Chapter 13
ETHAN
The resignation letter sitting on my desk for the last two weeks has remained unopened.
I stare at it before turning away to other matters crowding my workspace.
Natalie’s absence has cast a lingering shadow over the company. She hasn’t completely abandoned her post, having created a detailed job description and sent it to Clarice. She’s also sent a more than competent replacement. Makes me wonder if she had all this meticulously planned from the beginning.
I open the file that Clarice had left on my desk, and while my eyes comb over the words, I barely register them. Sleep has become a distant memory. When I do manage to catch some shut-eye, all I see is Natalie’s face, the weariness etched in her eyes, the unmistakable defeat.
‘There’s nothing left of me to be broken, so stop trying. You already won.’
Won what ?
My hands are empty.
I’ve tasted defeat a few times in my career, but never anything that has sent me spiraling like this—lost in a labyrinth of my own making.
‘I want to get away from you.’
‘Please, just leave me alone now.’
Whenever I’ve gone after something, it’s been with a single-minded focus.
I’ve never let anything or anyone get in my way.
This situation was not supposed to be any different.
I wanted Natalie. I had been certain I could convince her to come back to me.
After all, who could be a better partner than me?
I had expected some resistance, but she took me aback at every turn.
Did I push her too hard? Did I overplay my hand?
Was it seeing Elizabeth that changed her mind?
I want to blame Roland, but I can’t imagine him saying anything that would convince her to walk away from this job and me. No, it was something else entirely.
I know she’s waiting for me to call her in to demand the penalty fees payment. Knowing what I know of her, she fully expects it. But I’ve not even opened the letter.
I can’t.
‘I want to get away from you.’
Away from me.
In the end, she could never forgive me for what I did.
The file slips from my hand, and I blink, getting up to pick up the scattered papers. As I do, the door to my office swings open.
“Jesus.”
I recognize my twin’s voice and glance up. I’ve not seen him in over a month now. Ever since our fight, he’s been working from the law firm, sulking most likely.
He storms over, roughly gathering up the papers and tossing them on the desk. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
I straighten up. “What? ”
He glares at me. “Clarice told me something was wrong, but what the hell—? When was the last time you shaved?”
I shrug, running a hand over my stubbled jaw. “I’ve been working.”
“You’re always working, Ethan!” He scowls. “But you still manage to make time to fix that mug of yours. What happened now?”
“Nothing,” I snap irritably. “What do you want?”
“From you, nothing.” Jake sits down across from my desk, staring at me, the bridge between his brows furrowed into deep lines. “You look like death warmed over.”
“Why are you here, Jake? I’m not in the mood.”
“So I heard.” My brother stretches his legs before him, settling in to make himself comfortable, his expensive leather shoes gleaming under the office lights. “I also heard you got a new head of HR.”
I’m silent, my jaw clenched tight.
At my lack of response, Jake's expression darkens. “What happened? Because, according to Megan, the two of you were getting along just fine in Chicago.”
“Megan needs to mind her own business, as do you,” I say coldly. “And this is just a temporary situation.”
“Temporary, huh?” Jake leans forward, and before I can stop him, he plucks out the envelope sticking out from under the papers. “Resignation letter. How much should I bet that this belongs to Natalie Thorne?”
I slowly get to my feet, my fingers pressing into the polished wood of my desk. “If you don’t want me knocking you out again, put that down, and get out of my office.”
Jake studies me, a smirk playing at his lips even as worry shadows his eyes. His voice is light and nonchalant. “Do you really think this is the time to be throwing a tantrum? If I was in your shoes, I’d be focused on getting my girl back. ”
“I am not throwing a tantrum,” I bite out. “And this has nothing to do with you, so stay out of it.”
“You look like shit, you have circles under your eyes, and your concentration is all over the place.” Jake waves the resignation letter in the air. “It’s obvious you’re head over heels for this woman. So why are you sitting on your ass and doing nothing about it?”
“You should be happy,” I sneer. “You were the one who wanted her gone. Didn’t you say she was a gold digger, that she and Lucas were probably in cahoots?”
“I don’t remember saying that last part,” Jake mutters. “But there’s a possibility I was wrong.”
“Excuse me?” I stare at him. “Wrong about what?”
