Boss, Your Ex-Wife is Unreachable Now! novel Chapter 74

"Hey, Willow!" Ablitt hurried over, holding out his jacket. "I saw you sneeze earlier. This is new—why don't you put it on?"

Willow noticed the tag still hanging from the sleeve.

Truthfully, she didn't feel cold at all. That sneeze had come out of nowhere.

"It's fine, Ablitt. We're about to have a barbecue—chances are I'll need to take my jacket off once we're inside anyway."

She said it so casually that Ablitt's ears turned a little red, though Willow just assumed it was from standing in the chilly air near the entrance. She didn't think twice about it and nudged him along. "Come on, I already reserved us a table."

Even though it wasn't quite dinnertime yet, the place was packed—testament to how popular this little grill house was, even in the cold.

Willow led Ablitt inside. She'd already pre-ordered a mountain of food, worried Ablitt might be too polite to order much for himself.

"I went ahead and picked out a bunch of stuff," she told him as they took their seats, handing over the digital menu. "If there's anything else you want, just add it. Tonight, let's eat our fill!"

Ablitt took the menu from her, but his gaze drifted to the table, already crowded with skewers, grilled veggies, and all sorts of barbecue fare. He let out a laugh. "This is just ‘a bunch'? You must think I've got a bottomless pit for a stomach."

Willow grinned. "How else will you know your limits if you never push them?"

Ablitt laughed, set the menu down, and rolled up his sleeves. "Alright, challenge accepted."

The food turned out every bit as good as its reputation. Willow ate with real satisfaction, and Ablitt did his best to keep up. Between the two of them, they somehow managed to polish off nearly everything she'd ordered.

Finally, after putting down his fork, Ablitt broached the subject he'd been holding back. "So, Willow… about that incident. You're really not planning to take it any further?"

But if she kept pressing charges against Emmett, the case would go to court, and the evidence—and its source—would be examined in detail. Emmett would definitely mention where that notebook came from, and that would tip Evelyn off: Willow was STAR.

Willow had deliberately left out any mention of the notebook in the released footage. Her only goal was to throw Emmett off balance enough that he'd admit to hiring someone to ruin her reputation.

With that confession out in the open, his career in the entertainment industry was as good as over.

As for Evelyn, she might have taken the notebook, but she'd barely glanced at it, let alone cared about the contents. If she'd paid attention, she could have figured out Willow's true identity from the notes about the first novel. But she hadn't, so why risk jogging Evelyn's memory now?

Besides, Emmett was bound to assume STAR and Evelyn were working together, making it even less likely he'd bring up the notebook in public. No way would he want to remind people he'd stolen—or even looked at—someone else's private belongings, especially with Windsor & Co. backing STAR.

These were all just Willow's deductions, but she was pretty sure she had the situation pegged.