Chapter 17
ZACH
Afew days after I’d accepted defeat and admitted that I’d contracted the plague, I was no longer actively dying.
I hadn’t made a complete recovery yet and I definitely wouldn’t be running any marathons this week, but I could stand upright without the world tilting under my feet and I hadn’t sneezed in at least fifteen minutes.
“Are you still alive?” Nate asked as he walked into my home office, smiling and toting a cardboard tray with two takeout coffees.
“Barely,” I said as he dropped into the chair across from me. “I’ve seen things now, Nathaniel. Tiny, snotty things. Oh, and demon hunters.”
“I’m assuming the tiny, snotty things were Adeline’s children?” he guessed.
“No, not children.” I shook my head and leaned forward. “It was biological warfare disguised as small, smiling humans.”
He chuckled and handed me a coffee out of the tray before leaning back in the chair with his own in his hands. “Well, that clears it up. What the fuck is a demon hunter, though?”
“A pop star who can leap off buildings without getting injured and who has to—” I cut myself off and groaned. “Never mind.”
Nate smirked and slid a document toward me. “Look at this. These guys approached Jesse about a possible acquisition and I think it’s right up your alley. That’s why I asked to come here today. We need to move fast if you’re interested. We’re not the only firm they’re talking to.”
I pulled it closer, scanning through the numbers and letting my brain switch gears into more familiar territory. Work didn’t care about my ex, my flu symptoms, or my potential marriage, and that was exactly the distraction I needed right now.
Nate walked me through the background and the client profile, pointing out possible pitfalls and strengths in the company, but after about an hour, he suddenly looked up at me again and his expression had changed completely.
“Alex will have the marriage contracts finalized by Friday,” he said. “The lawyers are drafting the documents as we speak and he said the negotiations were basically complete.”
I didn’t look up from the papers in front of me. “Good. That’s good.”
There was a slight pause before he shifted in his chair, almost at the edge of it now. He watched me so closely, it was like he was waiting for something dramatic to happen. It was suspicious, to say the least. Nate didn’t usually appreciate the drama in any of our lives.
“You’re being weird,” I said.
“I’m not.”
I finally glanced up to arch an eyebrow at him. “You said that like you’re being weird.”
He held my gaze for a beat before he gave me a shrug and a light nod. “Fine. You winced when I told you the contracts would be ready soon.”
“I was just adjusting my posture. I’ve been sitting in this chair all day.”
“Fine, you winced while you were adjusting your posture,” he said, exasperation tightening his tone. “Either way, you still winced.”
“I’m recovering from the plague. What do you want from me?”
He leaned forward a little. “To admit that this is about more than just not feeling well.”
I scoffed. “I didn’t just not feel well. I felt like I got run over by a truck.”
His eyes rolled. “You had a mild fever.”
“Which is more than either you or I have had since we were kids,” I argued. “Admit it. If you suddenly got a fever now, you’d think you were dying too.”
He chuckled. “Kate and I both caught something from Emma last month and we powered through it just fine. Talk to me, Zach. This isn’t just about the flu.”
“Fine.” I folded my hands on the desk in front of me. “I want to review those contracts before they get sent to Adeline. I’m not letting anything slip through the cracks.”
“I figured. Alex has already mentioned taking you through the terms for your additions or amendments before you discuss them with her,” he said, then paused for another beat. “Are you okay? I mean, you can’t be. This is a lot.”
I thought about the way she’d signed her divorce papers, how she hadn’t even hesitated before putting pen to paper, and then I thought about those girls, both of them sick and Adeline as well, but she’d sent the nanny away so she wouldn’t get sick too.
“Adeline signed away every penny in exchange for her daughters,” I said.
“She gave it all away without even flinching just so she would get full custody of kids that asshole doesn’t even want.
I’m not letting her struggle, Nate. I’m going through with it.
As long as it’s her choice whether she agrees.
I’m not trying to force her into anything. ”
“Would you be okay with that?” he asked. “If she decides not to go through with it?”
“No, but I’ll accept it,” I said honestly. “I’m setting up trust accounts for the girls either way. I’ve started the process already.”
His eyebrows hiked up. “Already? You don’t even know if she’s going to marry you yet.”
“That doesn’t matter.” I shrugged. “I’m not tying their security to a marriage contract. If she decides she doesn’t want to, so be it, I’m still setting up these accounts for them.”
“Why?”
It was a simple question, but the answer was significantly more complicated. Unfortunately, Nate noticed my hesitation, which didn’t come as much of a surprise. Nate always noticed and he never let the important things go once he had noticed.
