Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sebastian
It’s been a week since Willow has been in my apartment, and she hasn’t spoken to me since she called me Hannibal Lecter.
The words had been causally spoken, but the hint of truth in them stung.
Even though it was always the plan from the very beginning, I’m starting to realize I don’t like being the villain in her story.
I contemplate her words every day I wake up, and I feel conflicted each time I process the situation.
Nothing makes sense with her.
Willow was so adamant about the fact she didn’t think she’d done anything wrong—but the fact of the matter is, I have receipts. I have proof. Louisa provided those to me. She’d sent me photos and documents that clearly implicated Willow.
I rub my forehead and run my fingers back through my hair.
The start of a headache has my temples throbbing.
This was not how this situation was supposed to go.
Distress take over and I barely keep a lid on it.
I’m about to go and change for the gym when Janice knocks on the office door and peeks inside.
Hi, Mr. Laurence. Jack is here.”
“Oh, great. Thanks. Send him in.”
“Yes, sir.” She nods and leaves the room.
Though she hasn’t said a word to me about Willow, her eyes are still full of judgment.
I wonder what she thinks about this situation.
She’s been with me for three years and she’d never overstepped her position and yet I could feel how much she dislikes the situation.
It makes me feel even worse about a bad situation.
I stand up and head over to the small bar at the side of the room and pick up the crystal whiskey decanter Sergio bought me for Christmas a few years ago. A couple of moments later, Jack walks in to the office wearing a dark pinstriped Armani suit.
His smile is relaxed, and his blue eyes shine bright as he gazes at me. “You’re drinking already?”
“It’s three o’clock.” I look down at my Rolex. “Far from early."
“It’s early for you, Sebastian. It’s still the workday.” His voice is light, but I can hear the concern. We’ve been friends long enough for him to know my habits. And I never drink during the workday.
“I’m stressed,” I say, shrugging. A complete understatement. I’m far more than stressed. I’m in the middle of an existential crisis. “You want one?”
He shrugs. “Why not?”
I pour two shots of whiskey into two leaded glasses and hand him one.
“Cheers,” I say as we both head over to my desk and the leather seats that adorn the side of the room.
“Everything okay?” he asks, studying me.
There’s something about the way Jack is staring at me that reminds me of our boarding school days.
He’s always been the closest one in my life, the one to cross lines other friends have been hesitant to cross.
He’s never pushy, though. He’s my best friend and the only one I know I can always be honest with.
I trust him more than anyone in the world.
He, like me, is a stone-cold businessman, whose focus is mainly on making money.
Also like me, he’s not interested in relationships.
But, unlike me, he isn’t scared of getting close to people.
“Not really.” I shake my head. “I’m up to my fucking eyeballs in stress.”
Jack’s eyebrows pinch together in concern. “I heard your board of directors is threatening to remove you as CEO.”
I shouldn’t be surprised that Jack has already heard the rumors.
“Somehow word got out that Sergio resigned,” I say with a sigh, nodding at him, “that a bunch of his shares have been sold, and now the market is panicking. They think he knows something which hasn’t been released yet.
Stocks have been falling. The board is threatening to remove me as CEO because they want to have a vote of no confidence.
” I grit my teeth and pin him with a firm stare. “I’m not going to let that happen.”
“Of course you’re not. It’s your family company.”
“Exactly. This is my legacy. I’ve spent my entire life building it up. I’m not going to let anyone remove me. I just have to figure out a way to keep the stock stable until this merger goes through.”
He nods and then his eyes bore into me when he says, “And what’s going on with your wife?”
What’s not going on with my wife? At the moment, she thinks I’m Hannibal Lecter, and I can’t say I blame her.
“Oh, I think it’s like most marriages.” I grin, though the smile doesn’t reach my eyes. “She hates me. Doesn’t speak to me. Doesn’t sleep with me.” It pains more than it should.
Jack chuckles. “Wow, you really are a married man.”
We both laugh, and then I shake my head. “Seriously though, I’m not really sure what to do.”
“You mean about Willow, or the company?”
I let out a deep sigh. I’m not ready to discuss Willow.
Not after how confident I’d been when first discussing my plan for retribution and revenge.
