My Sweet Seduction

Family Dinner 2

Chapter 6

Emma’s POV

I feel sick. I knew they knew each other, but Brett had lied to me this whole time. They were already sleeping together, and I felt sick to my stomach. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the worst part of it.

“Brett, I was glad that you showed your love by proposing to Noel over Christmas. Her ring is just gorgeous,” Natalie, Brett’s mother, cooed.

“It is gorgeous, isn’t it?” Noel agreed.

I hadn’t even noticed her wearing a ring until it was just brought up. Noel’s hand had been under the table, and her left hand had been hidden from view when she entered the room. I wanted to walk in there and tell them all off. I wanted to scream and rage about what they were coldly planning to do to me, but my heart was ice cold. I didn’t care about any of them anymore. No more trying to be nice to his parents, or hold out hope that my father would finally see me for who I was.

I had been engaged to Brett for three years, and he still hadn’t given me a ring. He kept putting me off. He had excuse after excuse for why he hadn't bought my ring. He didn’t want everyone at the company to think that he got his job because we were engaged. Even if it was the very reason he had been hired as my CFO. He told me we were building a life together. That this company would be passed down to our children. I can’t believe I’d been tricked like this. It hurt, knowing that I had allowed myself to be played like this, but I wasn’t going to fly off the handle.

I was going to make sure that they ended up hurting just as much as I did over this awful plan. Their meal came, and talking stopped for the time being. Paul and Keith both turned back towards me. Paul held a fat manila envelope, and Keith held a report that started the day after I hired them. Inside the report was a timeline of what Brett had done each day. Work, grocery shopping, getting gas, and meeting up with my sister. All documented along with color photos.

“We didn’t know who she was at first. They stayed away from each other for the most part until around mid-December. They started to get together more often at that time. These are your copies. The timeline gives you information on where they met and how long they were together. After you left after Christmas, they got back together again. He seemed to know your exact location while you were in town, or he wouldn’t have taken such a risk. He has a high-tech tracker on your vehicle. That’s why you never managed to catch him with her. They even saw each other while you were in town visiting your family for Thanksgiving and Christmas. He knew you were with your family and had time to spend with Noel,” Paul told me.

“I can remove the tracker on your car whenever you wantEmma. Right now, I have the signal blocked, so he doesn’t know that you’re here in town. We would have picked you up, but we were following him to the restaurant tonight. He spent a lot on the tracker, as he clearly didn’t want to get caught. He placed it under the driver’s seat of your car. He never planned on you ever finding it. He probably never thought that you would suspect him. He was pretty confident he had you under his thumb,” Keith advised.

“I appreciate what you’ve found. Brett is cautious, and I've been suspecting he's gaslighting me. I just never realized he was involved with Noel, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. He’s been pushing for us to reconnect this whole time. He asked me about my family when we first got together. He seemed like he cared, but it was just to get to find out more about my family and me. It is clear that they've had ample time to come up with their own spin on what happened. It's not the truth, but they would have never been able to talk him into this unless they twisted things up as they have. I never once suspected he had intentionally approached me, but I can see it for what it was now. How did you manage to get the room audio and video covered in such a short amount of time?” I asked.

“We paid someone we’ve worked with before to set up the camera and place two microphones at each end of the table. You’d be surprised what people are willing to do for quick cash. It’s a public place. People shouldn’t expect any privacy in a public space. We didn’t need this for court; you just needed to get the truth about your fiancé, so we set it up,” Keith replied.

I glanced through some of the pictures before I had to put them back into the manila envelope. That freaking jerk had taken Noel into my home overnight. We didn’t live together, and he had no business being there. I didn’t need to have it spelled out for me what they had done while they were there. Brett had the security code, so he could come and go at will. He was grabbing my mail for me, so he had the code. I’ll be changing that code tonight, the minute I get home. He won’t be able to use my home like a hotel ever again.

I will have to get a cleaning crew to come through first thing in the morning. I want everything sanitized, and my sheets and comforter thrown out. I was glad he didn’t have access to my safe. It was clear that whatever Noel wanted, he would be happy to give her. The jewelry my mother and grandparents had handed down to me was not something I would allow her to have.

I was mentally working through what I needed to get done. My mind was coming up with solutions as I went. I started to write on the back of an envelope from my purse. I needed to go back home and park my car. I would catch an Uber to my grandparents' home tonight. I needed to talk to them about what I needed to do to get out of this mess. They would know better then me, and I didn;t want to miss any steps. There was no way I was going to sign anything else for Brett, but I wanted to get the paperwork I had already signed checked. I had copies of everything inside my safe. I will get that sorted out over the next week.

I was about to get out of their SUV and leave when Brett’s father, Clay, asked a question.

“Noel, what are you planning to do when you get control of the bakeries?” Clay asked.

“I plan to franchise them. I want to have at least two stores in every state, which is my ultimate goal. Emma thinks too small. This business can be streamlined. Like having everything made at two locations and then shipped to stores. The cakes can be iced at the stores after they're delivered. That way, the products always taste the same, no matter which store someone visits,” Noel answered.

"Don't forget you said that you would hire me to manage one of the local stores," Gail reminded Noel.

"I remember, Gail," Noel answered.

“But Noel, it’s going to take time to ship them to the stores. We have always made them fresh each morning. That’s why they’re in such high demand, because they’re fresh. What you're planning to do is no different than something you can get at a gas station. The products we sell are not meant to be mass-produced. Why would you do that?” Brett asked. He seemed shocked by her plan. I guess he had never asked her what she was planning to do.

“We will still make money selling the franchise opportunity to others. We can let them run them how they see fit. If they want to bake on-site, that's fine, but we will still offer the option of shipping the cupcakes to them. All they will need to do is frost them at that point. That way, they don't need as many employees at the store. It actually saves them money in the long run. I don’t need to micro-manage them at their own location. We will provide them with the recipes. What I want is to have at least two stores in each state. At fifty to sixty thousand a pop, that’s a lot of money, babe. You need to think bigger than just three measly stores. You have no vision, Brett. Stick with me, and I'll show you what real success actually looks like,” Noel assured him.

Noel's vision was to destroy Sweet and Southern on location at a time. She doesn't have a vision. She just wants to destroy what I've worked so hard to build. Now that I know what they're planning to do, I won't give her a chance to follow through on her plan.