Chapter 36 #2
“That’s not wh—"
“Go,” Reese offered, as if she were doing me a favor and not trying to get away from me. “Just remember this, Clay Montgomery. You may have stolen my heart, but you are not stealing my property.”
She slid into the car, shutting me out even as I called her name.
Police cars and press vans swarmed down the street, but all I could see was one sedan pulling away, taking the woman I loved farther from me in more ways than one.
I pushed through the door to my apartment as the sun was making its morning appearance.
The entire day and night had been hell. Every minute spent dealing with police and lawyers and investigators was a moment I wasn’t chasing after Reese.
Nothing in my life had ever felt more wrong than letting her leave in that car.
“Clayton?”
I stopped short, not even having seen my grandmother sitting in the living room. She was already dressed for the day, but her eyes held none of the spark I’d expected after ousting Reginald. Was she missing Reese too?
“How long have you been here?”
“All night,” she answered, her voice sympathetic. “I wanted to be here if you needed me. How are you?”
I shrugged and slunk over to the sofa, flinging myself down. “Terrible.” Losing Reese completely overshadowed the pleasure at finally having Reginald out of our lives and my company. Funny how my perspective on things changed in a matter of weeks.
“Did you try calling her?”
More times than I cared to admit. “She’s not answering.
” The only thing I was grateful for was that she hadn’t blocked me.
Yet. “Her family too. No one is answering.” At this point, I just wanted to know she was okay.
I’d deal with everything else as it came, but I needed to know she was home and safe.
Home.
I’d thought that about this very space not long ago, how this apartment had never felt like a home until Reese stepped foot inside it. I slept here, occasionally relaxed, but that was about it. Reese had added a spark that changed the entire atmosphere. Like she had done to my life.
Now I understood it wasn’t the place I wanted to come back to. It was the woman.
Reese was home. She was the home I’d been looking for since mine had blown up when I was a teen.
“Clayton, this is not over,” Grandmother’s voice was strong, but tinged with sadness. “I know it seems that way, but it’s not.”
A brittle laugh escaped my mouth. “I doubt that, Grandmother. You didn’t see her.”
Standing, she made her way over and lowered herself down next to me. “First of all, never doubt me, Clayton.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
“I’m not doubting you, but I am being realistic.
” The pain in Reese’s eyes yesterday, the distrust, was what bothered me the most. “She wasn’t even willing to consider I wasn’t lying.
” Damn Reginald. “Fuck. I should have been prepared he’d do something like this.
” I’d spent days going over documents he forged and doctored.
Never once had it occurred to me he had this up his sleeve.
I’d been too worried about the company and not what mattered even more.
“She had what she considered ‘proof,’ but wasn’t even willing to listen to me.
” The second she believed Reginald’s lies over me, hit me like an anvil in the chest.
“She’s hurt and confused. You can’t blame her for that.
Your brother mentioned you finally told her everything.
” Grandmother looked at me, and I knew I was in for a lecture.
“You should have given her the whole story much earlier. Then maybe she wouldn’t have been in such a delicate position when Reginald spoke with her.
I understand why you did what you did, but it gave him an opening.
” She shook her head, regret a flicker in her eyes.
“I tried to make sure that your mother’s decisions did not hurt you children, but I fear you were.
There’s a shell of protectiveness around all of you I could never break through. ”
“This is not your fault.” I hated that she had any feelings of regret regarding all she had done for us.
“You saved us when we didn’t know how to handle anything.
” People often thought having money meant never feeling pain or hurt or insecurity.
That wasn’t true. Money couldn’t negate the loss of a parent.
“None of us would be who we are without you.”
She patted me on the cheek, like she used to do when I was a child.
“I like to think I helped you grow into the people you are today. Still, I feel as I do, and that’s not something you can change or tell me is wrong.
Just like I cannot tell you it’s wrong to feel the guilt, even if I think you should not.
Same as I will not pretend Reese doesn’t have the right to her own feelings.
” Tilting her head, she went on, “It’s what we do in response to those feelings that is the true test.”
