Chapter 6 #2
“Yes?” Alicia asked. Luca sat with only a complimentary glance in Sarah’s direction.
“Ms. Moreau requests your presence in her office, ma’am.”
While Alicia smiled, Sarah briefly made eye contact with Luca. She was the one who broke it when she turned her attention to her phone screen.
Sarah was not in a hurry to head to the Moreau Estate, far out of town, but what choice did she have when it was an order from the boss? She needed to be back before the end of the workday, anyway. Best to leave as soon as she could.
In the back of her boss’s car, while the driver maneuvered through traffic, Sarah texted her brother. “I have to go to that place.”
His response was almost instantaneous. “I’ll bring home an extra slice of pizza for you.”
“Thanks.”
“I’m here if you need me.”
Sarah put her phone away. She’d rather do work than dwell on what she couldn’t prevent.Like facing the man who had caused so much of her pain.
Russell Moreau was a shell of his former self.
After surviving a major stroke last summer, he was now mute and bound to a wheelchair – which a nurse or his fiancée had to push for him.
The man had aged thirty years overnight.
Gone was the powerful businessman with silver hair and lines on his face that suggested vast experience and a voracious appetite.
Even so, he always recognized Sarah when she ascended the beige steps leading to the massive foyer of Russell Moreau’s retirement estate.
His fiancée, the Japanese heiress Natsuko Matsuda, was in residence.
Much too young – and too smart – to be embroiled in this mess, she had agreed to marry the man in return for a handsome allowance and a plethora of benefits for her family back in Osaka.
(And being allowed to keep dating her boyfriend.) The Moreaus, in turn, were excited to have the steppingstone into Japanese markets on their side.
The fact that the woman approached Sarah with a smile before recognizing her did not make things easier to bear.
“Ms. … Clayborn? How nice to see you. I was expecting Ms. Oduya.”
“She’s out today.”
Natsuko stopped a few feet away, her practiced heiress’ smile almost an insult to Sarah’s stoic disposition. “Suppose you want the tour and reports, then?”
“If you would.”
Every Friday, a representative of Danica Moreau’s office went to the estate to check on the criminal invalid and to make sure everything was in order.
This usually fell on Abby’s shoulders, since nobody wanted to send Sarah there.
They said it in such a way that they thought they were protecting her.
Everyone wanted to protect poor, fragile Sarah. It made her sick, sometimes.
The tour included a brief interview with the full-time staff at the manor, glancing through the expenditures for the past week, and ensuring that there were no unsavory leaks, since Mr. Moreau once had a lovely habit of using his extensive network of goons and nefarious individuals to light ex-wives on fire and to shoot unwanted daughters-in-law.
His convalescence prevented him from achieving that level of evil these days, but the Moreaus were taking no chances now that a baby was on the way.
Why oh why did Sarah have to think about that when she walked into the sunroom and found her ex-lover sitting in his wheelchair?
His amber eyes lit up in instant recognition. The man could no longer speak or even thrust his finger in her direction, but he could bore a hole in her with the daggers in his eyes. He blamed Sarah for this. Her and Alicia Moreau, that she-devil.
“As you can see,” Natsuko said with the usual sarcastic tone she used when around her future husband, “my fiancé is doing quite well for his predicament. I consider it a blessing every single day when I wake up, and he’s still with us.”
Russell shot her an insidious look before settling on Sarah again.
What was he thinking about? Nothing good. Everything terrible.
“My employer won’t be satisfied unless I take a photo.”
“Of course.”
Sarah pulled out her work phone and took a picture of the man sitting by the window. As soon as she lowered the phone, Natsuko took her by the arm and steered her toward the door.
“Speak with me for a moment. In private.”
That meant away from Russell’s trained ears.
The nearby library would have to suffice.
“I’m going to bring this up with my future daughter-in-law the next time I have dinner with her,” Natsuko said as soon as she sat down at a small table, “but I found a clause in Russell’s will that implies I don’t get anything when he dies unless I have a child by him. ”
There were many ways to get around the fact that Russell was no longer fit for sexual activity.
He probably had material on ice, since the man was narcissistic enough.
Unfortunately, Sarah was also privy to knowing that Natsuko was infertile – one of the reasons she found this arrangement good for her and her family.
“And?”
“It’s a problem. I need my lawyer to take a look. If it’s unavoidable, I’m going to have to come up with something.” Natsuko shrugged. “A surrogate will have to be used.”
