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“But I love someone else, Eris. I love them with all of my heart. And I could never love you,” I said gently.
Eris lowered her head.
“But, you can find someone whowilllove you. It just isn’t me.”
“I believe you. But you still can’t put my father in jail. You can do whatever you need to to put an end to the two of us. But, if you put my father in prison, I would be left with nothing. I couldn’t survive that,” she said vulnerably.
Seeing the sincerity in her eyes, I realized that this was something I hadn’t considered. I wanted to destroy Armand for what he had threatened to do to the people I cared about. But what would uprooting his thick, deep roots do to the ground left behind?
“Trust me,” I told her knowing she had no reason to.
“How can I do that? You’ve betrayed me at every turn.”
“What I did was fight for the man I love. Step out from in between us, and allow me to be your friend.”
Eris stared at me blankly.
“Eris, one way or another, I’m going to leave here with these ledgers.”
“Because you’ll do anything for the people you love?”
“Exactly. And, what I’m asking is for you to trust me and become someone I can call a friend.”
“Okay,” she conceded before slowly stepping away from me and the door.
“Thank you,” I said sincerely, seeing her in a new light.
Straightening myself up, I tucked the ledgers under my arm and exited the room. I was half expecting Eris to call her father as soon as I entered the stairwell, but she didn’t.
And Cali was doing a much better job than I could have dreamed of. He was now just outside the open front door with Armand’s men circling him. Hil was looking on like he was about to cry. And mother stood shocked.
With Armand still focused on the drunk country bumpkin making a scene at his daughter’s fancy engagement party, Lucien raced to me to collect the books.
“Change of plan. I need you to take these, get out of here, and say nothing to anyone until you hear from me. Understood?”
“Got it,” Lucien said taking the ledgers from me and rushing out the back door to the beach.
When he was out of insight, I turned my attention to the final part of our plan, stopping Armand from killing Cali. Pushing past the captivated crowd, I slipped between the men who circled Cali and stood in front of him. I held up my hands.
“Okay, everyone, just relax. The hillbilly’s an asshole, but he’s also very drunk. Tell them how drunk you are, Cali,” I said looking back at the wild man behind me.
He looked at me with fury in his eyes. For a second I almost believed that this wasn’t an act.
“I said, tell them how drunk you are, Cali.”
Catching himself, he replied, “Really drunk.”
I turned back to the crowd. “He’s confused by any alcohol that doesn’t come from a jug.”
Someone in front of us snickered.
“Look, he’s an embarrassment to me. He’s an embarrassment to my mother. But, what can I say? My brother loves him. So, if I let anything happen to him, I’ll never hear the end of it. Let’s just end this with an apology and send him home to sleep it off.”
When everyone looked calmer, I turned around. “Cali?”
“Yeah, where’s my fuckin’ apology?” he yelled at Armand.
“Okay, enough for you,” I said turning Cali around and escorting him out.
