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“I’m not going to burn the company down,” Victor said quietly. No, all he was going to do—all he had done—was make a single phone call to have his office moved to the floor below them. Of course, people noticed. He’d been getting emails all week about it and more than a dozen calls from Charlie, who sounded just as drunk as Alice had been, begging him not to go public with the affair.
“Please. Please. Hannah can’t find out like this. We’re friends, Vic. We’re—”He’d hung up at that.
“No one would be surprised if you wanted to entertain the idea of selling your shares,” Adrian said, slow and soft. “Not that I’m advising you to do that. Your family built this company from the ground up. Giving in to this kind of blackmail—”
Victor lifted a brow. “Are you saying that my fiancée fucking one of my oldest friends is grounds for blackmail? Is there something I should know about?”
Adrian rubbed his hand down his face. “I said that wrong. I meant to imply that they might consider using the affair as emotional leverage against you.”
It still didn’t make any sense, but maybe Victor just needed some space to work it all out. “What do I need to do right now?”
“Nothing. You pay me for the privilege of sitting back and keeping your hands clean.”
He smiled and reached for his water bottle. His hands felt a little weak—mostly from stress and lack of sleep—but he managed to get the top off, and he took a long pull before meeting Adrian’s gaze.
“I’m going on vacation.”
Adrian blinked.
He blinked. He hadn’t expected to say that, but the words felt honest.
“Where?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it again. Where the hell would he go? He wasn’t really the kind of man who traveled. Hell, neither was Alice. He’d booked a nice little rental on the coast of Sol Azur for their honeymoon and was planning to surprise her with it. In fact, it was the one thing he hadn’t canceled yet. He put that on his mental to-do list for the moment Adrian left.
“I don’t know yet. I’ll keep you posted.” That was code for none of your fucking business.
But Adrian was probably used to his clients disappearing for long stretches of time, so he was unbothered. Usually, a disappearing act was to escape scandal, and chances were Alice was going to turn it into that. She’d want to save face before Victor got his chance to tell his side of the story.
Not that he cared. The only thing her lies could ruin was his dating chances, and he was firmly in the camp of staying single forever after this.
With his orthotics off and his cane God only knew where, he didn’t show Adrian to the door. He just leaned forward to shake his hand, then kicked his feet back up and fiddled with his phone in the silence his lawyer left behind.
His curiosity won after ten minutes, and he reached for the folder Adrian had brought for him to look through. They were printouts of emails, all sent from Alice’s legal team.
A request for money.
The threat of a gag order to keep Victor from talking to the press.
She even threatened to use him for his penthouse for emotional distress, which made him laugh himself to tears.
He set the files aside and picked up his phone instead. He had a separate contact list for the wedding venues, and he realized in that moment how much work he’d done. How much money he’d spent. And how happy she had been to sit back and just let him take care of it all. The only thing she’d given a shit about was her dress and her ring, and maybe that should have been his first red flag.
His chest pulsed with another ache as he hit the rental agency number and listened to it ring in his ear.
The last call.
The final cancellation.
It felt like an honest moment.
“Thank you for calling Shea Luxury Rentals. My name is Boris. How can I assist you?”
He swallowed. He took a breath as he practiced the words in his head.
Hello, my name is Victor Bennett, and I need to cancel my reservation. Hello, my name is Victor Bennett, and my wedding is off, so I need to cancel our honeymoon cottage. Hello, my name is Victor Bennett and…
“Are you there?”
