Chapter Eight
JOY HAD NEVER felt more powerless in her life.
Axel had taken more than her body into his hands in the last twenty-four hours.
Her finances and her family’s welfare were also in his control.
Most painful of all, she’d let him make one of her most deeply hidden dreams come true, and it had turned into a nightmare.
Not that it was his fault that Otto was utterly disinterested in her.
She hadn’t seen anything more than calculation in the older man’s gaze even before he’d known she and Axel were married.
No curiosity or sentimentality. Her initial thought had been, This is why she didn’t put his name on my birth certificate.
In fact, Joy had to wonder if her birth mother had been protecting herself by not telling Otto about her pregnancy. Lorena would have been tied to Otto forever if she had kept Joy and told him about her.
Axel was also correct in saying that if he hadn’t interfered, she would have come here to meet Otto. And, yes, she would have wound up exactly this disappointed.
By marrying me, you took control…
It didn’t feel that way at all! She felt overwhelmed and raw and homesick, but it was too early to even call her father to let him know she’d arrived safely.
There was nothing he could do to help her, anyway.
She texted that she had landed safely and sent another to her brother.
David was in Guam, but he typically only replied when he was off duty.
It wasn’t unusual for days to pass before she heard back from him.
At this rate, David was only going to say I told you so, and she deserved it.
This was the deal she had struck, however. Had she really thought there would be no cost to her?
She snorted at herself, realizing she had to shake off whatever expectations she’d had and deal with what was. She had to accept that she had landed herself into this situation and figure out how to take charge from here.
She started by pulling herself together physically. She changed into her favorite jeans and a snug striped top, then brushed out her hair and washed her face, reapplying just enough makeup to hide the distress around her eyes.
Then, because she hadn’t had more than a cup of coffee since leaving Chicago, she made her way downstairs, planning to raid the refrigerator.
Heskel was here, setting the table for two. “Frau Severin,” he greeted with a polite smile. “Are you hungry?”
“Starving,” she admitted, then glanced around warily, bracing herself for the aggressive energy that her husband gave off with a single look.
Can I trust you? You promised me a year.
She had, and it was really landing on her what a daunting promise that was.
“Where’s Axel?” she asked.
“In with Gerard.” He nodded at a closed door. “He said you should eat while it’s hot. He’ll join you as soon as he can.”
He removed a covered dish from an insulated bag and set out a plate for her. The crepes were still steaming and had a bluish-purple compote drizzled across them.
Her stomach panged, and her mouth began to water.
“Please,” Heskel invited, holding her chair. “Would you like coffee? Juice? A mimosa?” He set out a basket of pastries and a pretty parfait of yogurt, berries and muesli.
“I’d love a coffee, thank you.”
While she was trying to eat with more grace than a lion pouncing on a kill, Heskel set a cappuccino above her plate. A swimming swan was drawn into its foam.
“That’s beautiful.” She was charmed. “Were you a barista in a past life?”
“I was.” He glanced over the table with a critical eye. “What else can I do for you? Unpack?” He glanced to the loft.
“You could call me Joy,” she suggested. “And keep me company.” She was feeling very friendless at the moment, trying to imagine how she could make this work.
“When we’re not in public, of course. Joy,” he conceded with an amiable nod. “I have the same arrangement with Axel.”
“Have you worked for him long?”
He hesitated, then said, “Four years.”
“Was that too personal? I didn’t mean to be.”
“No,” he said on a slight laugh. “It was a trick question. Until an hour ago, I was employed by Vorstoben, but also as his assistant, so my answer stands.”
“Did they fire you because of this?” She used the tip of her knife to motion between herself and the closed door, appalled to have any part in his losing his job. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He waved off her concern. “They offered me a raise to stay and assist Herr Braun in Axel’s absence. I’m privy to the status of all the ongoing projects and have a good rapport with contacts inside and outside the company. I prefer to work for Axel, so I declined.”
“Oh.” She considered that level of loyalty as she chewed a bite of cheese-stuffed crepe. “I’m not asking what they offered you, but I’m curious how much a good salary for an EA at a company like Vorstoben is?”