When he doesn’t reply, I put my hands palm down on my desk, my voice low and dangerous. “Wrong about what, Jake?”
“Remember how I told you Natalie was in the hospital?”
I study him intently, my heartbeat quickening.
“Well, it turns out she wasn’t in an accident. It was Lucas who put her there.”
My blood runs cold. “Say that again.”
Jake meets my gaze, and I see a heaviness in his eyes.
“Clarice told me she was looking for the nurse who was on duty that night. I saved her the effort and tracked the woman down. Natalie was in the ICU for a week, Ethan. She was in a coma for three days, according to the nurse. Her mother visited her once she woke up. She told Natalie not to press charges against Lucas.”
I can see the discomfort on my brother’s face as he continues. “She—” He lets out a sigh. “She blamed Natalie for Lucas beating her up. She called her a whore.”
I sink into my chair, my pulse racing as Natalie’s words come rushing back to me. She said I ruined her life. I had thought she was being dramatic, exaggerating the past.
“It was because of me, wasn’t it?” I ask hollowly. “Because I slept with her. She must have told him. She must have wanted to warn him that I was trying to find the client list?—”
“Or she went to him for comfort, the way Megan would have come to us,” Jake finishes quietly.
“It was a neighbor who called the police. When they arrived, Lucas was pounding on her unconscious body. They had to drag him off her. It was touch and go with her for a while. Nobody visited her in the hospital. Not till the hospital called her mother to tell her Natalie had regained consciousness. And when her mother did come, it was to threaten her. If Natalie didn’t drop the charges, not only would she lose access to her trust fund, but she would also be kicked out of her apartment. ”
“So she dropped the charges, didn’t she?” I ask slowly. “And she was kicked out anyway.”
Jake looks both angry and uncomfortable.
“I’ve been busy these past few days, Ethan.
I managed to locate the doorman who was working at the time.
Natalie’s belongings were thrown out in the trash the day after she was hospitalized.
I’ve a feeling whatever trust fund the nurse overheard her mother talk about, that was also taken from Natalie.
According to the doorman, she was on crutches when she arrived at the building.
And the first thing she did was check her bank accounts.
They had been emptied. The doorman gave her a ride to the local shelter for women and some money for food. ”
My eyes are fixated on a spot on the desk before me, guilt burning me alive from the inside. All because I seduced her. She went through hell because of what I did. No wonder she despises me. Because of me, she lost everything. She had to go live in a fucking shelter.
“Ethan…” Jake begins cautiously. “What happened to her wasn’t your fault?—”
“Bullshit!” I snarl, pushing away from my desk and striding over to the window.
Sticking my hands in my pockets, I look out at the city of New York, its skyline crisp in the early September air.
“This is my fault. I miscalculated. I never knew Lucas could go to such lengths. No wonder she’s been trying to stay away from me. If I had known?—”
“If you had known, it wouldn’t have changed anything for you,” my brother says calmly.
“You acquired this company because of her. You wanted her back. Look, I may not understand your reasoning, but I know you. You’ve never gone this far for any woman.
Hell, I don’t even think you’ve paid this much attention to a woman before.
It’s always been Natalie for you. You can’t stop now. ”
“She wanted me to leave her alone,” I finally say, fury burning in the pit of my stomach.
I did this to her.
“I kept pushing her and pushing her. How could she be with someone who ruined her life so thoroughly?”
“You didn’t ruin her life, Ethan,” Jake interjects. “You had no way of knowing how her family would react.”
“For whatever reason, her mother is back in her life and taking money from her,” I murmur, my hands clenching in my pockets. “And I used her dwindling financial condition against her.”
Jake’s chair scrapes against the floor as he walks over to me. “You’re being irrational. You had no way of knowing. And a lot of time has passed, Ethan.”
When I don’t say anything in response, he runs his fingers through his hair.
“Women aren’t so simple, Ethan. Trust me; I would know.
If she wanted you out of her life, she had multiple ways.
Even now, there are companies who want to poach her.
She has built entire human resource departments in the companies she’s worked at.
She single-handedly reduced turnover rates.
Employees like her are valued everywhere they go.
Whichever company wants her will be willing to pay the penalty fees for her breaking the contract.
She knew that. She knew that, and she still stayed. ”