Chapter 29
“Call me Elliot, please. So nice to meet you, June.” His eyes flicker at Kitty.
“Let’s let them get acquainted, Anderson. I need your help in the kitchen.”
Anderson’s pained smile deepens. “Alright then, Mom. Be right back.”
Why don’t I believe that?
“Come with me, June. I’ll show you the study,” Elliot says, smiling. But his smile never makes it to his eyes.
I’m about to get grilled. This is what we’ve prepped for, and this is why I spent the last two days googling the hell out of Elliot West. I’ve boned up. Now it’s time to see if my hard work pays off.
God, I hope it pays off.
The study isn’t too far from the living room, so the din of chatter and soft jazz is audible until he shuts the door. Then the study feels more like a tomb. It’s darker than the rest of the penthouse, with book-lined walls and two large blue leather chairs. A blue-shaded Tiffany lamp sits atop a small table between them.
“Please, have a seat.”
I smile and nod, not really wanting to sit there until I do. The chair is far more comfortable than it looks. He sits, too, and I’m relieved. I half thought he might grill me while standing over me.
I’m not sure where to begin, so I go with, “You have a lovely home, Elliot.”
“Thank you, but this is really our home away from home. We keep a place in the city for convenience. Our primary home is in Brookline.”
I have no idea what to say to that.
“Anderson must be smitten with you for that ring to be on your hand.”
Not a congratulations in the traditional sense. “I consider myself lucky to be wearing his ring.”
“I would think so. You’re a junior associate at your firm, correct?”
Of course he’s looked into me. Why wouldn’t he? But that doesn’t make it any less creepy. “Yes, I am.”
“A bright young woman, according to your transcripts.”
How far back did he go? “Bright might be pushing it, but I worked hard in school.”
“And you were there on a scholarship.” He sits back, studying me. “Seems you turned a tough childhood into a goldmine.”
“My mother raised me to believe that hard work could get me where I want to be in life.”
“Hard work and a little luck, right?”
I smile, unsure where he’s going with this. “We can all use some luck in our lives.”
“And how do you like the law, since you made it your career?”
“It’s like most careers, I imagine. Good days and bad. But there are more good than bad, so I stick with it.”
“Tell me about the bad days.”
This feels like a job interview where the interviewer has already decided they aren’t going to hire me. But I push on after a breath to clear my head. “Well, to be honest, there are days when I am pushed to the limit of what I can tolerate.”
“How does helping the rich avoid taxes push you to the limit?”
“That’s just it—when I wanted to become a lawyer, I thought it was all money and glamor and catered parties … but I was na?ve enough to have believed I’d get all of that by helping regular people. That’s what all the television lawyers did.” I run my finger around the rim of my glass. “Never thought I’d be getting there on the backs of those people. My people. But by helping the wealthy keep their wealth, that’s exactly what I’m doing. When the rich avoid their taxes, the government must depend more on the money from everyone else. It increases the tax burden on regular people, and the truth is, I hate that part of my job.”
He stares at me, and I can’t tell if I’ve upset him.
But he doesn’t look happy, and that panics me. “Meaning no offense, of course. I’m sure you pay your fair share?—”
But a cool smile comes over him as he says, “No offense taken, June. It’s refreshing to hear such an honest assessment of the situation from someone who straddles the lines of it. Tell me, do you want to continue the work you’ve accomplished?”
“No. I don’t.”
“What do you want to do?”
I smile, thinking about how he’s the man between me and what I want to do. “For a while, I’d thought about going into photography. A creative career for an outlet.”
“But … ?”
“But I have a law degree and I am capable of doing something useful with it. If I had my druthers, I’d work for the little guy. I’d help regular people get the justice they deserve.”
“And yet, you have fallen for my son, a man who isn’t in the business of helping regular people. Does that give you pause?”
Shaking my head, I can’t help but think he’s trying to trap me in the subtlest of ways. “Anderson’s career is his own. I’d never think to tell him what to do, and god help the woman who tried. If he wants to help me in my crusade, I welcome the help, but I would never try to tear him away from his family’s work. Though your firm caters to the upper echelons of society, you’re also heavily involved in charity, and being able to make generous donations requires sizable funds. I might be an idealist in some aspects of life, but I am foremost a realist.”
“That is very good to hear. Has he mentioned that I want him to take over?”
