Chapter 61 Astrid
ASTRID
“How does he look?” Paige asks as I lie on the couch, nursing a glass of white wine.
“I’m not answering that.” I’ve been trying to banish the image of his gorgeous face from my mind since the second I walked through my front door.
“I’ll just Google him. I bet there’s a picture of him on the company website.”
“You do that, and while you’re at it, try to remember how you’re supposed to be rooting for the man I’m actually with, not the one who tossed me aside like trash for my best friend.”
“Except it seems now like he didn’t,” she quietly replies. “Or have you forgotten what his parting words were to you tonight?”
“Hardly.” I gulp down a large mouthful of wine. “It’s been playing on a loop in my brain ever since. Why did he have to be so cryptic?”
“Was he cryptic though? It sounded pretty straightforward to me. He said he didn’t cheat on you.”
“Then how do you explain his daughter?”
“I have my theories, but I’m not sharing them. You should talk to him, Astrid.”
“I can’t do that to Seán.”
“It’s only talking, babe. If you tell Seán everything and explain you need answers to questions that have plagued you for years, he’ll understand.”
I snort out a laugh. “I really don’t think he will. You didn’t see him earlier. I’ve never seen him like that.” Sure, if other men look at me when we’re out, my fiancé doesn’t like it, but a well-placed glare usually fixes the problem, and he forgets all about them.
But not Callan.
He seems to trigger Seán, and I know it’s probably my fault for the things I’ve said and haven’t said.
“It’s not his decision,” Paige says. “It’s your life.
You get to make the call, and if he’s trying to control it, then perhaps you need to ask yourself some difficult questions.
He should trust you implicitly. You have never given him any reason not to.
If the cards were reversed, would you stop him from finding the answers he’s desperately needed to finally draw a line under a past relationship? To truly heal and move forward?”
“I’d be jealous too,” I honestly admit.
“That’s not what I asked.”
Trust my lawyer best friend to constantly push me, but it’s done with the best of intentions. It’s what we do for one another. “I wouldn’t like it, him spending time with an ex, but I wouldn’t stop him if it’s what he needed to get closure because I…I trust him.”
“I’m so proud of you.” Paige’s voice wobbles with emotion. “Look how far you have come. I love you.”
“I love you too, and I couldn’t have done it without you or Seán. He’s resurrected my faith in love.”
“And he has nothing to fear. Neither do you. Go get your answers, babe. Clear the air with Callan. It will make it easier on both of you to work together and to move beyond the past.”
“I miss you already. You have to come visit soon. We have plenty of guest rooms because my fiancé is insane and he bought a six-bedroom house when there are only two of us.”
“Where can I find me a billionaire fiancée to buy me a mansion and pop a big ring on my finger?”
“Your queen is out there somewhere, and she’ll find you.” Through the window, I spy Seán’s car coming up the short driveway. “Seán’s home. I’ve got to go.”
“Call me after you speak with Callan.”
“Of course.”
I hang up and walk to the kitchen to serve dinner.
“Something smells delicious,” Seán says, coming into the kitchen.
“I made beef stroganoff.”
“My favorite.” He leans in to kiss me. “You’re spoiling me.”
“Hardly. It’s only dinner.” In comparison to the ways in which he spoils me, it’s a drop in the ocean.
“Aren’t we eating in the dining room?” He frowns at the place settings I laid out on the island unit.
“I thought it’d be cozier in here, but we can eat in the dining room if you want.”
“Is there time to grab a quick shower?”
“Yes.” I tilt my head back for another kiss.
“I won’t be long.”
I stir the stroganoff and check on the rice before taking the placemats and silverware into the dining room. It’s a gorgeous room, but way too formal for my liking. I wish I had the time to redecorate, but I’ll be far too busy at the resort to manage it at the same time.
Seán bought the house as a surprise. He suggested we keep a vacation home here, and while it was a sweet gesture, I’m not sure either of us will want to keep it after the hotel has reopened, given the new circumstances.
If we hold on to the house, and that’s a big if at the moment, I’ll definitely redecorate.
Seán returns dressed in jeans and a golf shirt, managing to make that look sophisticated, and I feel like a slouch in my yoga pants and tee. We sit down across from one another, and I ask him what happened on the site and how the worker is.
After, we take the bottle of wine and our glasses into the sitting room and snuggle up on the couch.
I open up and tell him about Callan and me, not going into the full details of our relationship, but explaining how serious it was, how we went to college together and had planned a future in London together.
