Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
T hree o’clock couldn’t come soon enough, because over the course of serving all the strong teas throughout the day, my headache had become hard to ignore.
I had to pass through the lobby to get to the employee lounge, where my bag waited for me, but when I did, I spotted Annalise walking through the Alderton-Du Ponte lobby. She was wearing a simple loose dress, her heels clicking on the floor, but she stopped in her tracks when she spotted me. “Lovisa Hahn!”
“Hey,” I greeted, though my tone was pitched higher than normal. “How are?—”
“I can’t believe I’ve hardly seen you all week!” Her voice echoed along the walls, turning a few heads. “I meant to catch you at the party on Saturday, but you looked so busy with work, and I’m not supposed—” Annalise gasped, dropping her voice to a whisper. “I’m not supposed to talk to you while you’re working.”
“It’s okay.” I glanced around, finding Trisha, who was working the front desk, watching us. Crap . “Let’s move to a quieter area.”
Annalise nodded. “Imagine my surprise when I find out you’ve been spending more time with Aaron than with me.”
She hadn’t raised her voice, but I caught Trisha lean over to whisper to the girl beside her. Heat prickled down the back of my neck. “I—I’m not spending time with him.”
“He told me he saw you yesterday.” This time, she did whisper, “At the music hall.”
I closed my eyes for a brief second. What part of it’s our secret did he not understand? He worked in the Strategic Planning Department, but couldn’t use his critical thinking skills to save his life. What had he told her? Just that I’d given him a tour—or did he also include us pressed up in the corner of the stage?
My headache flared as I thought about the corner, the darkness, his hands on my arms, his intoxicating scent.
There was a small conference room right off the lobby, and I pulled Annalise inside. It was empty, making it the perfect spot to avoid any eavesdroppers who’d snitch later. “Aaron?—”
“He made me swear not to say anything,” Annalise said, moving to sit in one of the chairs. She swiveled away from the table and faced me. “He said he only told me because he wasn’t sure if you got in trouble or not. He asked me if I knew anything.”
I stood at the door, gripping the handle. “I didn’t get in trouble.”
“But you shouldn’t have shown him the hall?” She narrowed her eyes a little. “Why would you show it to him if you weren’t supposed to?”
I looked away from her, focusing on the far wall where a projector sat. “I want to save the music theater. I wanted to help him.”
She gave a slow, soft nod, in a way that made me more nervous. I didn’t like the thought of Aaron talking to her about me. I didn’t like the idea of her talking about me to Aaron. I didn’t know why.
“I told you,” she said. “That he’s not that bad.”
I was almost embarrassed to agree with her. “He could be worse.”
Annalise smiled, using the toes of her Claire Haute loafers to turn her chair an inch one way, and then the other. I stood above her, but when she smiled like that, it felt like she had the upper hand. “I’m glad you see that, even just a little. He’s had a rough go lately.”
“I remember you saying that.” I tried to seem disinterested while still asking, “What’s been going on?”
“His grandmother passed in December, right before Christmas.” Annalise’s shoulders slumped a little as she spoke. “He moved in with her around July last year. Lived with her until the end. He took her passing really hard.”
She was my best friend . That was what Aaron had told me that night at the piano, his eyes taking over a faraway look as he’d spoken. “It’s hard to lose someone you love.”
“And it doesn’t help that, the day after her funeral, his brother fired him from Astro Agencies.”
“ What ?” My voice was loud in the small computer lab. “Why?”
“Aaron’s always been the odd one out with his brothers, since he’s the youngest. They… they didn’t like him. Didn’t think he deserved his position. With their grandmother gone—and her ability to alter her inheritance gone—they got rid of Aaron.”
I moved away from the door and sank into the desk chair beside hers, wide-eyed. “His parents didn’t intervene? It’s their company. They just let their son fire his brother ?”