“We haven’t spoken much on the matter, but I had assumed that to be the case. He’s been groomed since birth for the role, and I cannot think of someone better suited.”
Elliot smirks, and it’s unsettlingly like Anderson’s smirk, except it does not turn me on. But the smirk fades into something else. Hesitance? “No need to campaign for him, June. You’re right. I have groomed him for the role. The reason I ask is, he will need a partner in this. Someone as dedicated to the firm as he is. Or at the very least, someone who understands what his work entails. That there will be long nights. Long weeks. Times when he cannot come home, no matter the reason. Running the firm must be his first priority. Not his wife. Not his family. It requires everything of him. He needs a strong partner who can weather that. Who understands the score. Is that something you can do?”
Not hesitance, then. Elliot wants to know if I’m willing to give up myself for Anderson’s responsibilities. It would be easy to say yes and tell him what he wants to hear. It would all but slam dunk this whole thing. But what he wants is too much to ask of anyone.
The next woman Anderson brings home will be asked the same thing, and the woman after that, and the next one, and so on. Someone will say yes, and it will blow up in Anderson’s face, along with the rest of the family. His child will be raised to be another Anderson, another kid who needed his dad around to make him a better person. I hate that Anderson was neglected. He might have been a happier kid. He might not have bullied me.
If I say yes now, Elliot will think this is okay. That this is how the world should work, because for him, it always has. I can lie about a lot of things. But not this.
“No, Elliot. I can’t do that.”
“Then perhaps it’s for the best that?—”
“What you ask for is too much. It’s too much to ask for anyone who wants a true partnership in marriage. When I said yes to him, I said yes to him. Not to a legacy of cold, lonely dinners and children who don’t recognize their father. Anderson grew up like that, and I won’t continue it into our family. He deserves more. Our future children deserve more, and so do I. A parent is supposed to provide more for their child than they had, not perpetuate a cycle of loneliness.”
He all but rolls his eyes at me. “You would say no to a lavish life of what you’ve seen around you? Of vacations around the world, multiple homes, all the clothes you could ever want. The best nannies for your children and the latest car under a big bow at Christmas? Gold and diamond?—”
I laugh, shaking my head. “I’m not here to absorb his inheritance, Elliot. Anderson’s financial situation is easier than most, but that’s not what interests me about him.”
“What then?” he growls.
“Him. Just him.” I shrug. “I knew Anderson back in Appleton. Did he mention that?”
“Yes.”
“He was so different back then. Kind of a dick, actually.” I laugh at myself. “But I always knew there was something deeper beneath the surface. Then we ran into each other again at Boston U, and it was like the edges had been sanded down some. Not enough, so I kept moving. And then finally, when I ran into him at a charity ball, it was as though all the rough edges had been sloughed off, and what was left was the good man I knew was under all that bravado. He’s kind. Thoughtful. Generous. Those qualities I want in a partner. I am grateful he had Kitty to instill that in him.” I leave the obvious lack of his father out of the conversation, but we both know what I’m saying. Anderson has those qualities in spite of his father. Not because of him.
Elliot stares for a moment, contemplating something I’m sure I won’t want to hear. “So, you would sign a prenup, then?”
Oh that? I laugh. “Happily.”
His brows slide up. “If I happened to have a prenup ready to be signed here and now, you’d sign it?”
“Give me a pen, and I’ll sign it.”
Instead, he laces his fingers together like a villain and smiles. “It is a rare thing to meet a woman with your convictions, June. I don’t have a prenup—Anderson hadn’t mentioned that he’d proposed. He doesn’t tell me much about his personal life,” he grumbles the last part. “Not that I blame him. A man’s personal life is his business, and I try not to interfere unless needed. He will be required to work long hours at the firm. That is the nature of the beast. How he works that out with you is between the two of you. I will not interfere.”
Whoever Anderson actually marries owes me big time. I smile at Elliot, feeling a hint of relief. “I’m glad to hear that.”
Someone knocks at the door, and Elliot says, “Enter.”
When I see Anderson, I feel like the cavalry arrived just after I won the battle. But I’m still glad to see him. “Thought I’d check on everyone.”
Elliot smiles at his son. “You’ve done well for yourself, Anderson. A word of warning, though. June isn’t going to put up with your nonsense.”
He chuckles. “Oh, believe me. I know.”