34. Elise

34

ELISE

Erik picks me up in an Uber at seven on the dot. I send Christian a text letting him know I’m helping his brother with a project. But I don’t hear back from him. “Where’s Christian?”

“Griffin convinced him to run six miles or something this morning. He’s insane.”

“Totally mad,” I tease, but a seed of worry gnaws at me. “Is he okay?” It’s odd that I didn’t talk to him last night, but then again, he went to bed early. Maybe I’m reading something into nothing.

“He’s busy at work,” Erik says absently, staring out the car window. His mind is clearly elsewhere, and I don’t know where that elsewhere is. Erik didn’t tell me much. He simply said he wanted a woman’s company to pay a visit to Jandy.

“Do you think she’s going to listen to me? She didn’t seem too fond when she showed up at the match.”

He turns back to me. “I’ll do the talking. I want you there because she has issues with men, due to a poor relationship with her father. I’m now the man on the outside, so I don’t want to set off those subconscious issues.”

“I understand,” I say, though I don’t entirely. But I’m impressed Erik has such a strong read on the woman’s psyche.

“I called her sister last night after I finished my run.”

I arch a brow, curious. “What did she say?”

His jaw is set hard in anger. “Jandy’s story about Lillian being ill sounded dodgy, and I was right on that count. Lillian said she was in a car accident and took a few days off work. She had whiplash. She’s not having hundreds of thousands of euros in medical treatment, like Jandy made it seem.”

“That’s good. It’s good she’s not ill.”

“It also means Jandy is off her trolley.”

“Well, yes,” I say softly.

When we arrive at the café, Erik thanks the driver, and we snag a table inside. A minute later, the woman who confronted me at the soccer field arrives, stopping in her tracks when she sees me. She points. “What’s she doing here?”

“It’s easier for me this way, and I think you’ll want to hear what I have to say,” Erik replies.

“Hello, Jandy,” I say, doing my best to be civil, though I’m sure she wants to throttle me as much as I want to throttle her.

“Hello,” she says, but her voice is wobbly, and her eyes look tired, as if she hasn’t slept in days.

Erik stands and pulls out a chair. Jandy pauses, regards it, then sits.

Erik takes a deep breath and looks straight at her. “I get that you’re not in love with me. I truly get it. It hurts like hell, but I’m not going to dwell.”

My heart aches for him, and I want to tell him it gets better. Instead, I simply listen.

Jandy murmurs a thank you .

Because listening to her husband talk about his feelings would be oh-so-hard. I resist the urge to slap her—mostly because I’ve never slapped anyone. I’m sure I’d botch it.

“But I need this to stop.” Erik’s tone is crisp and clear. Dominant, even.

Jandy flinches. “What do you need to stop?”

He slices a hand through the air. “All of it. You coming up to me at lunch, you seeing my family at matches, you making up stories about your sister. It has to stop.”

Jandy breathes out hard through her nose. Her top lip quivers. “And you think coming here will make it stop?”

She sounds as if she’s trying to be tough, but her will is breaking.

“I have an offer for you.”

That makes me sit up taller. He didn’t mention an offer.

Jandy shakes her head, worrying her lip, glancing at me. She lowers her voice. “I don’t want to discuss this with other people present.”

“Please,” Erik implores.

She shakes her head and folds her arms.

“I’ll step outside,” I suggest, since outside is a mere ten feet away.

“That’s fine,” Erik says.

I leave and pace on the sidewalk, hoping to hell and heaven and back that he isn’t caving and giving her his share of the company. I text Christian again to see what he’s up to, but he doesn’t respond. I spend a few minutes making sure I’m checked into my flight in a couple hours, then I send a note to my brother, since I’ll see him soon.

Briefly, I contemplate inviting Christian to join me in New York, and the idea sends a thrill through me. I’d love to show him my old stomping grounds. I’d love to take him around the city, to kiss him in Central Park, along Fifth Avenue, and by the Met.

But I resist. He’s clearly busy, and I have work to focus on with Nate and the Luxe. The cliff will have to wait.

Soon enough, Erik steps through the doorway of the café and onto the sidewalk, a gleam of triumph in his eyes.

He doesn’t look back at Jandy as she walks along the street, her head tucked down, until she fades into the early morning crowds. He simply walks toward me, a few sheets of paper in his hand.

“You look pleased,” I remark.

He beams. “I am. I struck a deal, and she said yes. Let me go track down Christian so we can tell him everything.”

I’m dying to know everything too.