“They cut him off after last year with Margot.” Annalise lowered her voice further. “Canceled his cards, closed his joint bank account with them, and told him to figure out life on his own. That’s why he moved in with his grandmother—because they even canceled the lease on his apartment.”
Jeez, I understood being disappointed with your son over something, but that seemed… cruel. All of it. “I thought Mrs. Astor seemed nice when she was here for your wedding in June.”
Annalise’s lips twisted into something like distaste. “She’ll never admit it, but she was hoping for that marriage, too. Her and Mr. Astor both were. It would’ve meant big things for Astro Agencies, creating a partnership with a high-end hotel chain on the east coast. When it fell apart, they saw it as Aaron’s screw up, as if they weren’t the ones who put so much pressure on him.”
I thought back to the night of Annalise’s wedding, when I’d stumbled upon the Astors out in the rosebush-filled courtyard. Aaron, kneeling before his parents, pleading for their compassion. His parents, barely even looking at him. Something in my chest twinged a little, and it was painful.
That scene had been much more pathetic before knowing more of the details. Watching a grown man grovel had been almost ridiculous. Now, the mental image was almost nauseating. The Aaron Astor I’d gotten to know would never get on his knees for anyone, but back then, his desperation had given him no choice.
“I thought his parents didn’t know about him trying to manipulate Margot.”
“They didn’t know about that part. But Aaron, he—he knew that it’d make his parents happy, if he married Margot. So he just pretended he liked her.”
“He was going to marry Margot because his parents wanted him to?”
“Aaron is…” she trailed off, expression softening. “He was raised in a world where success is everything. Owning a successful business that you can flaunt. Having a marriage you can show off. All of his brothers are married, to equally impressive partners, with successful jobs within the family company. He thinks he needs to catch up with them.”
“Success is different for everyone?—”
“Not in this world.” Her tone was gentle. “Not in his world. He sees things in black and white. And if he doesn’t have something to prove he belongs—” She hesitated. “He believes he’ll be nothing.”
The same thought process that everyone at Alderton-Du Ponte seemed to have. “That’s not true.”
“Maybe not to us.” She offered a small, sad smile. “But to him? It’s everything. And when his parents cut him off, and his brothers fired him, and his grandmother passed away, it was like he’d become nothing . It broke my heart.”
While I didn’t understand Aaron’s motives perfectly, I couldn’t imagine being in his shoes. His parents cutting him off because he embarrassed them? I’d embarrassed my mother more times than I could’ve counted, both on accident and even on purpose sometimes. No matter how frustrated she’d gotten with me, she’d never have dreamed of tossing me aside like that. As a child, or even as an adult. And then, a week after losing the most important person in his life, his family only proved to twist the knife further.
Perhaps you just don’t know me well enough. Perhaps you’d change your mind if you knew how sad and twisted my insides are .
“He’s got a lot of reasons for what he does. I don’t agree with some of them, but…” Annalise opened her mouth to go on, but hesitated. She pressed her lips together. “I didn’t say it before when you asked, because I was afraid who’d overhear, but when Aaron found out Margot didn’t like him romantically, he offered for them to be business partners instead. I know it sounds… strange, but people around here do that. Especially when from families like theirs.”
I sat back in the chair, the strange pressure tightening further in my chest. “He told you all this?”
“If you look at him, really look at him, you can see it.” She let out a breath. “He’s just a boy wanting the approval of his family, and he thinks marrying an heiress will give him that.”
“Even if he doesn’t love her?”
Annalise looked surprised as she turned toward me. She gave me a sad smile. “Aaron doesn’t believe in love.”
Doesn’t believe in love . It made sense, then, why me explaining everything with Grant left him confused. There was something overwhelmingly sad about Aaron trying to compose a life that looked good on paper. One that would earn him applause. A performance technically perfect, but hollow, the kind that left the audience clapping politely instead of feeling something deep in their bones.
Music wasn’t just about the right notes—it was about the pauses, the emotion, the aching pull between sound and silence. I thought about what my cellist instructor used to tell me. Play with your heart and your head .
