Chapter 32
THIRTY-TWO
SOPHIE
Ican do this.
I can open up and tell Colson why I am the way I am.
I can make him understand.
Those were the sentences I chanted before I got out of my car, walking up his driveway to his front door. He knew I was here—he had opened the gate for me a few minutes ago—so it wasn’t a surprise that as my feet reached the top step of his entrance, the door opened.
“Come with me.”
There wasn’t any warmth in his face and certainly not in his tone. His eyes didn’t dip down my body like they typically did whenever he saw me. They stayed locked on mine with a look of resentment crossing his features.
He didn’t want me here.
If I were in his shoes, without knowing my side, I would feel the same.
“I don’t want the kids knowing you’re here,” he said. “If they do, you’ll be inundated, and we won’t be able to get this over with.”
“You mean talk?”
“That’s not what I would call it.” He turned and took several steps into his house, looking at me over his shoulder as I closed the door. He pointed at the first room on the right. “We’re going in here.”
Here, I soon found out, was his home office, and as he shut us in, I took a second to inventory the room. Walls that held the company’s accomplishments. Photos of him and Ellie. Furniture that was big and bold and regal. Even the lighting, a masculine chandelier, was fit for a ruler like him.
He took a seat at his desk, rocking back and forth, his hands linked in the center of his chest. “Say what you have to say.”
I was frozen several steps in, unsure of my position. There was a couch against the wall by the door, where I was tempted to take a seat. But I didn’t. I wasn’t looking for comfort. I wanted my message heard.
So, I moved closer, stopping just on the other side of his desk. “Why did you shut me out?”
His head quickly turned several inches, as though I’d just slapped him. “You think you deserve an explanation? Come on, Sophie. You knew why the moment I stopped speaking to you. How can you even question me about that?”
I slipped my fingers into the pockets of my jeans. “Why didn’t you give me an opportunity to discuss the situation with you?”
“There was no need to discuss anything. I already knew the truth.”
“And what’s the truth?”
He hissed out a mouthful of air. “That you did everything in your power to get what you could from my family, pumping the most money possible from us until you couldn’t drain any more.
And for what? So the Gordons could use that money to destroy us.
” His exhale was fierce. “Do you know what that makes you?”
I’d assumed this was his stance. That was why I didn’t give up. And when Troy suggested this idea, I knew I had to follow through. I hated getting my daughter involved, but it had been the only way.
“Colson—”
“And you knew the whole time what their motive was.” The dip down my body finally happened, but it came with a look of disgust. “Every moment we spent together, every conversation we had—all of it was bullshit. At any point, was your deceit eating at you? The guilt chipping away at your fucking soul?” His chair stilled.
“How in the hell were you even able to sleep at night?” He pounded his fist on top of his desk.
“Walker warned me about you. He told me that no matter how much you loved my dick, your loyalty would always lie with the Gordons. I fucking hate that he was right.”
I winced at the conversation he’d had with his brother. An accusation that was partially true and equally so far from it.
“Yet for some reason,” he continued, “I justified our situation in my head, and I didn’t listen to him. And look where that got me. It got me fucked, just like the last time.”
“Colson—”
“What was the last time? I’ll tell you. I dated a woman just like you, Sophie.
It wasn’t random that we had met one evening.
She sought me out, she knew where I was going to be, and she went in for the attack.
Because the timeline of events happened after Ellie’s mom and I broke things off and I was trying to navigate life as a single parent and co-parenting with my ex, I wasn’t in the right headspace to see this woman’s intentions.
I needed an escape, and she gave that to me.
We started to grow close—or so I thought.
And then one morning, while my whole family was in the conference room, discussing some revelations about competing brands, Eden pulled up Instagram to show me a photo of my girlfriend.
Who just happened to be modeling in a picture with our fucking competition.
She had no interest in being with me. She was in my life to fucking milk me for insider information so she could take it to her boss and get promoted to director of marketing, which she achieved. ” He paused. “Sound familiar?”
He shook his head. “That’s why I stick to Lush. That’s why I shouldn’t have touched you once I found out who you worked for.” He held the back of his neck. “Regardless, I can’t believe you would do this to my goddamn family, Sophie—”
“But I didn’t!” I didn’t want him to stop venting, but I couldn’t let another second pass without him knowing my side.
