CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Lorelei
I stare at the man sitting opposite me, not sure of what to say. He doesn’t need to introduce himself as Desmond looks just like him. I bet in the next twenty years, Desmond would look just like Alexander Sinclair. I have been quite curious about the type of man Alexander Sinclair is.
I had read a few things about him only, and while there are a lot of articles about his success as the Executive Vice Chairman of Sinclair Holdings, there’s very little about him as a father and husband.
I know for a fact that this man had a huge influence on shaping who Desmond is, and I wonder just how much influence he had, given how Desmond often avoids talking about him.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Lorelei Bennet, or I guess I should call you Lorelei Sinclair since you are married to my son.”
“I can’t say the same, Mr. Sinclair. Does Desmond know about this meeting?”
Clearly, the man is up to something, though that would be me jumping to an assumption.
I remember that Desmond had quite a lot to say about his father on a few occasions, and while I am not the type to let other people’s opinions cloud my view of a person, I have heard enough about Alexander Sinclair to be wary of him.
“Let’s not talk about my son for a moment. I’m here to talk about you,” Alexander Sinclair says as he picks up the folder next to him. “The more I read about you, the more impressed I am. Got your GED yourself, and you could have gone to a college if conditions were slightly different.”
Yeah, he is going to stress how I’m not the perfect match for his son.
“Anyway, I am here to make you a splendid offer.”
“You want me to leave Desmond, don’t you?
” He pauses before laughing out loud. He wags his finger, telling me how impressed he is.
He clears his throat, then clarifies that I am not entirely right.
“I need you to leave Desmond, but not because I think you’re not a good match for him.
In fact, I think having you by his side has sort of brought some form of comportment to his life, and at the moment, I can’t have that. ”
Growing up, I had always envied kids who had their parents still alive.
What would it feel like to have someone always supporting you, even when you stumble?
Whenever Desmond talks about how Alexander shouldn’t be a father, I had always thought that he was stretching things a bit.
Now? I don’t think Desmond was painting an accurate picture of the kind of man his father is.
“Why would you want your son to fail?” I bring myself to ask.
Alexander sighs. “I see that you’ve grown attached to him, but trust me, you don’t want to be involved in this world, young lady.
You are young, so you think your love would be enough or something like that, but trust me, ten years down the line, you’ll wonder how things would have turned out if you never chose to be with him, which is why I am offering you a way out.
You not only don’t have to stay married to him, but you will have enough money to do anything you want, be it to remain here in the United States or to never work a day for the next hundred years. ”
Great, he is trying to buy me.
“I think you should take your leave,” I reach for the door, but Alexander stops me.
“Think carefully about my offer. You don’t have a full grasp of what it means to be married into the Sinclair family, Lorelei. You are a smart lady, and with time, you’ll get to see the logic behind my offer.”
“I don’t need to think about your offer, sir,” I assure him, but Alexander simply chuckles.
“One thing you’ll come to learn the longer you stay in our world, Lorelei, relationships are expendable to us. Yes, you might think that Desmond cares about you, but trust me, he would give up what you have for something better, should he find it.”
He places the file right on my lap before he opens the door and steps out. I remain seated, where I am not sure what exactly had gone down. What is in the file he had given me, and why would Alexander go to such extreme lengths to sabotage his son?
The limo starts, but my mind keeps going over the entire meeting with Alexander Sinclair.
I can see now why Desmond had made sure that we never met, and I wonder how he would react if he should ever find out that I met with him.
I look at the folder sitting right next to me, and I realize that a few days ago, this might have been a tempting offer.
Before my abduction, I would have seriously considered an avenue of leaving Desmond, but now, I know better.
I can’t leave Desmond, not when I’m in love with him.
Especially now that I’m pregnant. A child should be brought into this world by two parents who are in love with each other. I am confident of my feelings for Desmond, but does he feel the same way? I mean, everything points to him being protective of me, but Alexander’s words ring in my ears.
I shake my head as I remember how Desmond had thrown himself into danger just to protect me. Yes, he clearly loves me, and I’m a fool for thinking otherwise.
But for how long? Two years? Five years? Ten years?
As the limousine pulls to a stop, I take a deep breath.
For now, I need to put the dreadful meeting with Alexander behind me since Desmond would need my help dealing with Damian’s failing health.
I fold the folder into my purse, glad that I had brought it along with me.
I step out into the busy street, and I realize that I must be at Damian’s place.
At the entrance, a lady dressed in a dashing suit is waiting to lead me up to the penthouse.
The level of security and extravagance amazes me, and I remember that this is the Sinclairs’ world, a world that I still haven’t gotten a full grasp of.
I take a deep breath as my guide leads me to the exquisite doors, and I steel my heart to deal with the sight of Damian being in bed.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Damian’s loud voice echoes as the door swings open.
“What is going on?” I ask as I look around the room.
There is a soccer match playing on the television, and Damian, the man who should be in bed resting, is standing right in front of the television with a beer in his hand.
Desmond, Timothy, and two other men are seated just a few yards away from him, buried in some sort of report, judging from the mass of documents on the table.
“My granddaughter-in-law,” Damian waves at me as my guide leaves the room.