Just as I’d struggled, Aaron wasn’t playing with both.
I almost wished Annalise hadn’t told me any of it, that I could’ve gone on under the pretense that, while he had his moments of depth, Aaron was still just shallow. It was easier to fit him into that box. But now, he no longer fit.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Annalise murmured, reaching over to pick up my hand. Her fingers were soft, curving around mine. She hesitated again, biting her lip. “How do you feel… about Grant coming home?”
I jolted. I’d just had the conversation with Mr. Holland, but it’d already slipped my mind. I thought about mentioning that to her, but didn’t. Annalise was one of my closest friends, but it felt too humiliating to rehash. “I’m okay.” The words tasted true as I spoke them, and that surprised me. “I didn’t think I would be, honestly. But it doesn’t seem so… daunting anymore. I don’t know why.”
Maybe it was because now I had an even stronger reason to avoid Grant. With his father’s unspoken threat lingering, it was just the excuse I needed.
“That’s good,” she said earnestly, her blue eyes soft on mine. “I wasn’t here when everything went down before—you flying out to him, finding… everything . But I’m here now. And if you want me to dump my drink on him when he walks through the Alderton-Du Ponte door, I’ll do it.”
I couldn’t help but smile at the sincerity of her words. She’d throw a drink at him, not talk to him fondly on the phone. I knew it was different with her than Caroline, but something almost like relief settled on my chest. Someone was on my side. “It’s the thought that counts.”
She raised her fist. “Hey, I may be small, but I know how to?—”
Before she finished her sentence, a shriek cut through the closed conference room’s door. Annalise and I looked at each other for only a moment before we both hopped up, drawn toward the scream. Annalise, out of her desire for gossip. Me, out of duty.
Okay, and maybe a smidge of curiosity.
From the pitch of the shriek, I’d expected to see someone on the ground bleeding or something. Instead, when we rushed into the mouth of the lobby, the only thing in sight was Fiona Flannagan, in black leggings with a matching sports bra, standing at the front desk. She had her arms full of a bouquet of red roses, the world’s widest grin on her face. A few friends surrounded her, all gawking wide-eyed at the arrangement.
“They’re gorgeous!” one of them cooed.
“Who are they from?” another asked, glancing at the front desk receptionist.
Fiona, though, didn’t need to be told. “Who do you think?” She brought the bouquet up to her nose and stuffed her face into the petals, drawing in a big breath. “Aaron, of course!”
I felt a small line crease between my eyebrows. Annalise’s train of thought must’ve been on the same track, because she looked to me. “He bought her flowers?”
One of the girls said, “There’s no card?”
Fiona waved her hand. “I don’t need a card to know who they’re from.” I watched as Fiona once again stuffed her face into the flowers, breathing in deep. “See, girls, I told you I’ve got him good. Look at these!”
Her friends all nodded in agreement.
Almost as if he’d been conjured by the mention of his name, Aaron walked through the wing that led into the hotel. Aaron had his head down, hands in his pockets, looking like he was lost in his thoughts.
He’d barely gotten a few steps into the lobby before Fiona pounced. “Aaron!” her voice was a shrill call, causing him to jerk in surprise. I watched him, and how, in a split second, he wiped away any trace of the concentration on his face. In that second, he tugged on a mask of charm, allowing it to spark his eyes. If no one had been looking for it, they would’ve missed his trickery entirely.
“Fiona, darling,” Aaron said grandly, leaving one hand in his pocket while the other reached up to smooth his hair from his eyes. “Here for a spin around the workout studio?”
Fiona shifted the bouquet to the side to expose more of her sports bra. “Thank goodness I ran into you before Pilates,” she murmured. “I would’ve been too embarrassed to see you all sweaty.”
His eyes shifted to the flowers in her grip. “Well, aren’t those beautiful?”
“You have amazing taste, Aaron,” one girl gushed before her friends pulled her back by the arm with a giggle.
