chapter THIRTY-ONE #2
“You tricked me?” Alexander asks me. I am shocked he would even believe this nonsense.
“No!” I shout. How in the world could he possible think I was capable of this?
I want to run to his side and beg him to believe me but this is Alexander.
My Alexander. The man who closed his heart off for fear of being used.
His worst nightmare is coming true. It all feels like a bad dream “You can’t believe this—”
“Believe it,” Malory says. “Don’t you think it was all too convenient? The sister gets sick, not once but twice? I bet Emma’s hand isn’t really injured. Probably just a ploy to get to your wounded soul.”
I turn to Malory. She is stunning in her vindictiveness.
What Alexander has is worth far more to her than I ever imagined.
She went through a lot of trouble putting this affidavit together.
“How do you even know how we met?” I ask in any attempt to find an explanation for what is happening.
Realization suddenly strikes. A memory of a woman in fancy shoes, dark sunglasses and wide brimmed hat. “I saw you. At the hotel, I saw you.”
My mind is reeling, placing intricate pieces of the puzzle together. Malory left the magazine under the doorway.
“You were going to frame me back then. You wanted Asher to catch me with the magazine as if I knew who he was the entire time. You were going to fake this affidavit back then, but you didn’t have to. Adam pinged the boat and sent Alexander into his own frenzy. You thought I was gone forever.”
She was so concerned about her investment and supposed future with Alexander Asher, she wanted to keep us apart before we even started.
And she succeeded.
“Who hurt you so badly you want to destroy other people’s lives?”
Her mouth clenches tight and her nostrils flare as she breathes in hard. “You know nothing about me! Asher, you cannot let her fool you any longer. You have to see—”
“Get out!” Alex shouts. To whom I’m nervous to find out. “Malory. Get out!”
Malory cowers a little and I almost feel sorry for her. “Asher, no. She is using you! She’s like the rest of them. She faked that drowning scene. Why do you think she’s here? This has all been a ploy to get to you!”
“I said—Get. The Fuck. Out!” Alexander roars like a lion. Malory’s chest is panting as the shock of his words resonates. From a sharp pant to mild gasps and then slow and steady breaths, she goes from wounded to proud over a few short moments.
Her chin rises in indignation. “You’re making the biggest mistake of your life.”
Malory walks past me and then Alexander, her eyes straight ahead. That confidence she carries is held high. She has no shame for what she has done here tonight.
When the door is closed and Malory is gone, I turn to Alexander who is still furious. “Please tell me you don’t believe her.”
“I don’t know what to believe.”
I take a deep breath and try not to cry at the knife he just rammed into my heart. “She told me about your grandfather’s will.” No sooner are the words out of my mouth than he is spitting foul words out of his.
Alexander walks over to the mantel, lifts a heavy glass figure and smashes it onto the floor. His back is heaving as he takes exasperated breaths to try to control himself. It’s not working.
“Your grandfather hated your father. He wants you to drop your father’s name. If you sign those papers you will no longer be Alexander Gutierrez. You’ll just be an Asher. Is that what you want?”
My words cause him to turn around and face me. He swallows, hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing and his jaw clenching. “If I don’t sign I lose everything.”
“You’ll lose even more if you do sign.”
Asher looks at me, finally looks at me for the first time since he walked into the apartment. The black folder of heinous accusation is still in his hand. He looks down at it and his mouth coils back as if his heart is sinking. “Emma, I . . . I don’t know how to trust.”
“There’s only one way to find out.”
He walks toward me and then stops as if in fear or what he wants to do. His hands rise up in that way they do before his fingers find their most perfect spot on the sides of my head and slide into my hair. But they don’t do that. They just stop midair and then fall to the sides.
I look up into his mesmerizing honey-wheat eyes and watch the brown flecks disappear as despair settles over his face.
“Is that what you want, Emma? If you want me to give it up, I will. If you want me to keep my father’s name, I will. But if you want this world, I’ll sign. I can show you magnificent things. Together we can change the world. Imagine what we can do with all that money. Tell me what you want.”
Just tell him what I want.
What do I want?
It’s a lose-lose situation.
“I can’t answer that.” My hands tremble slightly at the position he is putting me in and the idea of what it means to our future.
I hate Malory Dean, but there is no denying she was right about one thing.
“If I tell you to keep it, than you’ll always wonder if I love you for who you are or for the world I’ll inherit being with you.
You’ll always wonder if Malory was telling the truth about me.
And if I tell you to get rid of it, you’ll resent me for the life you’ll have to live in return. ”
“I won’t resent you—”
“Yes, you will. You will because you want to keep it. You’ve had eighteen months to make this decision.
If you wanted to honor your parents you would have done so a long time ago.
The truth is you want to keep it and you’re looking for an excuse to do so.
Whatever you choose, I can’t be your reason. ”
What I want to tell him is to burn those papers.
If he signs, he won’t be Alexander anymore.
He’ll be Edward. The empire will be more important than anything in his life.
This is what he was brought up to do. Slowly, the lessons he learned from his grandfather will take the forefront, and my sweet Alexander will be gone.
And my love for him . . . he’ll always question it. Every time I enjoy a luxury of his lifestyle or spend a dollar, that little voice inside his head will always wonder if I am with him for the right reasons.
My suitcase is sitting by the door. I walk over to it and undo the zipper, pulling out a package I wrapped back in Cedar Ridge.
“Merry Christmas.” I say, handing him the gift.
“Its not Christmas yet.”
“I know, but I’m going back to Ohio.”
“Baby, no—”
I place my thumb on his lips, feeling the scruff on his jaw and halt his words from coming out. “You have to make a decision soon, and I can’t be with you when you make it.”
I turn around and pull the handle on my suitcase up and tilt it toward me. He’s not moving so I think he understands why I have to turn away from him right now.
“Is there a possibility you won’t want me after I decide?” he asks, his voice nearly breaking.
My eyes close as the tears stream down my cheeks. I don’t turn around because I know what happens every time I look into his eyes, rabbit hole be damned.
“Come find me when you make your decision.”
Those are the last words I say before walking out that door and out of his life.