Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele

[Cordelia]Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.

Tomorrow was not better.

As I looked up at an unfamiliar ceiling, the realization that I no longer had any of my work from the past few months made my eyes water and my heart clench How am I going to keep from falling into debt if I have to pay back all of my buyers when I fall to deliver on their orders?

When I looked over my accounts that morning I realized it was even worse than what I had previously understood. I knew that I was doomed because I lost all of my patterns and samples but my loss was much deeper than that. I had vendors I still needed to pay for fabric that is now a pile of ashes.

Vendors that I cannot pay because I needed that fabric to make the orders to pay them.

Now I will need to repurchase it, even though I don't have the funds, which means I will need to take out credit, and as a business owner with no financial history, this might prove impossible.

It's such a mess my head hurts trying to figure it all out

"You need to call Atlas and just take that job he offered you at the expo," Tilly tells me as she cleans up the breakfast dishes. "I'm sure he will still give it to you."

"But I don't want to take anything from Atlas," I huff. "I want to do this on my

y own."

She shakes her head at me sadly. "Asking for help when you need it doesn't make you weak or dependent on him," Tilly tries to argue. "It just means you're smart and resourceful enough to get help when you need

She ponders the situation for a moment. "I could give you a job at Mathilda Madison Design," she muses But I'll be honest. I can't afford you."

I blink at her both affronted and confused.

"What I mean," she clarifies, "Is that you are a top designer now. My company is only big enough to have ONE top designer, and that's me," she smiles. "Not that I wouldn't share, but we barely make enough for me to pay my employees a living wage, never mind hiring another executive. Atlas actually has an open position for a lead designer and was very interested in your line. Would a merger with Steele Industries be that bad?"

"It didn't go very well for me the last time," I counter, thinking of my failed marriage.

"That wasn't what I meant and you know it," Tilly scolds me. "Besides, I bet Atlas would let you work on your line and use his materials and machines as a BONUS to signing with him. I can't offer you that. I don't even have the resources to offer y that. I wish I did, but I have to be realistic."

I hate it when she's right. Especially if it involves Atlas,

"Besides," she smiles back at me as she dries off the dishes. "Maybe working together will help you two grow closer. I know that Angelica is now part of the picture, but the office is Atlas" domain. I'm not saying you should start a secret office romance although...I mean, now that you mention it, that would be kind of hot."

11

My face flushes instantly. "I don't know if I can handle having him as my actual boss. He already thinks he

Chaptercan boss me around." I tell her about how Atlas tried to order me to live with him again, and that when I refused he got closed off and angry.

"He's just trying to keep you safe," Tilly Insists. "You already knew he was a bit of a possessive brute. What were you expecting now that he knows you are pregnant with his...what did you find out you were having?"

I blush again, this time in shame. I forgot to tell my best friend what we had learned at the OB office the day before. Clark doesn't know either. I was so wrapped up in everything yesterday that I didn't have a chance to tell them. When I tell Tilly that Clark doesn't know either, she suggests we invite him over for lunch. Her face turns beet red as she speaks with him on the phone, her hands shaking as she makes arrangements to come over.

If I didn't know better, I'd say my best friend has a crush on my ex-brother-in-law fiance.