“Yes, amazing taste,” Fiona murmured, lowering her register and slipping into a more seductive tone. It caused Annalise to scoff ever so slightly beside me, but she disguised it by pretending to cough.
Much like my brow had, Aaron’s furrowed. Confusion. He hadn’t ordered the flowers. “They reminded me of you,” Aaron replied slowly, though his tone wasn’t as sickly sweet as hers.
Fiona scratched at her neck. “I don’t see a card with them. I was hoping it might’ve had—oh, I don’t know—a dinner invitation attached?”
“It must’ve fallen off, because there should’ve been a card.” He flashed her a smile. “I’m ready to take you up on that sunset dinner on your yacht.”
“I’ve convinced you, huh?” She went as far as to bite her lip. “You’re in luck, because?—”
“Fiona, are—are you okay?” One of her friends cupped Fiona’s shoulder, turning her ever so slightly. “You’re—you’re splotchy .”
Fiona, who’d been rubbing at her neck, froze. “Splotchy?”
And she was. In the few moments since she’d picked up the flowers to now, pink blotches began popping up on her body, the redness worsening as she scratched. They polka-dotted their way along her neck and chest, and since all she wore was a sports bra, there was no shielding the hives.
“It looks like you’re having an allergic reaction or something.” The girl in yellow fished around in her purse before pulling out her phone. “Look.”
Fiona snatched it out of her hands, holding it up to examine her skin through the camera. She gasped, and it was almost like the second she saw the hives forming, she’d begun to really itch. “Aaron,” she said with a voice that seemed brimming on a freakout. “Is—is there baby’s breath in this?”
One of the girls began digging around in the roses while Aaron hesitated. “I?—”
“There is!” the girl said, prying the flowers apart until the bouquet nearly unraveled. “It’s hidden at the bottom!”
Fiona thrust the flowers into the girl’s arms, and with both hands free, she clawed at her neck. Annalise put a hand over her mouth, but whether it was out of horror or to stifle a laugh, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t look over to check. I, for one, watched, horrified. Trisha rushed around with a bottle of water, as if that’d do anything.
“I—I thought I told you,” Fiona mumbled to Aaron. “About my allergy. You must’ve forgotten?”
Even from here, I could see the panic flash over Aaron’s face.
I moved on autopilot. Before I could think it through, I rushed forward. “I’m so sorry ,” I said as I hurried over to them, clasping my hands to my chest. “Trisha. There’s a first aid kit in the bottom drawer. It should have Benadryl.”
“You’re sorry?” one of Fiona’s friends asked, frowning. “Did you do this?”
Before I could get another step, Aaron grabbed my upper arm, pulling me back. His voice was a low hiss in my ear. “What are you?—”
“Aaron asked me to order Fiona flowers.” I turned to the girl mid-allergic reaction. “He told me about your allergy, but I—I must’ve forgotten to tell the florist. I’m so sorry, Fiona. This is my fault, not Aaron’s.”
“You forgot ?” Fiona’s eyes bugged wide. Trisha came up with the bottle of Benadryl as one of Fiona’s friends uncapped the water. “You could’ve killed me because you forgot ?”
“Come on, Fiona.” Annalise cut in then, strolling over. “Your hives aren’t that serious. Take the Benadryl and stop being dramatic.”
Her nostrils flared as she sucked in a breath, but instead of glaring at Annalise, she focused on me. “You ordered the flowers?”
“She didn’t.” Aaron turned and narrowed his eyes at me. Stop talking , his expression said.
Fiona wasn’t appeased. “So you’re just lying?”
“Fiona,” one of her friends whispered, but it was still loud enough for everyone to hear. “In front of Aaron, you look…”
Realization hit her then. Fiona tried to scuttle behind her friends. Almost as if they were robots, they all moved in front of her, creating a wall that shielded her from Aaron Astor’s view. It might’ve been comical to watch if I wasn’t afraid of Fiona’s throat closing.