“If I may…”
“Please.”
“Don’t use his genetic material. Don’t inflict that on some poor woman out there, no matter how much money you give her for the dubious honor.”
“I figured everyone would say that. Danica turned out fine, I suppose, but who knows? I think it’s best if Danica agrees to provide one of her frozen eggs and let me legally adopt it.”
Sarah didn’t think she could be taken aback anymore, yet here she was, raising her eyebrows at that suggestion. “She’s not going to like that.”
“No kidding. Neither will that wife of hers, what with all their talk of raising an empire.” Natsuko rolled her eyes.
“I’d appreciate it if you gently broached the subject with Danica before I do.
I’m sure she’ll tell me no, but it’s her problem to fix since her father managed to get that clause in there.
This marriage arrangement is no good to my family if I’m not guaranteed the inheritance I’m due for dealing with him.
” Natsuko shuddered. “He may not be able to talk, but those eyes… he hates me. Hates that I won’t change my clothes in front of him, hates that I have a boyfriend, hates… ”
“That you’re not white?”
Natsuko laughed, her breathless airs both surprised and satisfied with Sarah’s response. “He’s into eugenics, isn’t he? I’ve seen some of his journals.”
“Yes. I’m sure you heard what happened to the son he had with his ex-wife.”
“Hm. Yes.” Natsuko briefly glanced at Sarah before gazing out the window again. “I’ve heard a few things about his potential offspring.”
Sarah quickly left after that. She knows? Who else knew?
She still wasn’t over it when she returned to the office an hour later.
The floor was quiet, as usual for three in the afternoon.
Most of the staff were either out running last-minute errands before the weekend commenced, or they were pounding away at their keyboards for the same insufferable reason.
Usually, Sarah found comfort in it. Anything she could finish that afternoon meant less for her to do over the weekend.
Also assuming she wasn’t working overtime at any of her boss’s numerous events and meetings.
She missed having Nigel by her side.
Any solace she used to feel was gone now. Sarah couldn’t come back from the estate and not want to smash her face through her computer monitor.
So after she dumped the reports on her boss’s desk, she went straight to the employee bathroom, where she could hyperventilate in peace.
Remember how he used to touch you? Like you should be so grateful that anyone wanted you. You knew he didn’t really want you. You knew he was using you because he could, because you let him. Remember how he made you feel so happy and secure after you got pregnant?
Remember when you were stupid enough to toast to your baby together? Remember waking up wanting to die?
Remember the hospital?
Remember the ultrasound that said your baby wasn’t there anymore?
Remember all the blood?
Remember the endless days in your mother’s house, wanting to die?
Remember wanting to die?
Sarah splashed cold water on her face and tried not to cry. No point in crying when she had work to do. Work was good. It distracted her from the hell she lived in.
“I know you’re at work right now,” she texted her brother. “But I need you.” She couldn’t believe it. She needed a man willing to cause pain to other women?
For her safety?
Even though Nigel was at work, he was quick to respond. Did he simply know when his sister contacted him when stressed out of her mind?
“I love you.”
Sarah had to put her phone away before she started crying. If I cry, he’ll cry. Wouldn’t be the first time that happened when they were on opposite ends of the earth, let alone the city.
Too late.
The first sob was the hardest, of course.
No, no, no! It wasn’t Sunday. What was she doing? She needed to bottle this up until it was appropriate to let it go.
What was wrong with her! What had happened to compartmentalizing?
Someone knocked on the restroom door. “Everything all right in there?”
Luca! What the fuck!
“Fine!” She blew her nose in her handkerchief. “Everything’s fine! Thank you!”
A pause. “All right. Just checking. Thought I heard something.”
Sarah had to get her shit together. She’d start by washing up and marching to her desk to get her work done, before…
Ah, fuck. Before her boss demanded her evening time as well.
“Ms. Clayborn.” The woman was already standing by Sarah’s desk, waiting for her to return. “We’re going to Midnight tonight. I take it that won’t be a problem for you?”
God, what was it now? Another meeting? Reconnaissance? Torture?
“It’s not a problem.”
“You’ll be paid overtime, of course.”
Sarah forced a professional smile. “Then it definitely won’t be a problem, ma’am.”
Danica spared her one last look before walking away.
And Sarah spared herself one last sigh of misery before shoving it all aside. She had a job to do.