“In US dollars?” He looked upward as he performed mental math. “They offered me around one hundred fifty?”
“Thousand?” She dropped her fork so it clattered against her plate, nearly choking on her bite of food. She forced herself to swallow, then gasped, “And you turned that down?”
He brought her a glass of water, biting back a grin of amusement.
“Axel and I have a standing agreement that he will better any offer I receive, including and especially from Vorstoben. It was in my best interest to hear them out, so I did. When they’d gone as high as they were likely to go, I texted him the amount.
He asked me to pick up breakfast on my way over. ”
“Oh my God. I mean, good for you, but oh my God.” She cleared her throat with another sip of water, boggled. All of the money Axel had thrown at her and her family now seemed like pocket change. Apparently, it was. For him.
She was starting to think she’d sold her own loyalty at far too low a rate.
“The truth is, I’d work for him for a tenth of that,” Heskel confided. “He helped my husband and me out of a very tight spot a few years ago.”
“You’re married? You seem young for that.”
“So do you,” he said with an ironic tilt of his mouth. “Klaus and I weren’t married yet, but we were living together when he was in a terrible car crash.”
“How awful. He survived, though?”
“Yes. And he’s mostly recovered, but he still has some pain if he sits or stands too long.
That’s prevented him from taking full-time work again.
He’s an industrial engineer. Axel had just recruited him to Vorstoben when it happened.
It was a good job, so we thought it was the right time to buy a home together.
Nothing extravagant, but when he couldn’t work, things became difficult. ”
“Don’t you have social programs here?”
“We do. And they gave him a package that covered lost wages, but it was a reduced rate. Even so, I was only working part-time around finishing my degree. I had to quit both to care for Klaus. We were looking at having to sell our new home and move to something smaller. It was a lot to deal with, but Axel heard what had happened and checked in with me. He wound up covering the shortfall on our mortgage.” Heskel shook his head and looked away, dampness in his eyes.
“I asked him how I could repay him. He said to work for him when I was ready. I’m resourceful and have good communication skills, but my background is marketing in the food industry.
” He shrugged, seeming perplexed. “He said he wanted someone he could trust. He can. With your marriage, I extend my loyalty to you.” He turned a magnanimous palm toward her.
“Unless my needs conflict with his,” she surmised with a tense smile.
“How do you foresee that happening?” He canted his head in curiosity.
“Well, you haven’t given me back my passport. I take that to mean you won’t help me leave if I decide I want to go home.”
“I always hold the travel documents when I fly with him.” He moved to a leather messenger bag and brought her passport to her. “I’m sorry if you felt I was restricting you. That’s not the case at all.” He set the passport on the table.
She checked that it was hers, feeling churlish when she saw that it was.
“If you ask me to book your flight or make arrangements for you,” Heskel continued, “I will feel compelled to tell him what I’m doing. But you have your phone and credit cards. You can do that yourself if you want to. He expects confidentiality from me, not blind obedience or illegal confinement.”
“I sound paranoid, don’t I? My ex gaslit me constantly.
And everything you just told me seems so…
” She couldn’t call it out of character for Axel since she didn’t really know him.
All he’d shown her was a ruthless will to get Otto’s company, no matter what it cost in dollars to him or heartache to her.
“My impression is that he’s very practical and single-minded and only helps people if it serves his own agenda. ”
He couldn’t have known whether he was buying Heskel’s loyalty, though. That suggested a decency she hadn’t credited him with.
“He’s an engineer,” Heskel said with amused affection.
“I say that because I’m married to one. Their priorities are efficiency and finding a way to get the result they want in a consistent way.
But I don’t want to gossip about him. I want to carry out the tasks he has assigned to me.
He asked me to support you in looking for a dance academy.
A friend of a friend owns a studio here.
He studied at the Royal Ballet in London.
May I set up a meeting for you? I’m sure he could give you some guidance on how best to pursue your goals. ”
Her jaw almost unhinged and fell onto the floor. “When did Axel ask you to do that?”
“During one of our meetings in Chicago. It took me some time to get to it, what with the wedding and everything else.”