“Aaron, I’ll contact you later about tonight,” she breathed, grabbing a fistful of one of the girls’ shirts and backing up. “T-Thank you again for the flowers!”
And with that, in a block formation, the girls hurried off toward the nearest bathroom, ending the show.
It took two seconds for Aaron to whirl around. The open, unguarded expression he’d worn yesterday in the music hall was gone, replaced by something sharper—anger, bright and crackling in his eyes. “Are you trying to get yourself fired?”
“I—”
“Why would you say you bought them when you didn’t?” A short breath escaped him, something like a scoff. “Unless you actually did—are you insane?”
Heat flared in my chest. “I was covering for you,” I snapped, his anger feeding mine. “Forgetting an allergy isn’t exactly a great way to win someone over, genius?—”
“I didn’t buy them.”
Annalise’s gaze darted between us. “Then who did?”
None of us spoke. Almost everyone at Alderton-Du Ponte knew about Fiona’s allergy; she was the reason baby’s breath was practically banned from the property. Besides, hidden at the bottom of the bouquet? Who hides baby’s breath?
Aaron exhaled sharply, dragging a hand through his hair. “You shouldn’t have tried to take the fall for it.”
“Oh, but you should?” My voice was sharp. “You don’t need any screw-ups when you’re this close.” Our eyes locked, the air between us shifting. Something passed between us—something unspoken, something charged. We’re in the same boat, remember? “You need to spin this in your favor.”
Annalise inhaled suddenly, her brows shooting up. “Wait. Lovey. Do you know?”
“Lovisa found out about the will.” Aaron didn’t look away from me as he said it, didn’t care to look at anyone’s reaction but my own. “By accident .”
Right, I’d accidentally picked the papers up off his desk. Just like he’d accidentally spilled my mimosa tray.
“You found out?” Annalise echoed. “Is that why you were asking all those questions about Aaron a few minutes ago?”
“Y-You told me everything voluntarily,” I sputtered, cheeks heating. “I didn’t ask anything?—”
“It doesn’t matter,” Aaron cut in, shaking his head as if shaking our voices away. “How can I spin this in my favor?”
Annalise turned to Trisha behind the desk, who tried to seem like she hadn’t been eavesdropping. “Can you book a spa day down at Rêve Relax in Bayview for me? For one. For Fiona Flannagan.”
Trisha’s eyes flicked to mine briefly. “Of course, of course. Shall I say it’s courtesy of Mr. Astor?”
“Please.” Annalise turned back to Aaron. “Fiona will call you after getting the call about the appointment, and you’ll offer to drive over to her house and hand deliver more medication if she needs it. Takeout. Ice cream. Whatever she wants. Tell her—I don’t know—that seeing her sick triggered a protective instinct in you or something.”
Aaron’s face scrunched. “I have to say that?”
“You’ll pursue her harder,” she insisted. “Trust me. Knowing Fiona, that will get her right where you want her.”
Aaron didn’t answer right away. He mulled it all over, clearly playing the scenarios through in his head. Most of the frustration had ebbed from him, but was still visible in the stony way he had his jaw set. It was strange to see this side of the conversation, Annalise coaching him through the steps, trying to calm down his visible anxiety. His eyes were downcast, but couldn’t seem to land on one spot on the floor. His fingers fidgeted where he pressed them against the sides of his legs.
According to Annalise, it was because Fiona was his ticket back into the family, and he thought he’d almost lost it.
“You’ve got time.” Annalise laid a hand on his shoulder. “Fiona’s just as desperate as you are, but in a different way. She’ll accept.”
I knew I should’ve offered support as well, should’ve encouraged him as she had, but I couldn’t open my mouth. Watching him fight for a steady breath, I could see just how important that was to him. It was a strange thing to be privy to. And I wished, again, that I hadn’t seen this side.
“She will,” Aaron breathed, the words soft, as if he were speaking them to soothe himself. “She has to.”