AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He took her toward the opposite direction with several doors, some of them partially open.
"Is he being unreasonable?"
"Huh?" Turning her head from studying the designs of the various offices, she concentrated on Sydney.
"My son. Was he being unreasonable?"
"No." She admitted with a sigh as he ushered her through a set of wide-open doors, leading to another section of the building. "The opposite. It's just I keep forgetting we’re a unit and I should check in with him before making the big decisions like inviting a stranger to dinner."
"A stranger?" He led them along a reception area with the sign HR department emblazoned over the top of the counter.
Nodding to the women behind the counter, before leading her towards another set of doors, and into an inner sanctum that was more like a cozy living room with an old-fashioned fireplace, comfortable sofas, a massive baronial desk, and a stunning view of the city.
"A stranger to him. He is, or was, my best friend." She turned a tight circle around the room. "It's like a lived-in space, comfortable and cozy."
"That’s what I was aiming for."
"Where’s your assistant?"
"Constance takes care of Brady and I. We could go down to the lower levels if you like."
"What's there?"
"The general staff areas, such as the dining room, the kitchen, s number of conference rooms and a ballroom where we have our parties if we don’t feel like having it outside."
"I’ll stick to the upper level for now." She took a seat by the window and stared out at the brilliant blue of the sky. "I feel very good. For the past three months, it’s been rocky." She turned her head to smile at Sydney.
"Hormones raging, frustrations building, and basically, I’ve been giving Brady a hard time.” She folded her hands in her lap. "I love him. Every single day, I love him even more and it's scaring me. I’m dependent on him. It’s gotten so bad that I can’t sleep without him."
She lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "The other night I turned around and he wasn’t there and I panicked. He’d just gone downstairs to get a drink of water and I panicked. It pissed me off and I lit into him. I cussed him out because of how pissed I was that he has all this power over me."
She turned to look out the window again. "I want some of that power back."
"You don't think it's the same for him?" He asked her gently. "He’s been in love with you since he was a child and had to do his best to hide it. Every time we’d get together with you and your mother, he suffered because he couldn’t afford for you to know. On top of that, he had a mother who didn’t care about him."
The pain was mirrored over his attractive face. "He looks like her, the same bone structure, the shade of hair and the eyes. She was Irish, you know?" His mouth tightened and his expression became pensive.
"The fact our son loved her did nothing to sway her. She was cold and unapproachable. He would try." He placed his hands on the desk. “I’d see him taking his work to show her and she’d dismiss him and send him away to his nanny. I could see the disappointment on his face and it would break my heart.
He started painting, and when he did, he’d try and show her what he’d done. He gave her a painting of a family sat around the fire and she told one of the maids to get rid of it. I managed to save it, but he heard when she gave the order and it crushed him even more."
Heaving out a breath, he sat back and closed his eyes. "I guess that's why he fell so hard for you. He loves you, my dear, and loving you sustained him throughout the years. Just as loving your mother made me sane."
Macayla had to clear her throat to respond. "How could you stand living with her?"
"I threw myself into work and when your mother met your Dad and decided to marry him, I wanted to die." He laughed harshly. "I went away to the club for the weekend and got wasted.
I was married because I was forced into it, and I held out hope she’d remain single. Selfish of me, I know, but I was married in name only and it was done so I could save her career. My father was a very powerful man with powerful friends and he would’ve made good on his threat against us."
"Charming guy." She muttered.
"You don't know the half of it. Then when I realized Michelle had found someone who truly loved her, I couldn’t bear it." He shook his head.
"We fought viciously about that and he told me I should live with it. I left her alone for the time she was with your father, because she asked me to. After he died, I was there to comfort her, but I was still married and she couldn’t bear it. Life has a way of working out if you let it.
Out of the dreadful life I had with Brady's mother came something wonderful. I love my son and even though he’s forgiven me, there’s still the nagging worry that I left him in that house with a woman who was incapable of love."
"You did what you had to do."
