Free Saint's Sacrament - Sins of the Father by Tiana Laveen

read the declaration. Her high hopes seemed dashed, or at the very least, knocked down a grade or two.
    “I had no idea that you were part of the show.” She moaned. “Had I known, I would not have even interviewed for this.” She exhaled loudly and tossed the used tissue in a nearby trashcan. “I feel duped and I’m waiting for a call back from my—”
    “No need .” He laughed lightly as he casually leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. “This was new. It just happened. I was brought on at the last minute.” He cocked his head to the side and ran a slow, perverted glance up her body, starting from her black Mary Jane heels all the way to her breasts, tightly enclosed in her form-fitting black suit jacket. He lingered there for a moment too long, causing Xenia to cross her arms over her bosom and loudly clear her throat. His expression was gritty and his wide grin brazen, chock full of audacity. He continued to openly ogle her, tasting her with his corrupt glances, sizing her up with those damned eyes—staring at her intensely. “There have been some managerial changes. I know you’ve heard about that.” He ran his hands together, as if a great feast were about to be served.
    “Yes ,” Xenia snapped, avoiding his gaze as she unscrewed the bottle cap to her nearby water and chugged it right down, unladylike, and not giving a damn. “But beforehand, I knew the people involved. No one said Sinclair Grayson would be the new producer until the last minute. Of course, no one knew our previous affiliation to give me a heads up, either.”
    He shrugged, pretending to be clueless. But she knew the man like the back of her hand. Sinclair would stop at nothing to manipulate a situation in his favor. He was a master producer, but an even more acclaimed bull-shitter.
    “Look, what can I say?” His kinked grin broadened across his face. “Liz gave me a call and said, ‘Come on board, man!’ No one tells Liz ‘no’.”
    Xenia scoffed and rolled her eyes, her lips twisted , then shot him a look of disbelief. She was disgusted and felt ambushed. Trying to hide it would be an uphill battle she wasn’t prepared to have.
    How in the hell can I work with this man?
    “Really, Xenia.” He leaned closer to her, his arm blocking her path as his hand rested by her head. She picked up the scent of vanilla coffee on his breath, mingling with his overpowering musky cologne. It tickled her nose, causing her to hold back a sneeze. “I should be the one uncomfortable. After all,” he glanced down at her breasts then back up at her face, “you are the one that left me, remember? Broke my damn heart...”
    Xenia sighed . “I knew that if I ever saw you again, this conversation was going to rear its ugly head. This is not the time or place for this.”
    “ But you never gave me an explanation,” he said pitifully.
    “ Look, I’m not here to talk about our on and off again mess. This is my job now, Sinclair, and for the record,” she shot sporadic glances around, double-checking to see who was looking, “yes, I did tell you why. I didn’t even have to call and tell you a damn thing.”
    “Now, that’s not fair, Xenia.”
    “Fine, you want to talk about it? Let’s talk about it!” She slammed her bottle down. “You weren’t my man! I can’t leave anything that never existed. You were not invested in our so-called relationship.” She put her fingers up in quotation marks. “You were chasing your career, and that was your prerogative. You only wanted to be around me out in public so you could rub shoulders with celebrities when your career was just getting started,” she scoffed. “Otherwise, it was only about sex. You knew I wasn’t about that. You knew what type of woman I was and what I wanted.”
    “You never gave us a chance.”
    “We were back and forth for over a year! That was plenty of time for you to get your shit together. I told you I wanted to get married and have kids, while you just strung