I gripped the edge of his desk. “I need you to hear me when I say this: I did not know the Gordons’ intentions.
They didn’t tell me they were going to open their own version of Horned.
They didn’t talk to me about the press release they shared.
I’d had no idea they were going to do that.
” I stalled in my explanation so each statement could be heard.
“What I did know was that they wanted the money for restitution. What they were going to do with that money, they never said. So, doing what I do best, I got them the highest amount I could.”
He instantly replied, “Why should I believe you?”
“Because I have no reason to lie.” I squeezed the wood in my palms.
The sound that came out of him was like a cough, yet he choked on nothing. “I’m so far from being convinced.”
The lawyer in me began to pull at facts.
They were spread above my head like a web, and all I had to do was mentally connect them.
“Why would I be here right now if I was lying? Because I want our daughters to hang out? That’s laughable.
Or why would I have gone to Lush multiple times over the last week, waiting until the early hours of the morning for you to show up?
Management can confirm this if you need proof.
Or why would I have practically forced your nanny to take my daughter to your house, coming up with an absurd excuse that I had to rush back to work and leave gymnastics early? ”
I let those points settle in while taking in his face. My new placement gave me an even better view. And, God, he was so handsome, even in his current state.
“I assure you, Colson, if I didn’t care so much about you knowing the truth, I wouldn’t have bothered with any of this. In fact, my give a fuck quota would have run out the moment we spoke in Hayden’s office.”
He said nothing.
“One last thing.” I pulled out my phone from my back pocket and scrolled through my email until I found the one I was looking for, and I placed my cell on his desk. “Read that.”
His eyes scanned the screen. “Who is this from?”
“The partners at my firm.”
He slowly glanced up at me.
“I was supposed to spend a few more days in Lauderdale, but when I found out what the Gordons had done, I requested an immediate meeting with my partners for later that day. I tried to change my flight. The only option available was to fly standby, and I couldn’t take the chance of not getting on a plane, so I asked Hayden if I could use his private jet. ”
My weight shifted as I remembered what those hours had been like while I played with Abbi on our way to the West Coast, my mind tortured by the conversation I was about to have.
“I walked into that conference room, Colson, and I told my partners about the relationship I had with you. I followed that up with the Gordons’ course of action.
I knew my partners’ response would be clear—I would have to make a choice.
Even before the Gordons sent out that press release, being with you and working for them was a conflict of interest.”
He leaned forward, getting even closer to me. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying”—I took a long, deep breath—“I chose you.”
His brows pushed together, and it felt like an hour passed before he said, “You chose me?”
“And I fought for you.” My head tilted back, and I briefly gazed at the ceiling.
“The partners were less than thrilled that I had had physical relations with the opposing party and continued to do so while representing my client. Then there’s the sharing of insider information.
I can’t prove to the partners that I didn’t relay things to you or the Gordons.
” My arms crossed. “When it comes to the standards of my law firm, what I did was morally corrupt and lacked professional integrity. And they’re right to say that to me. What I did was wrong.”
He read the email again. “They’re reviewing the situation? What’s going to happen?”
“That’s unknown at the moment. My fate is all in their hands.
They did accept my resignation regarding the Gordons’ account, and they’ve been reassigned to a different attorney.
Which is what Troy was trying to tell you when you were in his office—that whatever legal matters you do in the future regarding the Gordons, you won’t be going up against me.
But Troy said you wouldn’t hear him out.
Hayden said the same.” I held up my hand, waving it in the air.
“Don’t worry, they told me nothing else, I swear.
But they happened to mention that they had brought up my name and you wouldn’t discuss anything with them. ”
“Why would I? It’s none of their business.” His voice finally lost its sharpness, but it still wasn’t close to the pitch I was used to.
“I agree, of course. But you have to understand, my family will do everything in their power to help me.”
He stared at me like he couldn’t believe what I’d just admitted. “Help you do what exactly? Defend your side? Make me believe you’re innocent?” He licked his lips. “What is it that you want out of this, Sophie?”
Do it, Sophie.
Do it because you deserve this.
Do it because it’s what you want.
I sucked in as much air as I could hold and focused on his beautiful light-green eyes as I whispered, “You.”