Ruin Me Slowly

Chapter 18

Carter POV

I could see the hate in Rosie’s eyes the second she barged into my office.

She didn’t even knock. She never does when she’s furious. And today? She looked like she was ready to burn the building down.

“You have some nerve,” she said, voice shaking. “Proposing to her? Making it public? Without warning? Without talking to me?”

I leaned back in my chair, calm on the outside but already bracing for war on the inside.

“I’m not asking for permission, Rosie,” I said. “I’m telling you what I did.”

“You proposed to Jane Ellis, Carter,” she snapped. “Are you even hearing yourself?”

“Yes, I did,” I said simply.

Her jaw clenched. She paced in front of my desk like a storm trapped in a glass room.

“She’s the daughter of Richard Ellis. Richard Ellis, Carter. The man who tried to destroy Dad. The man who almost took everything from us. And now you’re marrying into that family?”

I sighed. “She’s not her father.”

“She carries his name.”

“And she carries my child,” I said, louder now. “So maybe you could stop acting like she’s the enemy.”

Rosie stopped pacing and turned to me, eyes narrowing. “She is the enemy.”

“No, she’s not. She’s just… caught in the middle.”

“I saw her, Carter,” Rosie continued. “I threw her out of Empire because I saw right through her.”

“No,” I said, standing now. “You didn’t see anything. You saw her last name. You saw her father’s sins. You didn’t see her.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but I cut her off.

“Look, Rosie… I know what Jane’s last name means to you. To all of us. But this isn’t the time to point fingers. Jane’s pregnant. She’s pregnant, Rosie. You want to talk about family? About protecting our name? Then maybe think about the fact that she’s carrying the next generation of it.”

Rosie scoffed. “You think I care about the baby?”

“I hope you do,” I said. “Because I do.”

I walked around the desk, my voice dropping.

“Look, I know I’ve done a lot of stupid things. I’ve dated models for fun. I’ve missed meetings. I’ve been careless. But this? This is not one of those things.”

She folded her arms, her face hard. “You’re being manipulated.”

“I’m being responsible.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Rosie,” I said, stepping closer, “I may be a jerk. I may be the most ruthless CEO out there, and yeah, I might enjoy breaking a few rules. But when it comes to pregnant women?”

I paused.

“I draw the line. You don’t treat a woman like dirt when she’s carrying life inside her. You don’t accuse her, insult her, or throw her out. You help her. You support her. That’s what decent people do.”

Rosie’s mouth tightened. She didn’t speak.

“She’s not asking for handouts,” I continued. “She didn’t even come to me for help. She showed up at Empire to tell me, and you didn’t even give her the chance.”

“She could’ve gone to the press,” Rosie muttered. “She could’ve made this a scandal.”

“But she didn’t,” I said. “She disappeared. She took nothing from me. She got kicked out of her house, lost everything, and still didn’t say a word to the media. That says something.”

Rosie looked away, jaw clenched.

I knew her well. She wasn’t just angry. She was scared. Scared that our family’s name would be dragged through the mud again. That history would repeat itself.

But I wasn’t going to let that happen.

“I think,” I said slowly, “you need to see her. Really see her.”

Rosie looked at me again, this time with caution.

“I think a dinner with Jane and the family would be great. You can get to know each other.”

She blinked like I’d slapped her.

“Are you freaking serious?” she repeated.

I nodded. “Yeah. Dinner. Like normal people. You can ask your questions. She can answer. And maybe you’ll stop seeing her as Richard Ellis’s daughter and start seeing her as… Jane.”

Rosie let out a sharp, humorless laugh and stood up straight.

“Dinner,” she repeated again, shaking her head.

“Yeah.”

She looked at me like I’d grown another head.

“Over my dead body.”