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It hadn’t been in hers. She’d never forget each second of that last phone call, or the way it had cleaved her heart into a million pieces. With her father sitting next to her and Gage all but begging to see her again, she’d delivered the death blow to any chance they may have had of a reconciliation.
‘It’s over. You’re being a child. This excess of emotion is common.’
She’d been cruel to be kind. Her father had promised that if she rejected Gage, he’d never reveal the secret he’d somehow discovered at a critical time for the Caron company: Gage wasn’t the true heir to Caron Investments. He wasn’t his father’s child.
She’d refused to believe her father at first, until he’d produced evidence. A sworn statement from Gage’s real father about an affair and the man’s photo—it had been shocking to see how closely Gage resembled him. Then there were letters from Gage’s mother about the pregnancy. Eve’s father had been right when he’d threatened to find a way of destroying Gage’s family. The information he had was the perfect bomb. It would have broken Gage to find out as he adored his parents.
She had refused to allow her father to destroy the illusion of his happy family, especially as Eve’s own had seemed so bleak. Her father’s obsession and quest for revenge. Her mother’s illness, a woman always so frail and scared, preferring pills and liquor to her own children. Her sister’s whole future hanging by a thread.
Gage’s solid family was something he’d held onto like a shield. Promising that if she entered their fold, she’d be protected as well. She’d so wanted that solidity and love to surround her too, like a goose-down comforter. The realisation all those years ago that Caron had been struggling, and that news of Gage’s parentage could tip the company and him over the edge, had devastated her. She’d do anything to save him from it. That’s what true love was, protecting those you adored, even if it went against your own self-interest.
In her short life she’d become a master of it.
‘Now that you’ve stopped watching me squirm, I propose Knight Enterprises keep its name. I’ll take Caron’s guidance on the less profitable aspects of the company and I’ll support Caron purchasing a forty per cent stake.’
Gage’s eyes darkened and then he laughed. Part entertained, part jeering. ‘You really think you have anything to bargain with?’
She shrugged. It was more vain hope than an expectation of reality, but she couldn’t give up now. Because he’d come to her. Everyone wanted something. She just had to find out what Gage wanted from her.
‘I’ll give you points for audacity. I’m putting up the money and taking the risk for your poor decisions.’
‘It’s fixable and you know it. That is what you do, Gage. Break up what’s worthless and rebuild the good. If you were speaking the truth and this...’ she waved between them ‘...is just business, then this is a good deal.’
‘I’m taking the company. Seventy per cent. Knight is mine.’
‘Fifty-five. My mother and sister’s shares must remain unaffected. There’s to be no detriment to their position. And they’re to receive a parcel of shares each in Caron Investments.’
‘A Chevalier owning shares in Caron?’ he asked, his voice quiet and deadly.
She owned some. Privately. An investment through a trust so Gage would never find out she held part of him, for ever. It only seemed fair, since she’d come to realise he owned her, body and soul.
She’d shown her hand now, what she truly cared about. It was a risk, but if Gage understood one thing, it was the love of family. That’s why she’d not allowed his own to be destroyed when her father had threatened it. ‘You’ll never let Caron fail. Their future will be assured.’
‘What about yours?’ Gage cocked his head, his eyes softened a fraction, and she saw the man she’d thought the boy might become one day, had fate and her father not intervened. He was breath-taking, and her heart ached for what might have been. But she cast the thought aside. No matter how Gage affected her, it would never have worked between them. Even ignoring the enmity between their families, they’d been too young to commit to a lifetime together.
‘I can look after myself.’
She hadn’t been able to
once. But she’d grown up fast after being shipped off to France. At least she hadn’t been locked up in a finishing school, which had been her father’s first intention. Instead, she’d fought for a university education, negotiating with a ferocity she hadn’t known she had while promising to make Gage suffer. Her father had agreed. So long as a Caron was hurting, he was happy.
To protect Gage, she’d denied everything other than an infatuation. Denied Gage had touched her. Denied their love. Each one of those denials made her feel like Judas.
‘I’m sure your trust fund makes life very comfortable.’
Let him think that was the only reason she’d gone back to her family, the money she’d been set to receive when she’d turned twenty-one. She didn’t care. When her dreams of being with Gage had died, she’d used that blood money to fund another, her flower farm in Grasse. Her father had never understood her love of growing things, had refused to allow her to study horticulture, as she’d wanted to. It had been either a society wedding or joining the family business, nothing in between. So she’d chosen the family business and bought her dream for herself.
‘It sure doesn’t hurt.’
‘It was all about the money, wasn’t it?’ Gage asked, eyes as hard as diamond chips. ‘But I own you now.’
‘Not yet you don’t, since you haven’t accepted my counter-offer.’
Gage sprawled back and the leather chair creaked as he did so. He turned to look out over the city that lay beneath them. Seemingly uncaring. A slight smile toyed on his perfect mouth.
‘Sixty per cent. Your mother and sister can have their shares.’
Relief broke, washing over her. Not perfect, but she’d known she’d have to cede the majority of Knight to him. So long as her mother and sister’s futures were assured, she was happy. She’d banked on him not destroying them too, and it seemed she’d been right. She released a long, slow breath. ‘Thank—’
