AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He’d made a catastrophic error employing Alexandra for the sake of retribution. He should have turned her away when she’d arrived at the Pearson Group with that ridiculous arrangement, never let her set foot in his office. But his own fatal fixation on revenge had backfired in spectacular fashion. Alexandra hadn’t just risen to the challenge, but she’d seduced him once more with her tenacity, her thoughtfulness and, in light of her confession yesterday, her bravery and selflessness. She’d turned the tables on him and proved herself without even trying.
He stood, restless energy sending him on the prowl around his office. Once it had been a symbol of his wealth, of everything he’d accomplished. Now it felt like a cage of his own making. He’d accrued millions, and for what? For his mother to live in a small home she treasured more than any beach house or faraway villa he could buy. For people in New York he barely knew to curry his favor.
The one thing he’d accomplished, taking down the cartel, had been a victory. But it hadn’t brought him the peace he sought.
The only time he’d felt truly happy during his time in the United States had been with her. And he’d ruined it.
Movement flickered on one of the security cameras. Finn walked off the elevator and crossed to Jessica’s desk, a flower arrangement in his hands. Grant’s eyes snapped to the elevator just as the doors swished shut on the empty car.
He watched as his event manager, Laura, came out of her office and examined the arrangement, before she gave Finn an approving nod. He flashed a friendly smile before walking back toward the elevator.
Grant was on his feet and moving to his door before he could stop himself. He walked into the lobby just as the elevator doors were opening. He followed Finn into the car, ignoring the younger man’s stare as he pushed the button for the tenth floor where one of the building’s numerous coffee shops resided.
He didn’t want coffee. He didn’t need any more frantic energy zipping through his veins. What he should do was get off the elevator, even if he looked crazy for hopping on then off.
But he couldn’t. Finn was a connection to Alexandra. And right now he needed a connection to her, craved it more than anything.
The doors closed. Lilting music filtered out of the speakers, a pleasant contrast to the tense silence that thickened the air. Now that he was here, he didn’t know what to say. Should he ask after Alexandra? Keep his questions strictly business and see if Finn volunteered any information? He’d gone to bat againstFortune 500executives, warred with international moguls... And now he couldn’t even string a sentence together.
The elevator hit the fortieth floor before Finn finally broke the silence.
“I was with her when she lost the baby.”
Emotion punched him hard in the gut. The only outward sign that he’d heard Finn was his sudden intake of breath. But inside he ached: for the baby he’d never known, for the pain Alexandra had faced, both physically and emotionally. The heartbreak in her voice, the anguish in her eyes when she’d told him, had stirred up the sharp feelings of regret that had always lurked in the back of his mind. Feelings he had ignored to his own, and now her, detriment.
He closed his eyes as the elevator continued its descent. He’d accused Alexandra of repeating her past behavior. But wasn’t he doing the same? Letting her go when he knew, deep in his soul, that there was more to the story?
“Thank you.”
He opened his eyes to see Finn staring at him with a mixture of pity and irritation, a combination that stoked his banked anger. His first inclination was to snap at Finn. He didn’t need pity from a man who had once sneered and laughed at him, who had fallen from spoiled rich playboy to lowly teacher.
He tempered it, swallowed his pride and forced himself to remain calm. The Finn he’d known nine years ago had changed drastically. While he might have fallen in the social ranks, so what? It had been hardworking teachers who had taught Grant English when he and his mother had arrived in the States; a high school math teacher who had found the scholarship that changed the course of his life. He had given in to his own obsession for prestige and money, come close to the same snobbery he’d despised in people like David Waldsworth, while letting some of the best parts of himself go.
And he genuinely liked the little bit of the new Finn he’d glimpsed that night in the bookshop. He certainly liked the man who had helped Alexandra in her darkest hour and kept her secret all these years.
“She told me that night that it was like losing you all over again.” A fierce glower passed over Finn’s face. “Said maybe it’s what she deserved.”
“What?” Grant snapped. “Deserved for what?”
“For not being strong enough to stand up to David. For hurting you.”
“She was trying to protect my mother and me.”
As he said the words out loud, something shifted in his chest; an acceptance of what had happened. Alexandra had been all of nineteen. Yes, things might have been different if she had come to him. But David Waldsworth had still wielded significant power back then. What if he had followed through on his threat and sent Grant and his mother back to Brazil? Perhaps his successes over the past nine years wouldn’t have happened without Alexandra’s sacrifice.
Regret burned in his chest. He’d wasted so much time on his foolish pride. But, he resolved, no more. He loved Alexandra, loved her more than he ever thought possible. They’d lost nine years. After his knee-jerk reaction to her conversation with Ellen, his unwillingness to consider that once more Alexandra had been trying to protect him, she might not want anything to do with him.
But this time he wasn’t letting her go without a fight.
Grant let out a long, slow breath.
“How is she?”
“Miserable. Almost as bad as she was the last time. I think the only thing keeping her from wallowing away in her apartment is putting together the last of the pieces for your gala.”
He ached to hold her in his arms, to soothe away the stress and tell her how sorry he was.
“I love her.”