“She left, which makes sense. She wants nothing to do with us any longer.” Even saying the words sent a stab of pain through my heart.
“Like I said, she’s hurt.” Grandmother patted my hand. “She won’t stay like that forever. You have to be ready to be there when she’s willing to let you back in.”
I worried that may be never. Not after the way she interpreted my words yesterday. Reese was open and loving, but she also wrapped a layer of protection around her.
I looked at my grandmother, remembering all the times I would simply sit by her side and talk to her. I’d talk, and she’d listen, and somehow everything would be okay in the end. Maybe it was no different now.
“She’s been told her whole life she’s ‘too much,’ and has always taken it as a knock against her.”
“But…”
“It’s not.” I have no doubt that, whoever said it, meant it to be exactly that, but they were misguided.
“It’s a reflection of the person saying it.
She’s too much for them because they can’t come near her passion.
For her, she’s the perfect amount. It’s why her plans for the property never seemed out of reach in her mind.
They simply are what her brain, her will, is telling her is right. ”
Reese had wrapped herself up in those words others used to describe her.
She’d taken them to heart and believed them, believed they meant the worst, even as she fought against them without knowing it.
Most people would have thrown in the towel if others had told them their dreams were too much.
Not her. She dug in and fought for what she wanted.
“You see that because you love her.”
“I do.” Even though my heart was bruised, I smiled as I said the words. It felt right, like the actual act of loving her did.
A light flashed in Grandmother’s eyes as her lips tilted up. “At least you’re not a complete lost cause, Clayton, and can see what’s right in front of you. Now, what are you going to do to get that woman back?”
This was the tricky part because I didn’t know if it mattered anymore, so I said as much to my grandmother.
Getting to her feet, she flicked her hand at me, dismissing my concern.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she spoke over her shoulder as she moved toward the windows.
Bright sunlight streamed over her. “That girl is head over heels for you. Being hurt or mad won’t stop the love.
” With a subtle nod, as if she’d made a decision, she continued, “I know you have your issues with your mother, as do I, because of Reginald. Because he brought out the worst in her.”
Anger at the man and my mother once again coursed through me, but this time it was tempered with an unwillingness to hear anything negative about Mother. I opened my mouth to refute Grandmother’s words, but her raised hand stopped me.
“Now, before you say it, everyone has a ‘worse’ side. Some people never let others see it, whereas others live there permanently. For most of us, it’s when we are with people we shouldn’t be, but none of this is neither here nor there.”
I didn’t know where she was heading with this story, but I could tell it was important for her to tell it.
“Alessia took after your grandfather when it came to business. Hard and cutthroat more often than not. Charles changed a lot of that. I know you’ve heard the stories.
She tamed him, and he relaxed her, but their relationship was not smooth sailing.
” Slipping her hand in a pocket, she pulled out a tissue, enfolding it in her grasp.
“I loved your father. He was never simply a son-in-law to me. His own parents were never there for him, and to be honest, I felt a little bit of a connection with him. My parents were like that also, it’s why I never hesitated to show Alessia or you children love.
It’s the most important thing you can give.
” She faced the windows, staring out, likely remembering the past. “Your parents had been together for about a year, maybe longer, when Charles was negotiating with a resort in Southeast Asia, I believe. He talked about it constantly. His plans, his vision for the future.”
As I sat there, worry snaked up my spine. I didn’t know where this story was going, or if I was ready to hear it.
Didn’t know if I wanted to.
“At the last minute, someone swooped in, offering more money.”
“Conti.” She didn’t need to actually confirm my guess. There was no other reason for telling the story.
“Alessia, in fairness, believed it could be something for the two of them to build up together, but she went about it the wrong way.”
“I can’t imagine that went over well.”
“It did not. Charles broke off the relationship. He could understand her reasoning, but not how she went about it, and I didn’t blame him.
It devastated your mother, but like the Conti she was, she dug her heels in for months.
I talked to your father almost every day.
He was beyond angry, but not because she undercut him.
His anger didn’t stem from the business aspect at all. ”