kept it to herself and pretended not to notice.

Ashley had always been afraid of losing her.

"Maybe you’re right," Clara said. "I think I know what I need to do."

"Thanks."

Clara left Olivia’s office and returned to her own.

She was finally going to focus on work.

Besides, she had way too much to do to spend the entire day worrying about her relationship.

Even after 7 p.m., when most employees had already gone home, Clara still had plenty of work left.

She’d have to stay a little longer.

At least, that had been the plan.

Her phone suddenly buzzed.

A message.

And a picture.

Ashley walking into a bar with Elena.

Clara immediately dropped everything.

She decided it would be a mistake to turn Ashley against Elena. That would only push the two of them closer together.

And Elena actually seemed like a good person.

Unlike Clara.

Clara grabbed her things and drove straight to the bar.

When she arrived, she smiled as soon as she spotted the two women.

They spotted her too.

They didn’t look nearly as happy to see her.

"Hey, Elena. It’s good to see you," Clara said.

Elena didn’t answer.

She still hadn’t forgiven Clara for her little plan to get her into bed and then leave her hanging afterward.

Clara ignored it.

She leaned down and gave Ashley a long, passionate kiss before pulling out a chair and placing it right beside her.

"So, what are you two talking about?" Clara asked.

"Uh... we were talking about how this is Elena’s first time going to a bar since she just turned twenty-one," Ashley explained.

"Really? Welcome to the adult world. I don’t know if Ashley told you, but she was only nineteen when I took her to a bar for the first time. She refused several times before finally agreeing," Clara said with a smile, clearly trying to keep the conversation going.

"Sounds like you’re a really bad influence on her," Elena muttered, just loud enough for both Ashley and Clara to hear.

Clara looked at Ashley.

Ashley didn’t defend her.

If anything, she seemed to agree with Elena.

"That’s true," Clara admitted with a smile.

"But thinking back, she was the happiest girl in the world back then. So I guess it was worth teaching her how to break a few rules."

"I need to use the bathroom real quick," Ashley said instead of confirming Clara’s story.

A moment later, she disappeared toward the restroom.

Clara and Elena were left alone.

"Actually, I’m really sorry about everything that happened," Clara said.

"What I did wasn’t right, and I apologize."

"You don’t have to apologize," Elena replied.

"I mean, without what you did, I would’ve never had the best night of my life," Elena said with a provocative smile.

"I’m glad you enjoyed it, because it’s never happening again," Clara said.

"If I were you, I wouldn’t be so sure about that," Elena shot back.

"What do you mean? Did Ashley tell you something?" Clara asked, her tone suddenly more serious.

"She didn’t tell me anything. But with your manipulative, narcissistic behavior, it’s not exactly hard to predict," Elena said with a smile.

Clara was about to tell her to go to hell when she saw Ashley returning.

"So, what were you two talking about?" Ashley asked as she took her seat again.

"I was telling Elena that I know someone she’d get along really well with," Clara lied.

She refused to lose control of the situation and had decided to return to her original plan: finding someone for Elena so she’d stop flirting with Ashley.

"Who?" Ashley asked, clearly interested.

After all, that was one of the main reasons they were at the bar in the first place—to find someone for Elena, even if it was only for one night.

"Her name is Olivia. She’s a woman I work with. She’s seven years older than you, but I figured you might like someone mature and calm," Clara explained to Elena.

Elena didn’t want to give Clara the satisfaction of being right about her.

But mature and calm was, in fact, exactly her type.

"I can’t wait for you to introduce me to her," Elena said, raising her glass.

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