Chapter 15
Ivy
I catch Nolan just as he’s about to enter the elevator. “Stop.” He turns to face me and lets the door of the elevator close behind him.“I can fix this.”
Nolan’s mouth turns up slightly. “If it weren’t for what you did, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“I didn’t know it would end up like this that he would--”
“Use your shares to launch a takeover? Come on Ivy, you didn’t spend four years in business school for nothing. You’re smarter than that.”
I wasn’t thinking, that’s the problem. My only concern was Antoinette's potential closure, which made it difficult for me to think clearly. I knew he was going to make Nolan’s life a bit more difficult. I just didn’t think it would be to this extent.
“Why didn’t you come to me?” Nolan says, continuing our earlier conversation. He came here looking for Damien and found me instead. I had initially felt embarrassed to be found in the enemy’s lair by my brother, and he didn’t let me live it down. He had rubbed it in every time he spoke. Then he asked why I had sold my shares to Damien. I hid nothing from him. I explained it all. And the entire time, he said nothing. His only expression of emotion was the ticking of his jaw. And then Damien came. And Nolan unleashed that anger on Damien. Culminating in Nolan storming out.
As to Nolan’s question? My pride wouldn’t let me. If I had gone to Nolan and then everyone would have known of my failure. Father would have been proven right. That I couldn’t make it on my own. That I needed them to raise Lake. “Damien’s Lake’s father.”
“I would never have let my nephew go homeless. For fuck’s sake Ivy, I gave you the initial money you needed to open that business. I’m not dad.”
“Which is why I think you two can come to a compromise.”
Nolan raises his eyebrows. He closes the space between us and stands a foot away from me. Taller than most men, Nolan towers over me in his deep gray suit and black overcoat. He looks like the perfect image of a New York businessman. Dark and menacing, I should be intimidated by his presence, but he is my brother. It’s hard to be intimidated by someone you’ve seen as a gangly teenager in braces. “If you think Damien is not using you, you’re wrong.”
“I know the deal I signed with him.”
“Are you sure? He might be the father of your child, but someone as vindictive as Damien Sinclair will not let you have your son if he can have him all to himself.”
Nolan goes to press the elevator button.
“You’re wrong,” I say, even though Nolan has just voiced my fears.
“Am I? I hope so.”
The elevator dings and the doors open and Nolan enters, leaving me alone in the empty corridor. I rush back to the apartment and to Lake’s room, caught in an odd and grappling fear that I will somehow find him gone and his bed empty. I know it’s irrational, but I want to see him with my own eyes to calm myself. He’s not gone, he’s there. With Damien. He’s giving Damien the card he made for him earlier and Damien hugs Lake. It’s a touching image between father and son, and I feel like I am intruding. Worse still, I blurt out the first thing that pops into my head, “Oh. You’re in here?”
I wasn’t even looking for Damien. Lake explains he was giving Damien the thank-you card. He still calls him Uncle Damien and hasn’t gotten accustomed to calling him ‘dad.’ I feel a sharp pang of guilt hit straight into my chest and correct Lake, but he keeps slipping to Uncle Damien. I watch as Damien tucks his son into bed, and we leave the room together. Alone with him once again, I feel all those flutters coming back again. He looks tired in his unbuttoned suit, askew tie, and slightly disheveled hair. Tired and somehow sexy. Too dangerous to be alone with. I want to be anywhere else than here.
Damien gestures at the card in his hand. “Your idea?”
“His own. All I did was give Greta money for supplies. He’s very thoughtful.”
“He certainly didn’t learn that from you.”
Damien’s angling for a fight, I realize. Well, I am not going to give it to him. I would rather face him tomorrow with a fresh mind and body and not one eager to run its hands down his naked body.
“Where are you going?” He sounds angry.
“Bed?”
“We’re sleeping in the same room, remember? And besides, there’s something we need to discuss.”
I follow him to his bedroom. “If it’s about the takeover, I would rather we talk tomorrow.”
Damien places the card on his nightstand, a touching gesture, and says, “Lake Hawthorne?”
“He’s a nice kid.”
“His surname is not Hawthorne.”
“The father wanted nothing to do with him before he was even born, so why would I give him any other surname than mine? I don’t remember you giving me your ID when I went to get his birth certificate.”
“I didn’t—” he marches over to where I am standing and points a finger at me. “I never refused him. You hid him away from me. You did that.”
So it’s a fight then. Fine. “I never hid him away. If you cared about your own child, you could have easily found out.”
“Are we back to the bogus note?” he scoffs. “There are plenty of other ways you could have communicated.
“You blocked my number!” He flinches and I barely notice it. If he can be righteously angry, so can I. “I called your office. I sent letters with sonograms. I sent you everything, and you ignored it!”
“I never saw such a thing.” His voice is low and laced with barely leashed hatred.
“That’s because you sent them back unopened! You didn’t care, and you made it clear you didn’t care!”
He paces. Tension radiates from him as he quickly whips off his jacket and throws it on the bed. The tie follows, and he unbuttons the two top buttons of his shirt. He stops and crosses his arms on his chest. I can’t stop my gaze from wandering to his bulging biceps. “Who did you address it to?”
“To you, of course.”
“I mean specifically? Did you send it to my home address or work?”
“Work. I didn’t know where exactly you lived and I didn’t want to risk sending them to the wrong address, so I know you received it.”
“I didn’t get it.” He says through gritted teeth.
“I don’t care if you believe me or not. You never cared anyway. It was all in the way you treated me after we slept together.”
“That’s rich coming from the woman who made his father and brother think I had raped her.”
“That’s not—
“Really? How would you have interpreted your silence when asked did he hurt you?”
I was too scared. I don’t think he would take that as an answer. Everything happened so fast that morning. If there’s one thing I would do over again, it is that night. I should have said something. He’s right, but he didn’t know my father. His obsession with status and progeny. Nothing less than an old money blue blood would satisfy him. He never saw me as a daughter, but as a horse he could trade to improve his status among this town’s elite.
“I’m sorry.”
Damien does not react to my apology. Instead, he says, “I want Luke’s name changed to Sinclair.”