CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
T HERE WERE TIMES in life when a girl really needed her friends and Elodie was fortunate enough to have really good friends. She’d escaped the house the second after Ramon had stormed out of the kitchen. She’d hailed a cab and gone to Phoebe’s. Phoebe had bitten back the billion questions Elodie knew she wanted to ask. She’d just led Elodie to Bethan’s empty room and tucked her into bed.
The next morning she’d messaged Piotr who’d taken pity on her. Or maybe he was just following orders because he’d packed her and Ashleigh’s things and dropped them at the escape room at a time when Elodie could avoid him. She’d moved back to her own tiny apartment in North London and then Ashleigh had returned from her trip with Bethan. She’d sat next to her on the sofa and they’d binge-watched a serial killer series. They were at the penultimate episode when to their mutual astonishment their mother had shown up. She’d been wary and tearful and apologetic and told them that she didn’t want to lose both daughters, that she’d asked their father to sell the hotel, that she was sorry for never standing up for them...
Ashleigh had been amazed. Elodie had been too shell-shocked to even take it in. But Ashleigh had opted to go stay with her mother at a hotel in the city for a while. The moment they left Phoebe and Bethan had arrived with three tubs of Elodie’s favourite brand of ice cream.
‘I never even got to ask how Italy was,’ Elodie apologised to Phoebe. ‘Was it amazing?’
‘It was.’ Phoebe smiled.
‘Yeah?’ Elodie nudged her with a grin. Phoebe did still have a post-holiday radiance about her even though it was a few weeks now since she’d got back. ‘And the new job’s going well?’
‘It’s full-on.’ Phoebe nodded. ‘There’s a rumour that it’s a takeover target.’
‘Oh, no—’
‘I’ll be fine .’ Phoebe chuckled. ‘Don’t worry about me, we’re here for you .’
‘Exactly.’ Bethan grabbed Elodie’s hand. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I’m really sad,’ she admitted huskily. ‘I liked him.’
‘Have you told him that?’ Bethan asked gently.
Elodie winced.
‘If I could go back in time that’s the one thing I’d do differently.’ Bethan opened the next tub of ice cream. ‘I’d tell him.’
Yeah, Bethan had been utterly in love with the man she’d married and was taking a long time to get over her heartbreak in discovering that he hadn’t felt the same.
‘I don’t think Ramon wants to hear it,’ Elodie muttered.
‘Then write it,’ Phoebe suggested. ‘At least then you’ll have been honest. That’s for yourself as much as for him. How he responds is over to him.’
Two days later an envelope arrived at the escape room with the Fernandez crest in the corner. Elodie ripped it open, her heart pounding, Phoebe’s idea of writing a letter echoing in her head.
But it wasn’t a letter from Ramon. Only legal documents. The paperwork had been transferred and the escape room business was now in her name. There was no accompanying note. It was nothing to him, apparently. To spend money on a business, on a building, on Ashleigh’s independence. To let Elodie leave without so much as an actual goodbye.
She stared at the contracts. She could sell both the business and the building and pay him back immediately, but she wanted to prove herself first—that she could make it even more popular, that she was good at this job. She would regard this as a business loan and Ramon was the investor. She drew up a payment plan, factored in interest. Doubtless he wouldn’t care less whether she did or didn’t but she cared, and sure, it might take her years to pay him back completely, but she was damn well going to. She was already at work on a new themed room and Bethan was busy making stunning props. Maybe she’d eventually expand—she might never make multinational Fernandez-type status—but she could do national. Pushing towards that would keep her busy.
She needed to be busy. She needed to have no time to think at all . Which was exactly what he did, right?
He hid from everything that hurt by focusing on work. And now he had everything he wanted. Control of all the family assets that mattered to him. Complete emotional independence.
But he did still feel . In fact he was as volatile as she—passionate about things that mattered to him. He’d endured the bitterness of his father’s infidelity, his mother’s withdrawal, his wider family’s drama. And he’d blown up the minute he’d found out that she’d kept some truth from him. Because maybe he’d been hurt that she had.
That thought gave her a spark of hope—the impetus to at least try . She took a fresh sheet of plain paper. Maybe it wouldn’t matter what she said or did henceforth. Maybe he would never believe her—never have faith or trust in her. But she needed to tell him how she truly felt.
For years she’d swallowed everything back, obeying her father, not causing problems for her mother. When she’d finally tried to speak up—to end it with Callum—neither he nor her father had listened. She’d stopped speaking up about anything intimate, deciding never to let anyone in like that again.
But Ramon wasn’t anyone. He deserved more. He’d given her so much. The courage to do this would be the most important thing yet.
