Chapter 37
ZACH
The morning after they left, I was seriously reconsidering every decision I’d ever made in my life, but not in an existential way. It was more that I was standing alone in the massive kitchen, staring at nothing while the silence in the house slowly drove me insane.
No one was arguing over cereal. Jennifer wasn’t narrating her every thought like an enthusiastic podcast host. Lu wasn’t glaring at me from across the island while secretly waiting to see if I’d invite her on another run. Amber wasn’t there to give me shit for absolutely no reason.
And Adeline…
Fuck. I can’t believe I’m back here. But Adeline was gone. Again.
Even Bear was depressed, sprawled near the back door with his head on his paws, sighing every thirty seconds. I knew the feeling.
“Yeah,” I muttered at him. “Join the club.”
I’d slept maybe two hours. If that. Mentally, I was already drafting instructions for Alex to void the marriage contract when a loud engine roared up the driveway. Bear launched upright, barking as he sprinted to the front door.
“What now?” I groaned, moving over to the windows behind the sink and wondering if they had come back.
A second later, however, Theo came ripping up the drive on a black motorcycle. He parked crookedly, killed the engine, and pulled off his helmet with smug satisfaction written all over his features. I groaned and forced myself out the door and onto the porch.
“You’re going to kill yourself on that thing.”
“Nah, I’ll be fine. I’ve decided to enter my rugged biker era. What do you think? Do I look bad ass?”
“You look more like a divorced dad who sells fireworks out of a storage unit than a bad ass.”
He grinned. “Eh, what the hell do you know? I just bought it at an auction nearby and thought I’d come show it off. It needs some work, obviously, but the engine is solid.”
Regardless of the state of the chopper, which he was definitely right about needing work, I didn’t question his assessment of the engine.
Theo was weirdly good with mechanical things.
He might not look it, but he could rebuild an engine, grill a steak, and flirt with women twice his age all with equal confidence and without skipping a beat.
He was the only one in our family who had any sort of talent for engineering, so if he said the engine was solid, I had to believe him. As he set the helmet down on the seat, his gaze shifted past me toward the house. “Where are the girls?”
“Adeline and I got into it last night and they left.”
He groaned. “Oh no. What did you do?”
“It’s interesting that you automatically assume it was my fault.”
He gave me a flat look. “Zach, come on. You must’ve done something.”
I blew out a harsh breath and walked back into the house with him. I explained the highlights, starting with Lu running away, Adeline spiraling upon our return, our argument, and finally, their abrupt departure.
Theo sighed. “You didn’t stop them from going?”
I shook my head, but instead of defending myself, I admitted the thing I’d spent years refusing to say out loud. “I’m still in love with her.”
He didn’t miss a beat. “No shit.” I glared at him, but he just shrugged in response. “What? You’ve only been emotionally stunted since she left you at twenty-three.”
“I have not.”
“Dude, you’ve never even looked at another woman for longer than precisely one night. That’s a problem, but it doesn’t explain why you didn’t stop them from leaving. If anything, it tells me you should’ve.”
I scrubbed a hand along the side of my jaw. “She still thinks this is some business arrangement she’s getting shoved into again and maybe she’s right.”
He frowned. “Did you at least tell her how you feel?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because it doesn’t matter.”
His eyebrows shot up so high, they nearly disappeared into his hairline. “How does it not matter?”
“She’s in the same position she was with Louis,” I snapped. “She doesn’t need pressure from me too.”
Theo stared at me briefly like I’d become the dumbest man alive. “You are not like Louis.”
“That’s easy for you to say, but at the end of the day, his family arranged for him to marry her and he went through with it, which is exactly what I’m doing.
” I glanced at my packed suitcases standing next to the stairs.
“He and I may not have the same personality, but the situation she’s in with me is the same as it was with him, and that’s just not going to work for me. ”
Theo followed my gaze. “Where are you going?”
“Back to Chicago. It’s time to make sure this thing gets wrapped up properly.”
Realization dawned on his face. “You’re having the contract voided, aren’t you?”
I nodded. “I’ll make sure she and the girls are taken care of financially, but that’s where it ends.”
“Don’t do this,” he said suddenly. “You love her, Zach. At least talk to her.”
“It’s up to Adeline what happens this time around,” I said firmly.
“That’s the best thing I can do for her.
To let her decide. She didn’t get that with Louis and I will not box her in the same way.
She needs to have a choice, Theo. No one should have to go through their entire life never getting to choose who they marry. ”
Genuine frustration rippled across his features. “You’re crazy if you let her go again.”
“Being in love isn’t worth it,” I snapped. “Trust me. It’s all hurt and confusion, and I’m over it. I refuse to force her into something she doesn’t want and it’s about time I start making a few choices of my own.”
“But I just got here. Let’s at least have a drink and talk through your options. Offer me a glass of water at least.”
“No,” I said. “I’m leaving. You’re welcome to stay and drink all the water you want. Just lock up when you decide to come home, Harley Davidson.”
I grabbed my keys, hauled my suitcases outside, loaded them into the back of the Cullinan, my now empty dad-mobile, and climbed in with Bear right behind me. Theo stood in the driveway, watching me go like he wanted to keep arguing, but his head shook as I drove away.
By the time I hit Chicago that afternoon, I felt like I’d aged ten years during that drive. Adeline was gone and I had to get my ducks in a row. After eight years of pining and pretending I could get over it, it was time to take control.
Bear lifted his head from the passenger seat as I pulled into the underground parking garage at Westwood and Sons. He let out a low, gut-wrenching whine, clearly upset about the fact that we’d abandoned the ranch and our dignity in favor of concrete and walls.
