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She has a faraway look in her eyes, as though she’s looking at me, but isn’t seeing me. I take a step forward, only for her to step back.
“Josh has been good enough to let us stay here for an extra few weeks whilst we get our affairs in order.” Sarcasm drips from every syllable. “After Paris, we are going on a year-long cruise, courtesy of your father.”
“You can’t.” I can see everything crumbling down around me, and I’m powerless to stop it.
“That’s just it, we can,” Tyler interjects. “Chelsea has always wanted to travel, and seeing as though I have no business keeping me in England, well, there is nothing stopping me from joining her.” He meets Chelsea’s gaze, and she nods once as if silently telling him she’s okay. Of course she’s bloody okay, I’m here.
Bile creeps its way into my throat as I can feel Chelsea slipping away.
“Come back to me,” I say, and it’s killing me being this close to her, yet feeling so far away.
Chelsea looks to the floor and scuffs her slipper-clad foot into the carpet. “Lucian, I have been alive for twenty-six years, but I haven’t lived. I’ve never travelled, never seen the world. I haven’t done anything.”
“If it’s the world you want to see, I will show you. We can travel anywhere you want to go, just say the word.”
Chelsea makes her way into the lounge and sits down on the sofa. I see my cue to follow and sit in the space beside her. Our knees touch as we sit side by side. The connection I feel is so strong, surely she can feel it too?
“I have feelings for you, Lucian, but in the long run we aren’t going to make each other happy. Your business is here, and for the first time in a long time, I have nothing to keep me.”
I grab her hand in mine and place her palm against my chest. “You have me. Your family. Your life.”
The light that once shone so brightly in her eyes is gone, and there is nothing but coldness and ash in its wake. “It’s not enough. Not any more. You and I have no future. As for my sister and family, they have their own lives.”
“What about your salon? That shop means everything to you. It was the reason you agreed to get engaged to me in the first place.”
“Pretend to get engaged to you,” she corrects with a wry smile.
“I will make the calls now and have your salon up and running by Monday. What do you say?” I’m still clasping her hand, desperately willing her to say the words I want to hear. “Tell me to go on a year-long cruise with you. Tell me you’ll stay. I don’t care which. As long as I have you, nothing else matters.”
Her hand slips out of mine, and the place in my heart that is reserved only for her is once again empty.
“When you love someone, you love them enough to say goodbye.” She stands, the towel falling from her hair, revealing a much shorter style. It’s as if by cutting her hair she has cut away all her ties to her past, me included.
Without a backward glance she heads toward her bedroom, and I jump up to follow. “Chelsea,” I call after her. The door slams shut in my face.
Tyler reappears as if by goddamn magic. “Now, if there isn’t anything else, I would like you to leave. I have a long drive ahead and I want to spend some time meditating.”
I pull out a business card from my wallet and press it into Tyler’s palm. “I want you to contact me the second you set foot in Paris.”
Tyler quirks a brow. “Now why would I want to do that?”
“Trust me when I say that you will be very interested in what it is I have to say.”
“I seriously doubt that.”
I leave the flat completely lost for words. How have I been so blind that I couldn’t see what was happening right under my nose? I have given Josh so much over the years, and the whole time he’s been silently destroying my life, and for what? Though the answer to that is simple. Greed. Greed drives people to do almost anything. But I trusted Josh, or at least I thought I could.
I exit the building and stand in the street for long seconds, looking up at her bedroom window in hopes she will peer out, but she doesn’t.
I flash a glance at my grandfather’s pocket watch. Two hours. I am two hours late for what was to be the most important meeting of my life. No doubt the meeting has gone ahead without me and Malachi is now the proud owner of Calloway Housebuilders.
I slide into the back seat of the Bentley and Samantha places a hand on my shoulder. We had a long conversation earlier, and despite her tears she has accepted we are over for good. She said she wants to remain friends, but being friends with an ex is not a good idea. At best I have agreed to be amicable.
“Lucian, I’m so sorry.” She is speaking as though I have already lost Chelsea, and perhaps I have. When Samantha lassos her arms around my neck, I don’t pull away, but wrap my arms around her and pull her close, needing comfort in this moment, because in this moment I truly have lost everything.
Father, his lawyer Edgar Arnoult, and my brothers are sitting around a circular table when I stagger into the meeting room. In all honesty I’m surprised they’re still here.
Father is dressed in his best Alexander Amosu tweed suit, with gold canary cufflinks and burgundy tie. His eyes narrow the second I step into the room. “What time do you call this?”