I tell him about the betrayal and how what they did almost ended me.
“I’m firing him,” he calmly says when I’ve finished explaining.
I sit upright and turn around with his arm loosely around my waist. “No, Seán. I already told you I don’t want you to do that.”
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t.”
“It’s unprofessional and unfair to fire him when he hasn’t reneged on any aspect of the contract.”
“That can be easily rectified.”
“I don’t want you ruining his business. It’s unethical.”
He snorts and sits up straighter, his arm dropping away from me. “I forget how innocent you are sometimes. This is the way business gets done in my world.”
“Don’t patronize me, and your ruthless reputation speaks for itself. I’m well aware of how you like to play dirty to get what you want.”
“Don’t expect me to apologize.”
“I’m not. I’m just asking you not to do anything to Callan.”
“Why the fuck do you even care?”
“I’m not saying I do.”
“Then you won’t mind if I fire his ass and ruin his company. It’s the least he deserves after he hurt you.”
“He hurt me!” I slap a hand over my chest. “I was the one wronged, not you. If I say I don’t want him punished, that should be good enough. I don’t want you fighting my battles for me.”
“Why the fuck are you protecting him?”
“I’m not. He’s a single father. He has a daughter to provide for. I don’t want you taking away his ability to care for her.”
“He’s not exactly destitute. He owns a property worth two-point-five mil in Ryemont and a penthouse apartment in London he rents out. He doesn’t have a huge amount of cash in the bank, but he could get by comfortably if he downsizes. Trust me, he has enough to adequately provide for Darcy.”
I’m horrified as I stare at him. “You ran checks on him? That is a massive invasion of his privacy.”
“Oh, relax. We do comprehensive checks on everyone we do business with.” He dismisses my concern with a wave of his hands.
“Then you shouldn’t be telling me this.”
“You’re going to be my wife, and I won’t keep secrets from my wife.” He narrows his eyes, and I don’t like the look on his face. “Unless you’ve changed your mind.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course, I haven’t.” I rotate my shoulders, trying to work out the kinks. “Don’t make this out to be bigger than it is.”
Slowly, he sets his wineglass down before taking mine and placing it beside his on the coffee table. He cups my face and stares deep into my eyes. “Do you still have feelings for him, Astrid?”
“What? Of course, I don’t. Why would you even ask me that?”
“Because you seem super defensive of someone who broke your heart and destroyed your trust in men. I haven’t forgotten how fragile you were when we first started dating or how I painstakingly restored your faith in the male species. It sure as fuck wasn’t for his benefit.”
I jump up, enraged and more than a little hurt. If he’d slapped me, I doubt it would be any more painful. “Fuck you, Seán! How dare you say that. Like I’m some hotel you gutted and rebuilt brick by brick, and I’m only as good as the return you get for it.”
He sighs as he stands, like dealing with me is exhausting. “Come here.”
“Don’t touch me. I mean it, Seán. Don’t fucking touch me right now.”
His lips purse before his face smooths out. “I didn’t mean it like that. You know I didn’t.”
“I know you’re acting crazy and possessive for no reason. I’m trying to be professional about the situation, and you’re talking about ruining a man and a company on a jealous whim. If you can’t see how that is fundamentally, morally wrong, then there is something very wrong with you.”
“He’s fucking single, and he wants you!” he roars. “If you think I’m letting you work with him, when he has a blatant agenda, you’re the fucking crazy one!”
“What agenda?” I yell. “He was expecting Melissa. He didn’t even know I’d be here.”
“Oh, come on, darling. Please don’t be this na?ve. I checked, and Mandy sent the email. He lied about receiving it. He’s known all along you were coming.”
“He wasn’t lying. I saw his face. He was as shocked as me!”
“He was acting! He’s plotting something, and he’s not fucking doing it on my watch.”
“You don’t know him like I do. His reaction was sincere. I bet it’s like he said. It went missing or ended up in junk. He didn’t know, Seán. I know he didn’t know.”
“He’s playing you again, and you’re falling into the same old trap.” A look of disgust washes over his face. “You’re an intelligent woman, Astrid, so why is it you turn into such a dumb blonde when it comes to this guy?”
I cannot believe he just said that to me.
“Get out.” I’m shaking all over, and my fingers twitch with the urge to slap him. I abhor violence, and I never want to raise my hand to anyone, but boy, am I tempted now. “Get out, Seán, before we both say something we’ll regret.”