“Lorelei,” Desmond gets onto his feet as he walks over towards me. He kisses me before asking if the doctors have found anything.
I should tell him about the baby.
“Yeah. They recommended bed rest,” I inform him, my gaze still sweeping across the entire room.
At the far end of the room, there’s an empty bed with several machines right beside it, and I guess that’s where Damian should be instead of standing right in front of the television watching soccer.
“I thought his condition was serious?” I ask Desmond, looking at Damian, who beams at me like a mischievous child.
“Yeah... About that,” Desmond begins slowly.
“I’m fine. Just needed to kick my son where it hurts,” Damian comments.
I look from him to Desmond, still not sure what’s going on. Pulling me to a seat, Desmond explains that Damian’s heart attack isn’t real, and they had only pretended like he had suffered another attack to stall Alexander.
“My father is really determined to take over, and by pretending he is sick, we can stall his plans for a few more weeks. I am sorry this is happening now, but my father needs to be stopped.”
Telling him about my meeting with his father would only complicate things, and I don’t need to give Desmond more reasons to hate his father.
“Is there anything else I can do to help?” I ask Desmond, who simply shakes his head and tells me to get some rest.
“You can lie on the bed since he isn’t using it,” Desmond says as he nods in Damian’s direction.
I try to object, but Damian tells me I should get some rest. Desmond returns to work, and I find myself watching him, realizing the striking resemblance he has to his father. Could both men be the same in every dimension?
“Charming, isn’t he?” Damian comments as he sits right next to me. “You know, I should be thanking you.”
“For what?” I ask a little bit nervously.
“I don’t know how much he told you, but I have been trying forever to get him to take things seriously.
Even going down to Daston to deal with Westward Logistics, I had to threaten him, but being with you made him take things seriously,” Damian explains, his gaze focused on Desmond.
“Somehow, it seems being with you matured him, and for that I am forever grateful.”
“He did that on his own, you don’t have to give me credit for that,” I try to clarify, but Damian shakes his head.
“Maybe. Maybe not. In my years as a businessman, I have gotten a knack for seeing past all the bullshit, and I know you are responsible for the change in him.”
Arguing with Damian won’t do anything, and I process his words. Clearly, Damian wants to believe that I made Desmond suddenly sit up, but I know better than to believe him.
“Why exactly is Alexander against you? I mean, isn’t he your son?”
Damian freezes, his shoulders slumping, and a sigh escaping from his lips. I guess I had hit a sore topic, and I immediately tried to apologize. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”
“No, it is something you should know since you are a member of the Sinclair family now.”
I listen with rapt attention as Damian tells me about how Alexander had always been a difficult child growing up.
After his mother’s death, he had blamed Damian and was determined to wrestle control of Sinclair Holdings from Damian, who wouldn’t let the company he and his wife had built all their lives go to ruin because of their son’s hatred.
“When he met Cassandra, his wife, I thought things would change, but they were bad for each other.” Damian shakes his head, regret thick in his voice. “They are still married, but we have no idea where Cassandra is. Probably somewhere in Europe or Nepal on some spiritual enlightenment.”
Desmond had hinted at something like that when I asked about his parents.
“Who looked after Desmond if they hated each other?”
Damian smiles and answers that he had raised Desmond after Alexander abandoned him.
He tells me about how having Desmond in his life made him happy.
Somehow, it felt like the universe had compensated him for how Alexander turned out.
Desmond had turned out quite all right, but he had his own failings.
“Mostly due to my fault. You know he never worked a day until he joined Westward Logistics. When he told me he wanted to work in the dispatch room, I could barely believe my ears. I thought he was up to something.”
“Desmond decided to work in the dispatch room? I thought you made him work in the dispatch room to learn about the company?”
That was what Timothy and Desmond had explained to me when I discovered Desmond’s real identity. Could they have lied?
“No, I only told him he needed to resume as CEO. He won’t admit it, but he probably walked into that room, saw you, and fell in love at first sight, just like I did with his grandma. She was working in a mail room when I saw her.”
I tune out Damian’s words as I look at Desmond. If he had decided to work at the dispatch office because of me, that would have changed everything. A man who has never worked a day in his life spent weeks in a cramped office space just to be right next to me.
Everything has been pointing to the fact that Desmond had never thought a second about being with me, but I had tried to deny it. Even now, a part of me still doesn’t want to believe that this gem of a man is my husband.
And the future father of my children.
I subconsciously reach for my stomach, Damian noticing and asking me if everything is fine.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just amazed at the story you told me,” I lie to him.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure when you tell my great-grandchildren about how you met, they’ll feel the same way. I hope you both spend a long time together, Lorelei. Desmond might not look it, but he is fragile. Don’t break his heart.”
I’ll never do that. Breaking Desmond’s heart is just the same as breaking my own heart.
I look at Desmond, who has a pen tucked behind his ear, and I realize that I am hopelessly in love with him.
Alexander might think he knows everything, but he is wrong.
I’ll be with Desmond Sinclair for as long as he lets me be.
Even if he falls in love with another woman, I would still choose to be with him because he has laid a claim to my heart, body, and soul.
A claim that would last till the very end of time.