A Wrong Surrogate for the CEO-Chapter 73: A move to get her job back

"You’re really going to do this?" Mike asked, and it was getting hard for him to restrain the anger that was steadily spreading across his veins.

Tolu looked at her reflection in the mirror before she turned back to face him.

"Yes I am."

Mike ran a hand through his hair.

"What the fuck is your problem, Tolu? This is stupid and you know it," he snapped. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"No it’s not, and you are starting to get on my nerves. What is wrong with you?" she snapped back

Mike’s hands curled into fists.

"What is wrong with me? You are the one I should be asking! What the hell is wrong with you?! You are seriously going to walk into that company, stare Curtis in the face and ask him why he took your job away? Ask him to give you your job back?" he scoffed, disbelief ringing in every word.

Tolu crossed her arms on her chest.

"You know what? Fine. You’re right. I don’t have to. I’ll just sit at home and do nothing. You hear me? NOTHING!"

She threw her arms in the air, and Mike was filled with unexplainable rage.

"How can you even...for fuck’s sake, you can just fucking find another job. Get your ass out there and look for another source of income. It’s that simple!"

Tolu let out an angry yell.

"No. No it’s not. Why is it simple? I have worked my ass off for years, and he just took it away like that? That is fucking unfair of him. I didn’t even do anything and he just decided to make me jobless. If he thinks I am going to take the decision lying down, he is wrong. I will fight. Hell, I will sue him if I have to."

The leash on Mike’s anger slipped away from him, and he exploded.

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND? HAVE YOU ABSOLUTELY GONE INSANE? YOU FUCKING POISONED THE MAN’S WIFE, AND YOU THINK HE HAS NO RIGHT TO FIRE YOU?" he yelled in her face, his neck and face turning red with anger.

"I WASN’T THE ONE WHO HANDED HER THE FUCKING TEA. IT WAS THE MAID. ALL I DID WAS MAKE SURE ARTICLE GETS RELEASED. HOW THE HELL DOES THAT QUALIFY AS SOMETHING WORTH FIRING ME FOR?" she yelled back.

Mike’s jaw dropped open. His mind went blank, and he went absolutely still.

Tolu’s words settled in his bones, and for the first time since he met her, Mike saw Tolu for who she was.

An evil, spoilt, wicked and absolutely irresponsible woman.

He should never have gotten entangled with her. The wave of regret that slammed into him was heavy, and his legs buckled under the weight.

Tolu had never been a good person, and she clearly was getting worse over time.

When Tolu saw that Mike didn’t say anything else, she turned away from him and back to the mirror.

"You know, you’ve been acting out these past few days. You should always have my back, Mike. You and I, we are the same. We really shouldn’t be fighting," she said softly.

There was a small smile on her face, and the smile made her look so soft, so sincere that if Mike hadn’t known the type of woman she was, he would have been fooled by her facade.

"You’re so...shameless, Tolu. How can you even—" he started to speak again, but she interrupted him, cutting him off before he could say anything else.

"Shut up. Just...shut the fuck up," she snapped. And without another word, Tolu made her way out of the room.

Nothing was going to stop her from doing what she wanted. Mike could complain all he wanted, but her mind was already made up.

With that resolution in mind, Tolu made the drive towards Curtis’s company.

~~

Lara was exhausted. She was sad and tired and all she wanted to do was sleep.

But even sleep eluded her.

Curtis had been gone for two weeks. Fourteen whole days, and she had no idea where he was. He wasn’t picking her calls, nor was he responding to her messages.

With each day that passed, Lara felt even more horrible.

Her skin became foreign, and she wished she was another person. Someone who thought before they acted.

Someone who didn’t hurt the man that had been nothing but nice and caring to her.

Someone that didn’t break Curtis’s heart.

"We’re here, ma’am," Lazarus announced. The bodyguard’s voice jolted her out of her thoughts.

"Thank you, Lazarus," she said softly as she got out of the car. Lara had taken to working obsessively. It was her way of coping with what happened, and Lazarus was starting to get worried about her.

"Do you need anything, ma’am?" he asked as she was about to walk away.

"I’m fine, Lazarus."

The bodyguard knew he should probably leave her alone for a while as usual, but she was looking unusually pale.

And she hadn’t eaten anything at all that morning.

"I can get you some snacks, if you want. Coffee, tea. Whatever," he insisted. Lara sighed as she pinched her forehead.

"Do I look that terrible, Lazarus?" she asked. He froze for a beat, unsure about what his response should be.

Should he tell her the truth? That she looked like she might just keel over and faint any moment?

Or should he tell her that she looked okay and he just wanted her to eat because she hadn’t had anything since she woke up?

Before he could say anything though, she shook her head and reached out to pat him on the arm.

"I’m fine, Lazarus. Really. You don’t have to get worried about me or anything. I’m okay," she said softly.

Lazarus nodded, and his gaze remained expressionless. But he knew that she was at the danger of starving herself to death, and if she didn’t stop, he was going to have to call Curtis.

Lara gave him a small, sad smile and started to walk towards the company’s entrance.

She was almost at the door when someone stepped before her.

It took a minute for Lara’s mind to catch up with who she was staring at.

And when she did, the expression on the woman’s face made Lara wish she hadn’t come to work at all.

Because she wasn’t in the mood to deal with Tolu, especially not when Curtis was out of town.

And most especially not when she was currently sick.

"Hello, Tolu," she said regardless.

And the other woman purred savagely. "Hello, bitch."