“What is it, Zach? They’re not your kids. I mean, unless I’m really bad at math—”
“It’s not your money,” I countered, turning my attention back to my laptop just to look busy.
“Look, I know you’ve done really well for yourself and I know that means you can be generous without batting an eye, but setting up trust accounts for kids who aren’t yours? They’re not your responsibility.”
“And what I do with my money isn’t any concern of yours.”
He sighed. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t do it. All I’m asking is why you would. It’s one thing to set them up after she’s agreed to marry you, but—”
“I’m doing it because they should’ve been mine,” I snapped, breathing hard when I finally looked back at him.
“All of this, including the fact that they were born to a man who doesn’t want them because they have the wrong genitalia, is my fault.
Those girls don’t deserve what happened to them and that’s on me.
The least I can do is give them some money.
I don’t have anyone else to leave it to anyway. ”
For once in his life, Nate was speechless, just sitting there staring at me like I’d told him I believed aliens lived in our backyard.
After taking a moment to regain control of my harsh breathing, I cleared my throat and turned back to the laptop, typing something meaningless just to fill the silence.
Finally, when he still hadn’t said anything several long minutes later, I snapped the computer shut and brought my gaze back up to his. “Okay. I feel like a jackass sitting here, pretending that was a normal thing to say.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.
“No.”
“Okay, well, we’re going to anyway.”
“Fantastic.”
“You’ve been carrying that around for a while, huh?”
I nodded, then dropped my head back to stare at the patterns pressed into the ceiling. “I should’ve fought harder for her, Nate. I should’ve put my foot down. I should have just fucking done something. Anything would’ve been better than just letting it happen.”
“Okay, I hear you, but you didn’t just let it happen,” he said. “You did fight for her. Old Man Morris wouldn’t hear you out.”
“Which is why I should’ve fought harder. I could’ve made him listen, Nate. If I kept trying, he might’ve come around, but I gave up and I never should’ve done that.”
“No, you couldn’t make him listen, man.” He exhaled a long breath, propping his elbows on his knees and staring directly at me. “You’re rewriting history here, Zach.”
“I’m not. I’m just remembering it.”
“No, you’re editing it,” he said gently. “You did everything you could at the time.”
I shook my head. “There were contracts being negotiated and meetings being had. Dozens of steps were taken before she said I do. I should’ve gotten in front of it. It’s not like I didn’t have time.”
He let out a heavy sigh but finally nodded and sat up straight again. “Okay, I’m willing to play devil’s advocate with you. What should you have done differently, huh? Walked into a room full of Morris and Weatherby lawyers and told them to call it off?”
“Yes.”
“On what authority?” he asked, his head shaking as he held my gaze.
“By the time that deal was in motion, we couldn’t even reach the tip of what they were offering.
They were pushing it through at lightning speed and Weatherby’s brokerage was a giant at the time.
The slabs of it they cut off and put on the table—”
“I still could’ve tried.”
“No. You were excluded deliberately.” His gaze never left mine. “God, Zach. They made you and Dad sign an NDA about your relationship with Adeline before the marriage even went through because they didn’t want complications. They knew exactly what you were to each other.”
“Yeah, but—”
He didn’t let me finish. “Once that was signed, you couldn’t have touched those contracts if you tried. Not legally and not without blowing everything up and hurting her even more.”
I let that sit for a minute, knowing deep down that he was right but rejecting the truth anyway. “I still should have done something.”
“You did what you could with what you had.”
“It wasn’t enough.”
“No,” he said simply. “It wasn’t, but that doesn’t mean it was your fault.
” Nate stood, walked around the desk, and reached out to give my shoulder a quick squeeze.
“You didn’t make that match, Zach. You also didn’t get their business into such deep shit that a deal had to be made immediately, either. None of this is on you.”
I grunted but didn’t say anything.
“Keep your head up.” He patted my shoulder before dropping his hand away. “For what it’s worth, the trust accounts are a good idea. It won’t fix everything for those girls, but it’s still an amazing thing you’re doing for them.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Thanks.”
He took a step away from me, then walked back around the desk, but paused when he got to my door. “Take some vitamin C and zinc. We need you back at the office.”
I glanced at him. “That’s your best medical advice?”
“That’s my brotherly advice.”
I finally cracked a smile. “I’ll treasure it always.”
“You should,” he said, opening the door. “It’s all you’re getting from me. As much as I love you, Emma is the only one I’m setting up a trust for.”
With that, he winked and strode out, quietly shutting the door behind him. I exhaled deeply once he was gone, knowing that talking to him about it wasn’t exactly the same as getting Adeline’s consent, but at least it was another step forward.
And right now, that felt like the best I could possibly ask for.