Page 26 of Christmas By The Book

“Why?” Seth demanded. “What’s going on?”

“We’ve been sent to survey the property to begin the demolition process,” he explained, voice terse. I felt faint when I heard that word come out of his mouth. Demolition? This was what Wharton wanted to do to my grandmother’s store? Not even just turn it into something else, that would have been bad enough, but actually destroying it? I didn’t know if I could stand here and listen to this.

“No,” Seth shot back, his voice terse. “No, you need to go. Right now. You can’t be here. We’re in the middle of something, and—”

“There’s nobody here,” the man replied dryly, and he gestured for his men to start moving the table. They grabbed either end of it and tried to lift it, but Seth slammed his hands down on it, keeping it in place.

“That’s not the point!” he exclaimed. “I don’t care what you’re here for, you can’t do anything until we’re—”

“Mr. Wharton wants these reports in by the end of the day, and I don’t intend to keep him waiting,” the man replied, unbothered. How many times had he done something like this, forced someone out of a place that had been theirs for so long so they could begin the process of gutting it?

As Seth continued to argue with him, I dived inside, pulling the door shut behind me, as tears began to course down my cheeks. I couldn’t believe this. I felt so stupid for believing, even for an instant, that this book fair would have been enough to keep Wharton at bay. What was I, living in some kind of fantasy? I might have wanted to believe in the magic of the season to save everything, but that didn’t mean it was going to stop the cold, hard truth from catching up with me.

I leaned on the counter and tried to pull myself together. I didn’t want to let Seth see me crying like this. He had been so kind to me, worked so hard to help put all of this together, and the last thing I wanted was for him to think I wasn’t grateful for it.

I glanced around the store. This really was it. Wharton was going to pull out all the stops to make sure I didn’t make the money to save this place. The store was as good as gone, and I didn’t know what my life was going to look like without it.

Or how I would keep on going at all.

Chapter Fifteen

Seth

“GO, GET OUT OF HERE!” I called after the men, as they piled back into their car and drove off. I could tell they were pissed, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to let them come poking their noses in here, measuring the place up ready to knock it down.

I could tell how much it had shaken Jorja, seeing them come crashing into the place like that, but that was what Wharton was hoping for. He obviously thought that if he could shake her enough, she would back down, but I knew we couldn’t give him what he wanted. Assholes like that, they thrived on being able to push everyone around, telling everyone what to do and how to live their lives. I wasn’t going to let that happen to Jorja or the store. No way in hell.

I let out a breath as I watched the car vanish off down the street, though I was sure it was far from the last one that I would be seeing today. No way was Wharton going to give up that easily. I craned my neck back toward the store, and I could see Jorja leaning on the counter, shoulders shaking, like she was crying. But, before I had a chance to go in there and comfort her, I heard footsteps approaching the table.

When I turned back around, my jaw clenched at the sight of Wharton making his way toward me. What the hell was he doing here? Checking that he had finally gotten her to give up? Doing a victory lap? I stood my ground, not breaking his gaze for a moment as he approached the table.

“Can I help you?” I snapped at him, hardly able to keep the venom out of my voice.

He glared at me for a moment, and then leaned across the table, closing the distance between us. “Let me into the store.”

I didn’t move an inch.

“Let me into the store, Seth,” he repeated himself, but I didn’t budge. Sighing, he tried to walk around me, but I stepped out in front of him, stopping him before he could reach the door. The last thing Jorja needed right now was to deal with him, and I wasn’t going to let her see that he was even here at all.

“Just leave,” I told him. “Just go. There’s nothing for you here right now.”

“You really think she’s better off with you, huh?” he demanded, shoving his face close to mine again.

I didn’t budge. I’d dealt with enough crap over the course of my life not to be worried by a rich kid like him. He was used to throwing his weight around, but he wasn’t used to people daring to stand up to him.

“This is about the store,” I replied calmly, but he was already off on one, lost to some imaginary battle he was certain he was trapped in.

“She could have had a good life with me, but no,” he continued, pacing back and forth in front of me. “She wanted to be with some... some model instead. She could have sold me the store, been set for life, we could have...” he trailed off.

So, this was what it was about, huh? He wasn’t just trying to get the store, he wanted her, too. I wondered if she was aware of that. It would explain the weird energy he had come at her with when I had first met him, acting like she owed him something, acting like there was something between them, when it was clear she wanted nothing to do with him.

“She could have had an easy life, but she made her choice,” he muttered, stabbing his finger into the air next to my face.

I didn’t even wince. He didn’t scare me. He was desperate, mad he wasn’t getting things the way he wanted, throwing his toys out of the stroller and trying to make enough of a scene to get me to back down and let him inside. It wasn’t going to happen.

“You need to go,” I told him steadily. “Now.”

He gritted his teeth, and for a moment, I thought he was going to try and cause more trouble, but he thought better of it. He turned on his heel and stalked back to his car, and I breathed a sigh of relief, hoping Jorja hadn’t heard any of that. Not that I was in any way threatened by Wharton, not a chance in hell. I knew she would never have gone for someone like him. She was far too sweet and decent to associate herself with a man of his nature.