I’ve never minded people calling me cold or devoid of emotion before, but with Willow, it stings.
I don’t like her thinking of me as a bad person, though I’m not really sure what the alternative would be.
“I’m contemplating some different options for the company,” I say instead, needing to drive my thoughts away from her.
Jack leans forward, his eyes serious. “Look, Sebastian, we both thrive on business. You need to invest in yourself. I’ll invest in the company.
We’ll buy shares and regain control. Right now, you need to forget about the merger with Krylon—it’s a complication you don’t need.
If your board of directors is trying to usurp you, you need to take care of that problem first.”
“If only it were that easy. I can’t change the board unless I take control of the company.”
His eyes light up like he has an idea. “That’s important.”
“But without the Krylon merger, all of the contracts I have in Europe will fall through. They won’t renew, and they’re worth about two billion in profit in the next quarter alone.”
Jack looks thoughtful. “So, do you think there’s a way to gain control of the company and continue the merger with Krylon?”
“Only if Sergio takes his seat back on the board.” I pin him with an intense stare. This is once again the crux of all of my issues. Sergio.
“Do you really think that’s going to happen?” Jack asks, lifting an eyebrow. “It’s Sergio we’re talking about.”
No kidding. He’s the most difficult man on the planet.
“No. Not right now.” I shake my head, finally admitting what I’d known all along. Sergio is not going to play ball. “Willow’s gotten into his head. She’s broken him.”
And now she’s doing her best to fuck with me too. This woman knows how to worm her way into the Laurence mens heads.
“You can’t put it all on her, though,” Jacks says, always the voice of reason. “He wasn’t that interested in the business in the first place.”
My friend’s words resonate deep inside me.
“I know.” I slam my hand down on the desk. “She’s an easy scapegoat right now. If it weren’t for her screwing Sergio at that exact moment, I wouldn’t be dealing with this shit. The timing was horrific.”
“Do you think she was a mole? Working for someone on the board?” Jack asks, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Maybe this was all part of an intricate plot.”
I consider his words and then think about my interactions with Willow. “I don’t think so, but what do I know? Do I think she deliberately seduced Sergio to break his heart, steal his money, and have him resign from the board? I don’t know. I don’t want to believe it.”
“Do you think she’s capable of that?” he presses on. “You know her now. She’s not just a name on a piece of paper, anymore.”
I lean back in the chair and close my eyes.
I think about the Willow I’ve come to know—the sweet, shy, fun girl.
The one huffing and puffing while hiking.
The one scared to spend money while gambling.
The one who kissed me so eagerly, touched me so softly.
The one who told me she loved me. The one who looked absolutely devastated when I told her I didn’t love her.
My eyes fly open, and I look at Jack. “That’s the problem.
I don’t understand how the woman I know could have done all of these things. ”
Jack nods as if he expected that answer. “So what are you going to do? What’s your end goal with her? I don’t understand why you even married her.”
At one time, maybe I had that answer. Now, I’m not so sure. The fire that made me want to bring her down is all but gone.
“When I first learned about her, I thought I’d just try and ruin her life. I went to Whispering Haven, got to know her, and one thing led to another. We went to Vegas, and I just thought, ‘Let me marry this woman.’ What better way to infiltrate her life than by being her husband?”
I got so much more than I bargained for.
“And you did that because you wanted to ruin her life?” Jack prods. “Help me understand the end goal.”
I nod slowly, even though now I’m not so sure I’d ever really thought the plan through properly. “I told her I wanted to ruin her life, her friends’ lives, and her friends’ families lives if she didn’t do what I told her. And that was the thought in my mind when I loosely came up with the plan.”
I’m starting to understand why I’m the villain in her story. The problem is that I’m far more affected by my role than I ever thought I would be.
“And what have you told her to do as part of this marriage contract?”
“Nothing.” I shrug. “I had plans. I wanted to humiliate her. I wanted to break her. I wanted to make her feel like nothing.”
“And what happened to those plans?”
I heard her laugh, tasted her lips, basked in her warmth. I fell for the way she made me feel about myself and about her. The way she listened to me. The way she touched me. She’s wormed her way into my brain.