14. Christian

14

CHRISTIAN

“Where are you? Are you home?”

“No. I’m outside.”

“Outside where?”

“I’m at . . . I don’t know. There’s a bloody window planter on the building across the street.”

“Okay,” I say slowly, as Elise watches me with worry etched in her eyes. “Does the street have a name?”

He hiccups. “It’s rue something,” he says, and that’s not useful at all, since nearly every street starts with rue. Tears are thick in his voice. Elise must be able to hear his end of the conversation because she sits forward, seeming cautious and careful with her movements. “I texted Oliver too but he has no idea where I am.”

I groan. “Because he lives in fucking Manhattan. Of course he has no idea. Are you wandering around the streets?”

“Yes. I see a streetlamp. Is that helpful?”

Hell, Erik could be anywhere. “A street sign would be more helpful. Can you walk to the corner and give me cross streets?”

He hiccups again, and it registers that those aren’t hiccups from coughing. He’s been drinking. “Are you pissed?”

“I’ve only had three shots. But I fully intend on being absolutely plastered by the end of the night. We’re talking uni-style bender.”

I drag a hand through my hair, frustrated that he doesn’t know where he is. “Your tolerance is crap already. Are you near the river? Sacré-Coeur? Notre Dame? The Eiffel Tower? The Louvre?”

“No. I’m near a church. It’s across the street from a café. Hold on.”

I wait, ready to go find him in a heartbeat. “It says Les Deux Magots.”

“Stay there outside Les Deux Magots. I’ll be there in ten minutes. We’re only a mile away.”

“ We’re ?” He groans, and it’s the saddest variety of sound. “Oh, crap. You’re with your woman.”

I glance at Elise. Is she my woman? I had my hands up her skirt until she came on my fingers. But she doesn’t want to be owned.

She’s no one’s woman. She’s her own woman.

Only, now is clearly not the time to address her status with my brother. Waiters circle, carrying trays of tea, and meanwhile, a mile away, my brother is drowning his sorrows over his wife.

“Yes, I’m with Elise, but I’m coming to see you.”

Elise shoos me off, telling me to go.

“I’ll go home,” Erik says. “I don’t want to cock-up your date.”

“You’re not ruining anything.”

He moans. “I can’t go home. I have no home. I’ll get a hotel.”

I take Elise’s hand and lead her out of the salon, chatting with Erik. “You’ll stay with me. Just settle down at Les Deux Magots, and I’ll be there soon.”

“Don’t worry,” Elise whispers. “Go to him.”

“Bring her along,” Erik says, sounding strangely chipper for a moment.

“What? You haven’t even met her yet.”

“I need a woman’s perspective. Bring her along, and that way maybe she can make sense of what’s been going on.”

“Erik,” I say with a sigh.

His voice is sharp and demanding. “Just, please. I mean it.”

I cover the phone as we make our way outside. “He wants you to come. You don’t have to.”

She wraps a hand around my bicep. “I want to. Whatever you need.”

Her smile is soft and gentle, and it’s one of the first times neither one of us is teasing. The gentleness hooks into me and touches deeper than I expected. It isn’t about the spark between us. It’s about a woman who’s been broken before, and yet she still cares for someone else. Someone she doesn’t even know.

And I think I want her to care more about me too.

Fifteen minutes later, we usher Erik out of a touristy, overpriced café and into an English pub around the corner. The floor is covered in sawdust, and names are carved into the wood on the table. Erik picks at a bowl full of peanuts. His eyes are red, but dry.

He raises a pint. “Cheers. Drinks are on me. Let’s get pissed.”

Elise raises her hand to catch a waiter’s attention. “We’ll have two more, please, and another for him.”

Erik smiles at Elise. “She’s a keeper. Always trust a woman who’ll drink a beer with you. Never trust the ones who thumb their noses at pints. Jandy hated beer.”

Elise smiles. “Sometimes you just need a pint.”

“I love her already,” Erik says, smiling like a sad sack at Elise. “And I wish we were meeting under better circumstances, but I’m glad to make the acquaintance of the woman who has captivated my little brother.” He stabs his finger against the table, grinning like a sloshed loon. “Did you know he said you were bold and daring the night he never met you? And so scrummy.”

I roll my eyes, but I don’t mind in the least that he’s shared what I said. I’ve told her as much myself.

Elise laughs. “He was bold and daring. But let’s talk about you. I wish you were having a better night.” She stretches out her arm and squeezes his hand.

His lip quivers, and he nods. “Me too. But it’s good to meet you. It’s good to see someone who can make someone else happy. I thought I had that.” He hangs his head in his hand, and my heart aches for him.

“Sorry, Erik. Tell us what happened,” I say, after the waitress drops off the round that Elise ordered.

Erik heaves a sigh, shovels his hand through his hair, and says, “She’s been working late, as you know.”

My spine straightens, and red smoke billows out my ears. “I will string her up from her tits.”

Erik shakes his head. “No, she’s not cheating. At least, as far as I know she has been faithful. She didn’t say a damn thing about another man.” He lets out a long, angry sigh. “She’s been putting this together. This horrid plan to leave me. She claims she needs to be independent. Said she needs to be able to do things on her own.”

I scowl. “This from the woman who was like a damsel in distress when you met her.”