Ramon avoided coming home for more than a week. Elodie had escaped the second she had the chance. He’d gone to cool off and by the time he got back she’d gone.
He’d told her to, hadn’t he. And so she had. Destroyed him.
The next day Piotr had informed him that he’d taken her gear to her. Ramon had at least known she was safe. That afternoon he’d boarded a plane to find Cristina and Jose Ramon. Dealing with that lifetime’s worth of drama was easier than dealing with the absence of Elodie.
It hadn’t been easy—in fact it had been horrible. Ramon had strived to remain businesslike, stressing that they needed to find a civil way forward. He’d not mentioned Elodie, yet Jose Ramon had seemed subdued and for once willing to engage. Maybe Ramon’s early departure from the foundation gala had impacted more than he’d realised. Ramon had bypassed Cristina and asked Jose Ramon directly what he really wanted. He’d offered to support him in a management apprenticeship role at one of the hotels if he was interested. Surprisingly, Jose Ramon had agreed. Even more surprisingly, Ramon’s offer had seemed enough to placate Cristina. They’d agreed to amend the terms of the trust for the island, which meant no protracted legal battles in its future. Maybe things were never going to be great there, but not great was a lot better than fully vicious.
Trouble was, none of this helped Ramon sleep any better. None of it made him able to fully focus on his work again.
When he got back to London an hour before dawn days later the house was simply hollow. He spotted the small rectangular case in his dressing room when he went to get changed. The diamond collar gleamed on the velvet lining. Her ruby ring and wedding band were nestled in the centre of it. He touched the stone and regretted it immediately. It was cold when it wasn’t on her skin. Of course she’d not taken them to sell for the money. She didn’t want them—didn’t want him . He slammed the lid down, wilfully ignoring the fact that he was still wearing the ring she’d struggled to put on him.
He’d get Piotr to get rid of the lot later. Piotr who’d been emanating waves of disapproval like a silent doom machine ever since that horrible night. He stalked to the kitchen to grab some water. Closed his eyes and sagged back against the counter as that horrible conversation replayed in his head.
He’d been brutal . He hadn’t stopped to think. He’d just reacted. He couldn’t control himself around her. Never had been able to. And nor could she. That chemistry hadn’t been pretence.
For all his supposed intelligence, he’d not seen the truth of her even when the clues were there. In hindsight it was so obvious . But Elodie’s silence still burned like betrayal. Hadn’t she started to trust him? Surely he wasn’t just anyone? But maybe it wasn’t only that she didn’t trust him . Maybe she didn’t trust her own judgement—or even her own worth. Her own father hadn’t valued her. Her ex hadn’t stood up for her—hadn’t paid attention to her desires. Of course she was cautious of controlling men and she saw Ramon as the ultimate in controlling.
Maybe it hadn’t been fair of him to be so impatient with her. Maybe his anger hadn’t been rational but reactive. Emotional .
Only a month ago he’d have scoffed at the idea that he’d ever be emotional. Or ever need emotional support . He was fine. Strong. Calm. Capable.
He so wasn’t.
Now he saw that instead of being like his father, he’d withdrawn like his mother—from family, from intimacy, from basically everything but his work. Until Elodie had stormed his house. She’d challenged him. Teased him. Kissed him. Listened to him. She’d absolutely got to him. And he’d pulled her close. Taken her with him. Given her not things, but time. Himself. Something he’d never given anyone. He couldn’t admit it before but she’d put him at such risk.
He’d wanted to be close to her. That’s why it had hurt so much when he’d found out all she’d held back. But she had given him a lot already—companionship, compassion, fun . He’d revelled in her blossoming physical pleasure, enjoyed her boundless creativity and he ached for her to succeed. God, he wanted to be alongside watching while she did.
And why on earth had he ever worried he’d be an unfaithful jerk like his father? Elodie kept him not just wholly occupied, but absolutely captivated. There was nothing and no one else he wanted or would ever want. He wanted to be with her now , the only one with her henceforth. Her last, in other words. He wanted her to be his forever. He’d wanted her to love him. Because he loved her. But he hadn’t said any of that. Instead, he’d been a coward the first chance he could.
He’d sent her away.
Like an idiot .
But what horrified him most was the realisation he was in danger of being as unforgiving as his mother had been with him. He knew how much that hurt , how much it had destroyed for them both. He never wanted to do that to Elodie. Or to himself. He was suddenly so very sorry.
Ramon straightened. He did not stand about doing nothing. Ever. He formulated a plan and enacted it immediately. He was so preoccupied that he didn’t notice the piece of paper wedged beneath the rug at the front door as he strode out of the house.
Nothing was going to stop him now.