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My phone rang as we heard him get on the elevator. I was stuck, in shock from what had just happened. After last night, this is not what I had expected for the day, hating that our little bubble was broken, but our lives too.
“I didn’t know,” Noemi’s voice broke our silence.
My phone rang again. I took it out of my pocket to see one of my employees from the New York office calling me.
“Yeah,” I answered, walking to the windows in the living room.
“Sir, we have a major problem,” he said quickly.
He went on about a deal that we might be connected to that was going to go south, but also talked of money laundering and other illegal stuff we didn’t know about. My blood boiled when he said it had been something they spotted two weeks ago.
“I’m getting on a fucking plane,” I snapped, ending the call.
I looked up to see Noemi in the same spot looking at the elevator like she was hoping Easton would be back. This was my fault, I knew it was a bad idea to include my son's friend into a contract. It was also my fault thinking I could also sleep with people who were almost fifteen years younger than me. I let myself get carried away, my emotions made it easy for rash decisions and I needed some space too.
I didn’t know what else to do so I walked away, heading to my room to pack while I called to have my plane ready for me. Changing into a suit, I grabbed a small bag because most of what I needed was over there anyway, I just wanted a few toiletries and some clothes to relax in.
Once I was changed, I grabbed my bag, and walked out into the living room to see Noemi sitting on the sofa looking out the window. My chest ached as I thought meeting her was a mistake. If I hadn’t pursued her like Lincoln told me not to, this entire situation would not have happened.
She looked up at me with red rimmed eyes.
“I have to head to New York for a few days,” I said, hating that she was crying. “Once I get back, we should all sit down.”
Her lip trembled. “You’re leaving?”
“It's an emergency, I’ll see you when I get back,” I said, about to walk away when I saw her put her face in her hands made me want nothing more than to hold her and comfort her.
I opened my mouth to say something, but it felt pointless. All I could hear were the awful things Patrick had said and that he was her awful fucking ex. That made me walk away. I should have ended it with them immediately, we could have torn this off like a Band-Aid and gone our separate ways, but just thinking of it made me want to throw up.
Hitting the button on the elevator, I waited for a moment before I walked into it, I heard her crying. I froze, hearing her soft cries. It made me feel awful and I almost said fuck it, but this is the way it had to be. We all needed some space to come to terms that this wasn’t a good idea and we needed to move on.
31
NOEMI
Six days and nothing but silence. At first, I gave them their space, even though it killed me. I spent those first two days wondering how the hell Patrick was Vincent's son and feeling really guilty about Easton.
I called Easton first, desperate to apologize and make him see that it was a stupid idea on my end, and that I missed him. My calls went unanswered. When Vincent didn’t come home after a few days and those call also went unanswered, I was hurt at first—but now I was fucking livid.
I knew I had fucked up, but we needed to talk and these assholes were hiding. They talked about communication and trust when they couldn’t even give me twenty minutes of their time, even if it was to say this was over. Tears threatened to spill over when the possibility of them ending everything hit me.
Here I was trying to fight for us, even though I knew it might be a lost cause and every day no one called me, it made me think it was already over. I couldn’t be the person who was in a one-sided relationship again because I deserved better. I tried to call them one more time and when they didn’t answer me, that was my answer. I packed what little belongings I had and decided to get a hotel room for a few nights to figure out what the hell I was going to do.
I might have to move in with my sister and commute to Denver, but I was really hoping for a translating job to come through. Ever since the gala, I had done a few contracted jobs, but nothing permanent had surfaced. If I went back to translating, I could get a studio and stay in the city.
Grabbing everything, I looked at the penthouse remembering all the good times we had had, hating that it was ending like this. I left an envelope on the island for Vincent, stating I was ending our contract and a few other things to give myself some closure.
I looked back one more time wishing I didn’t have to say goodbye to this place, but I couldn’t be that woman again. I couldn’t give them everything when they weren’t willing to do the same. Stepping into the elevator made my chest hurt and when the doors closed, I felt like I was losing a part of myself. I needed to go to Genevieve’s penthouse to see if I could find Easton there. I just wanted to say things in person that felt impersonal in a letter. Her building was only a few blocks away from my hotel and, even though it was cold, I figured it would be nice to walk around since I only left the penthouse to go to work.
It had started to snow a little by the time I reached her building. The doorman smiled at me and as he was about to open the door, a couple and their kid came out. I smiled at them until I realized it was Easton with a woman and a kid who looked just like him.
The little girl was beautiful with gray eyes and white-blonde hair. She smiled at me while she held Easton’s hand making my stomach drop.
He had a wife and kid. It was happening again.
Tears burned the edge of my vision.
Hijo de puta.