My brother huffs. “I know. She fucking needed me so much then, and now she’s going on and on about how she needs to find herself. She said she feels like she has no identity of her own. That it’s all wrapped up in being married, and since her dad was such a wanker, she needs a breather from being attached to a man. But not a breather—a divorce.”

“She’s leaving to go find herself?” I ask, trying to sort out the mess she’s made of my brother’s heart.

“Yes. And to do that, she wants the firm. Says it’s all she knows. She needs it now. That’s why she’s been working late. To try to get it.”

A chill runs through me. “How can she get the firm? You and I have the majority of the shares, and we’re privately held.”

He knows this. He should know this. That’s how everything was set up in the trust. It outlined every detail about the shares of the firm, and he’s the goddamned trustee.

His expression is sheepish. “I gave her a few shares for her birthday, in her name. She’d mentioned she wanted some independence, and I thought that would help.”

“But not too many, right?”

He swallows. “Not too many. But she’s been using her salary to buy up shares, it seems. From some of the other shareholders.”

“Okay,” I say cautiously. “But how could she have enough? Between us, we should still have a controlling interest.”

He winces, and a look of shame crosses his eyes. “Because I also put my shares in both our names.”

I squeeze my eyes shut, my body going heavy, like it weighs a thousand tons. He can’t have done that. Please, dear God, make that a joke.

I open my eyes to find him offering me a “please don’t be mad at me” smile, and how can I possibly be mad when the love of his life is leaving him flat on his arse and trying to steal his company? “Say you’re kidding. That you’re just going on about something else.”

He shakes his head.

I try my best to stifle a groan, my frustration. “Erik . . .”

“We were married. She promised to love me forever.”

Elise pats his hand and gives him a sympathetic smile. “Of course you thought that. It’s normal to expect that.”

“I believed we’d be together. Just like Grandfather believed in love, and that’s why he left control of the company to his married grandson,” he says, and of course I know about that stupid bloody stipulation in the trust.

Elise furrows her brow. “What did he do?”

I jump in. “Our grandfather was happily married for more than fifty years. He was one of those true romantics. Very old-fashioned. His wife was by his side the whole time, and that’s what he believed worked for him. That’s what he wanted for the company he left to us. He put his majority shares into a trust, and his will appointed the married grandson the trustee. Basically, through the trust, that grandson has control of those shares—hence, control of the company, which was something we were all fine with. Our mum too.”

“What if neither of you was married?”

“Then the shareholders—a board of directors, really—have control until such a time as one or both find true love,” I explain heavily.

“That’s like a fairy tale.”

I nod. “It’s exactly like one. His marriage was the definition of ‘and they lived happily ever after,’ and he wanted that for us. But it’s never been an issue, since I never wanted to shepherd the company. Erik has been running it anyway, and he’s been with Jandy for a few years now, so it all made sense when Grandfather laid it out. His expectations aligned with our reality. Over the last few months, we’ve been dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s on the paperwork governing the estate.”

Erik takes a long drink and bangs his glass down. “And now I’ve fucked that up.”

Elise rubs his shoulder. “No, you didn’t. She fucked it up. She’s not worthy of you, and she doesn’t deserve your company, and we’re going to do everything we can to help you sort this out.”

“Thank you,” he whispers.

Damn, she shouldn’t be turning me on at a time like this, but she sure as hell is, with her commanding tone and her deep concern.

“That means that among the other shareholders, she has the most control right now? If there’s no married grandson to serve as a trustee?” Elise asks.

I nod. “Seems that way.”

“She can make all the decisions?”

Erik nods. “And she wants to sell it.”

I drop my forehead to the table and contemplate banging it a few times. I turn and look at him. “You kept that little nugget till the end, did ya?”

“Sorry, but there’s a silver lining.”

I raise my head. “Please. We need some good news.”

“I talked to Oliver,” Erik says.

"I thought he didn’t know where you were?”

“Well, before that. About the contract stuff. Stick with me, Chris. C’mon.”

“Fine. What did our dear old cousin say?”

“He and the other lawyers at his firm looked at the paperwork. Some of her shares come due for renewal in three months, and they’re the type of shares we can buy back as the officers of the company, and then she won’t have majority control. We just need to prevent a sale before then.”

I rub my palms together, shucking off my frustrations. “Okay, let’s solve this, then. How are we going to keep Grandfather’s company in the family?”

Erik snaps his fingers. “Why don’t I go ask the waitress to marry me?”

I laugh morbidly. “You’re not divorced yet.”

He slumps down in the booth. “Oh yeah. There’s that issue.”

We toss around some scenarios for preventing a sale, and I’m doing my best to maintain a cheery vibe when Elise clears her throat.

In her brown eyes, I see a brand-new fierceness. “Yes?”

“Gentlemen, it seems you’re missing the most obvious solution.”

“What is it? Tell me. Tell us,” I say.

“You don’t know what it is?”

Erik shakes his head. I do the same.

“The marriage stipulation,” she adds, making a rolling gesture as if encouraging us to catch up. There’s a wicked grin on her face. A hint of mischief and victory in her eyes. “It only stipulates that a married grandson would control the company. It doesn’t say which one.”

Erik opens his mouth to speak, but no words come out. I’m not sure what to say either.

Elise points at me. “You could go propose to the waitress.”

Erik laughs loudly, smacking his palm on the table. He points to me, a look of utter delight on his face. “Or you could marry Elise. For three months.”