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“What?” I hadn’t considered that option at all. I’ve been searching all over Paris, trying to catch her at one of the places she enjoyed so much, hoping something in my city would call to her.
I should’ve realized that home is where most people go when they need comfort. It simply didn’t occur to me because... I don’t have one.
The closest thing to a home I’ve ever known is curling up with Autumn in my arms. And now, like before, I’m homeless. It has nothing to do with a roof over my head but rather, a sense of aloneness in the world.
“I’m going to the airport. Can you see when the next flight to Massachusetts is?” I ask Tobias.
He shakes his head. “New York. She went home to New York.”
My brow drops low, furrowing. “Not home to her mother?”
Tobias shrugs. “I don’t know. I texted her that I needed to make sure she was safe or we would call the police, and she responded that she’s fine and home in New York.”
“Okay, New York, then. I’m heading to the airport now.”
Tobias blocks my way, his hands spread wide on the doorframe to stop me. “Non, you are going to the meeting this morning. Do what you need to do, say what you need to say. Tell Jackie to go fuck herself, and I will book your flight so that you can leave as soon as it’s done.”
I look at him shrewdly. “How do you know I would dare tell my aunt anything of the sort?” Tobias lowers his chin. He’s probably seen this coming long before I did. I nod, telling him that he’s right. “I already told her. Gave my notice, effective immediately. I’m only here today to clear out my office, which seems useless when I could be on a flight to Autumn.”
“Go to the meeting,” Tobias urges. “Do it publicly and professionally, not only between you and Jackie. You deserve to walk out with your head held high, on your own terms, not whatever she tells the board.”
He has a point. A small one in comparison to reaching Autumn a moment sooner, but a good point. “Fine. Book me that flight, please.”
I enter the conference room, and all eyes turn to me, then flick back to Jacqueline at the head of the table. I wonder what she was saying before I entered, which makes me grateful for Tobias’s advice.
“Pardon me for my lateness. I have another matter to attend to, but I very much would like to hear the final results of the competition.” I sit in my usual chair, holding Jacqueline’s eyes steadily.
She has no power over me anymore. At most, she can kick me out of this room, and I’m leaving in moments, anyway. I know it, and she knows it too. She also will not air private laundry in such a public setting. It would be distasteful to her.
Unfortunately for her, I hold no qualms about brutal honesty.
“Not that the results will be authentic,” I declare, “considering the entire third show was sabotaged by Jacqueline, Chloe, and Beatrice.”
The murmurs of shock around the table are music to my ears, a crack in the foundation of House Corbin. If my aunt wants to play games with my life, I’ll return the favor with the one thing she holds dear as well.
“Simon!” she hisses. Seeing the eyes looking at her in horror, she plants her palms on the table and stands to her full, powerful height, looming over the board who remain seated. Having garnered everyone's attention, she delivers her verdict. “The winner of the competition will be Beatrice Dupont.I have decided.”
Venerable does me a solid for once and challenges Jacqueline before I can say more. “As if you know what is relevant? Wasn’t that the whole issue and reasoning behind the competition?”
All the air is snatched from the room.
There is no room for anything but Jacqueline’s iron fist here. She earned the right, building House Corbin from nothing. It’s her right to run it into the ground and see its demise as well.
I’ve already given my notice, but this only solidifies it for me. I can’t be here when all I want is Autumn.
I meet Jacqueline’s eyes on an even level and feel the attention in the room turn to me. “On that note, I’d like to inform you that I have given Jacqueline my notice of resignation, effective immediately. I am here today only to empty my office and have closure on the competition, because while it was not my design in the end, it was my idea from the beginning. It has been a pleasure working with you.”
I give a polite slight bow, glancing around the table quickly, and step out from my place at the end of the table for the last time.
“Simon,” Jacqueline calls after me, desperate.
I don’t turn around.
