All Chapters of The Unexpected Proposal: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

CHAPTER 21: ELIZABETH IS ACCUSED Elizabeth walks into the conference room and looks about at her coworkers. One can sense the suspense in the air. It's something different than the typical office meeting talk. She hears bits of conversation and words that cause her blood to stop cold as she gets to the table. Her name is Amounts. Writings. Everything seems to point precisely to her.Heart thumping, she settles in and tries to put events together. Sliding a hefty file in front of her, the austere man in charge of security has a keen look. His voice cuts through the quiet. These are the reports. They show your signature on the transactions. How, then, would you explain this?Elizabeth looks down at the papers before her, and her fingers shake. The figures are negative. Her signature is there, straightforwardly. She did not, however, approve anything. She knows that she seems guilty from everyone in the room's perspective.She searches, but nobody catches her gaze. Standing in the corne

CHAPTER 23 ELIZABETH’s HEARTBEAT Elizabeth's automobile hums throughout the city, and the consistent engine rhythm provides little solace. The world outside blurs; shadows of buildings, flashes of light, and faces she will never see again all vanish into the distance. She cannot concentrate on anything except the terrible quiet within her. Simeon's words weigh on her chest like a stone. He left her behind. Once he trusted her, she was nowhere. Nothing except a blemish on the business he created, a name to clear from his life. Her hands shake against the wheel, and she grabs it tightly to help her to ground herself. But it serves no use. Tears are starting to flow here. Not yet; she will not let them drop. Not while she is still driving and acting as though she is in charge. Every street she drives feels like a personal insult, and every brake squeal reminds her of her failure. She thought of him as trustworthy. She came to believe in him. And he has completely erased her from his

CHAPTER 25: ELIZABETH’S CHOICE Elizabeth walks into her flat, and the door closes behind her. Everything seems colder and emptier than it did: the familiar smell of wood and leather, the faint echo of quiet. Her hands still shaking with the weight of her choice, she tosses her keys onto the kitchen counter. She inhales long and looks about the room. The place she previously occupied with aspirations, hopes, and the guy she believed she would create her future with now feels like an echo chamber. Her walls are not closing in on her, only the silence around her. The silence tastes different for the first time. Not feeling choked. Not excessive. It has the sensation of tranquillity. With her fingertips gliding across the couch, she settles down. Though unsure about the future, she is sure now is her moment. She selects herself at that moment, moving into a life she defines. She starts to dream of Simeon through the past. Everything she could have had if she had stayed in that environ

CHAPTER 27: ELIZABETH REBUILDSElizabeth enters her new workplace, and a warm ray of light from the oversized windows spills across the floor. Apart from the faint hum of the city below, the room is still. Her fingers quell as they sweep the desk's clean surface, a fresh start hovering before her like a road less traversed. She has only been here a few minutes, yet it feels like she walked out of the building where her aspirations were once dashed a lifetime ago. She has this chance. She gets both excitement and a chilly, gnawing anxiety just thinking about entering a realm of corporate power. She knows she has to keep on even if she is leaving behind everything known: Simeon, the treachery, the job that almost consumed her. Her former existence is a chapter ending without a resolution; now, she must write her own. The door opens, and her new supervisor walks in, grinning like someone who has already found her impressive. "Having you on board makes me happy, Elizabeth. Based on wha

CHAPTER 29: A DESPERATE APOLOGY.Breath shallow, heart thumping in his chest, Simeon stands outside Elizabeth's flat. Every breath he takes feels like an apology he cannot quite pull out of the weight of his mistakes. He believed that firing Karin would get things right and that facing her falsehoods would solve everything, but it only made him realise how he had screwed Elizabeth. Not the one he threw aside; she is the one he should have battled for. His hand pauses above the doorbell as though pressing it might send him into a realm of repercussions he is not ready to negotiate. When She opens the door, he has no idea what to say. What could he possibly say to rectify things? How does he even start to explain the inexplicable? He stands there motionless in the dull glow of the corridor light, the seconds stretching. He recalls her sadness in voice as she informed him it was over, the fire in her eyes when she left his life. The recollection strikes him like a blow to the belly