AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But I know that every word had been the truth.
I'm done with the phase of my life where I try to push back my feelings for her. The moment I saw her face when she heard the explanation for the lay out for the main game room, I knew that she understood what this project was all about. What it meant to me, and how much of myself I had poured into it. This wasn't just any other tech acquisition, whose sole purpose was to raise Baxter's portfolio, this was about doing something that fueled the soul as well.
Jade Bay and Watch have been the two ventures in the last five years that have meant the most to me.
And she gets it.
I glance over at her. She’s still staring straight ahead and has a row of goosebumps traveling up her arm. I turn the air conditioning down and she gives me a look of gratitude.
"You can turn it down yourself, you know. You don't have to wait for me."
She shrugs, "But I don't want you to be hot."
"And I don't want you to be cold."
I pull up outside her apartment building, then get out of the car to open the door for her. Once she gathers up her things, I take her hand and drop my car key into it.
Her face is a picture of confusion when she looks up at me. "Wha..?"
"You need a car. I have a lot of them. You can keep this one or you can just use it until you find another one or they find your old one. Maybe Ananya could use it, or one of your other employees. Either way, it’s yours."
"Kylian. This car probably cost you $180,000. This could be sold and buy ten more cars.”
“Then you can do that too.” I laugh but she doesn’t appreciate it. “Look. You need a car. You're busy. You don't have time to go get one. So take this one. Like I said, you don't have to keep it, but I'm sure that you're going to need a car in the coming days. After that, if you want to return it, that’s fine. Just call my office and someone will come pick it up. Or you can keep it and do whatever you like with it. It’s yours."
She thinks about it and then nods, squeezing her hand around the keychain.
Before she can go inside, I touch her forearm. “And one more thing. I want you to know something. I didn’t make the deal about you and me for a good reason. This is going to happen. This thing between you and me. It’s going to happen. You know that right? Everything that gets in the way? We’re going to figure it out. I know I hurt you five years ago. And I’m so sorry. You don’t know how sorry I am. But I’m going to show you that I know I made a mistake. And that everything I do…. is going to be about showing you that I am in your life to stay.”
I don't know how Kiara reacts after I tell her what I feel; I didn't hang around to see if it was a look of disgust, rejection, or agreement on her face. I spun around and walked away as fast as I could without seeming like I was fleeing, until I turned the corner onto the main road, and let out the breath almost bursting in my lungs.
Part of me wants to run back and take back every word.
Part of me wants to run back and force her to tell me, right now, whether or not I've imagined everything I feel between us.
Part of me wants to run back to her and beg her to run away with me, away from everything that's clouding the inevitable, that we're supposed to be together.
And every single part of me wants to run back to her just because when I’m with her everything is better.
Somehow in the last few days, I've become addicted to the one thing I’ve ever forced out of my life. I flag down a cab and sink into the worn leather, letting the cool air dry the sweat on my face.
The buzz in my pocket has me whipping out the phone, hoping to see her name on the screen and then remember that I don't even have her cell number. The name that does appear dumps a figurative bucket of ice water over my head.
"Gerald" the name flashes as I watch the call ring out and go to voicemail. Uncle Gerry. My father's younger brother, my grandfather's only other child and the interim CEO for another year until my brother Kingsley turns 42 and the board keeps their promise to my grandfather and votes him in as the CEO. The deal had been brokered by my grandfather who had raised Kingsley to take his reins after my father decided that he no longer wanted to work for the family company. Gerry's interim term was to appease the board, who were afraid that Kinglsey would be too young to take over. The idea was that he would mature into the role under the tutelage of Uncle Gerry, or so that was the plan. Instead, what we've been doing is fending off attack after attack by Uncle Gerry to undermine Kingley's and the rest of our leadership in our respective regions.
Just a few months ago, Gerald had colluded with Clarissa Masters, the only daughter of Terry Masters, the director of the board, to blackmail Damien. She tried to force him to take her back after he broke up their relationship of convenience under the threat that if Damien didn't marry her, she'd convince her father to throw his support behind Terry. Instead, Damien, with the help of My-Linh proved that he was an asset to Baxter Enterprises all on his own. And Terry, hardly the family man, disowned his own daughter in a show of support for the Baxter brothers.
That was the last we'd heard of Uncle Gerry's scheming for a while, but there had been rumblings that he was back to his old ways. Our father is an honest, hardworking man whose life had been derailed by a marriage of convenience, but he only had good intentions at heart. Uncle Gerry, on the other hand, is sneaky, sleazy, a slimebag in every respect, and that is both in and out of the boardroom. How our grandfather had had any part in his conception and raising completely eludes us. But what he lacks in business acumen and actual work, he makes up for with knowing people's weaknesses and how to drive a sledgehammer right through the heart of them. Most of our interactions are isolated to weekly company briefings and official board meetings. And that is more than enough. I don't know why he's calling and frankly in this case, I feel like ignorance is definitely bliss.
The phone buzzes, he's calling again. I have to give it to him that he's tenacious. What he doesn't know is that my brothers and I will die before we leave grandfather's company under his leadership.
I grit my teeth and press the accept button, already bracing for the sound of his grating voice.
"Yeah?" I answer, with the most civility that I can summon.
"Kylian, my boy. You're a hard man to catch!"
I blanch at the cliché. "Maybe you need to work out more. I'm actually very slow on my feet."