“Don’t judge me,” I muttered. “This is how I pay for your fancy dog food.”
He sneezed like he’d developed a sudden allergy to the city, but when I strode into the building, he followed after me. We hadn’t even stopped at home first. I wanted to get this done before I lost steam. I needed to keep moving because once I crashed, I was going to crash hard.
Alex’s assistant barely looked up before waving me through to the executive offices. I walked in without knocking, Bear hot on my heels.
Alex seemed relieved to see me at first. “I’m glad you’re here. I was just about to call you about the Louis situation, but it’ll be easier to explain in person.”
I didn’t blame him for thinking that was why I’d come, but for a change, he was dead wrong. “The wedding is off.”
The words cut through the room like a blade, stopping him cold as he was walking around his desk to pet Bear. “What?”
“I’m having the marriage contract voided,” I said flatly.
“I’ve already set up accounts for the girls and one for Adeline.
There’s enough there to set the girls up for life and to get Adeline some stability.
And in a better neighborhood. She won’t have to worry about money for a long, long time.
We kept our side of the deal in protecting and taking care of them.
I just don’t need to be married to do it. ”
Alex just watched me. I kept talking, afraid that if I stopped, I’d put my fist through one of his windows. I doubted he’d love that, and besides, the ball was rolling. I might as well get it all out.
“The girls’ trusts are protected independently,” I explained.
“I’ve covered education, housing, and future investments.
Adeline’s account has been structured so Louis can’t touch it even if he somehow resurfaces again.
You can tell Old Man Morris that I’m putting them in the same position they would’ve been in if we had gone through with the marriage.
Just without the rings and the vows. If he doesn’t like it, the old bastard can go fuck himself. ”
I sat down hard in one of the chairs across from his desk, suddenly too exhausted to stay standing or to keep talking. For a second, we were both just quiet, and thankfully, he didn’t ask what had happened or interrogate me.
Instead, he squeezed my shoulder. “I’ve got the Louis drama handled.”
I scrubbed both hands over my face. “How?”
Alex perched himself at the edge of his desk. “I personally reached out to his attorney and threatened him with the full brunt of my wrath and the full weight of our legal team.”
I snorted, but even that came out tired. “It sounds like you had some fun.”
“I enjoyed myself immensely,” he agreed, much too happy about threatening a bunch of lawyers. “I warned them that if Weatherby tries anything funny, we’ll bury them so deep in lawsuits for harassment and defamation, they’ll still be billing hours in hell.”
“Well handled.” I leaned back in the chair, staring blankly at the ceiling. “Thank you, though. It means a lot to know we don’t have to worry about him anymore.”
“Right, but apparently, the wedding is off anyway,” he said. “Look, you don’t have to tell me anything, but if you called it off because of Louis—”
“She thinks we don’t have a choice in any of this.”
Alex crossed his arms, eyebrows inching up. “Okay, well, I suppose that’s not an uncommon misconception. What did you do to correct that impression, though?”
I snorted. “Nothing, because she genuinely didn’t get to choose, Alex. Not with Louis and not with me. Her grandfather makes these deals and all they expect from her is to sign the papers. It’s not the same as with Jane, or Kate, or Eliza, or Jacque. They got to choose.”
“Sure,” he agreed. “It’s not fair that Adeline’s family expects her to simply go along with the decisions they make, but life rarely is.”
“Maybe, but in her case, it’s within my power to restore the balance a little. I care about her too much to steamroll her with this arrangement.”
“You need to tell her how you feel, Zach. Have you done that?”
“No.”
“Why not?” The exhaustion in his voice surprised me, but he didn’t let his emotions show as he took a seat across from me. “It’s likely she feels the same. You know that, right?”
I laughed. “There’s no point. Trust me. She’s terrified. Our feelings don’t matter as much as the fact that every time she looks at marriage, all she sees is a transaction.”
“Okay, but what do you see?”
I hesitated for a long moment, genuinely trying to answer him honestly. “I see her.”
Alex looked at me like he was finally understanding something that had apparently been obvious to everyone except him. “You love her.”
I barked out a hollow laugh. “It’s a groundbreaking revelation, isn’t it?”
“Well, no,” he said, quiet for a moment before he looked at me again. “I always suspected. We all did. I just didn’t think I’d ever hear you admit it.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t think I’d admit it either, but here we are.
” I raked my fingers through my hair. “I’d marry her in a heartbeat if it’s what she wants, but she got burned by the marriage system our families believe in.
Badly. I just don’t want to be the guy that puts her back there under duress. ”
“You were burned by it too,” he said slowly. “No one in this family has been in your exact situation, so I don’t really have the perfect advice here. From what I saw, you two looked like you were vibing.”
Alex Westwood admitting uncertainty might’ve been a biblical sign, but he kept going like it was nothing out of the ordinary.
“All I can tell you is that I’ve never regretted fighting for Jane.
Nate is the same with Kate, and Jesse would probably set himself on fire before giving up on Jacqueline.
Hell, Will quit his job and moved across an ocean for Eliza. ”
“What are you saying?”
“None of us regret choosing love.” The irony of hearing that inside an office built on generations of strategic marriages wasn’t lost on either of us.
“You finally have a chance to do this differently, Zach. Just talk to her. Find out what she actually wants before you just make the decision for her.”
I stared down at my hands. “She’ll never be able to see our relationship as more than a business deal. Real feelings or not, it’ll always feel like she’s been sold off by her family again. I can’t do that to her. I won’t.”
Alex shrugged. “Then at least give her the choice. That’s what you want, right? You want it to be her decision, but that means that you have to give her the opportunity to actually choose.”