Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Knock. Knock. Knock.

It was almost midnight. Unless housekeeping was knocking on my office door, which I sincerely doubted, there was only one person it could be at this hour.

I kept quiet, hoping he’d think I’d left my light on and go away. The last thing I needed was a showdown with Weston. I felt drained, physically and emotionally exhausted, after spending the last two days with my grandfather and father. Tonight, when I’d snuck back into The Countess, all I’d wanted to do was crawl into bed. But my grandfather had asked me to send him a bunch of information, and since I was on shaky ground after what I’d told him, I wanted to show him I was a hundred-percent committed. So I’d come right up to my office, before even going to my room. I’d been relieved to find Weston’s office light off when I’d passed by a few minutes ago.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

I held my breath the second time.

“Soph, I know you’re in there. I’ve been watching the hotel’s security cameras on my phone since you left, waiting for you to come back. I saw you walk in a little while ago.”

“Just go away, Weston.”

Not surprisingly, he didn’t listen. Instead, he cracked open my office door. But rather than swing it wide, he stopped with it slightly ajar. “I’m coming in. Please don’t throw anything. I just want two minutes.”

I grimaced. As much as I hated him at the moment, a tiny part of me felt bad that I’d thrown his cell and injured him. I’d never been violent toward another person.

The door slowly creaked open until Weston was fully visible. The way he looked caused an involuntary ache in my chest. His hair was disheveled, and it looked like he hadn’t shaved in a few days. He wore a wrinkly dress shirt, slacks that I was pretty sure he’d slept in, and a large Band-Aid covered his forehead above his left eyebrow.

I sighed. My mood had shifted yesterday from angry to sad. I no longer wanted to throw a cell phone; instead, I’d cried myself to sleep last night. I never even cried when Liam and I split up, and we’d been together for a long time. Though I wasn’t about to give Weston the satisfaction of knowing how hurt I was. It was bad enough I’d fallen for his con. My pride couldn’t take him also seeing how pathetic and sad it had left me. So I tried my best to channel mean and bitter, though I lacked the energy for it. I just wanted this game over so I could move on.

“What do you want, Weston? I’m exhausted from traveling and need to finish some work before I go to bed.”

He stepped inside and quietly clicked the door closed behind him. “I’m so sorry, Soph.”

“Okay. Great. Thank you. Are we done now?”

Weston’s puppy dog eyes feigned hurt pretty damn well. If I didn’t know what a stellar actor he was, I might’ve believed he was as upset as I was.

“I know it doesn’t look good from what you read. But I swear, I never took any information from you, and I was never planning on giving anything to my family. You have to believe me.”

“No. I actually don’t. What I have to do is learn from the mistakes I’ve made. And believing anything that came out of your mouth was mistake number one. Trust me, I won’t be doing that again.”

He took a few steps closer. “My grandfather didn’t trust me here when I told him you were running the show for the Sterlings. Based on my track record the last few years, he knew women and alcohol were my downfall. He wanted my father to take over. The only way he’d let me stay was if I agreed to try to get information from you.”

“My father told me to do the same thing. I believe his exact words were to use my ‘feminine wiles’ to pump information out of you. But you already know that, don’t you? And do you know why you already know that? Because I told you about it.”

Weston closed his eyes. “I know.”

I felt the familiar burn in my throat, the precursor to tears. Swallowing hard, I said, “And I was dumb enough to leave you alone in my suite with all my files and my laptop. You must’ve had a good laugh as you rummaged through my things. I was the easiest mark ever.”

“No, it wasn’t like that. I never once looked through your stuff. I swear.”

My head spun with all the dumb things I’d done around this man. “Jesus. We had sex without a condom. Do I need to get tested for STDs right away? Did you lie about that, too?”

Weston shut his eyes. “No. I’m clean. I would never do that.”

God, I really had been an idiot. I’d placed my trust in my sworn enemy—trusted him over the judgment of my own family, and in the process jeopardized my career.

“What can I do, Soph?” Weston pleaded. “What can I do to prove to you that I’m telling the truth? We can call my grandfather on speakerphone, and I’ll ask him if I ever gave him any information. Anything. Just tell me.”

I shook my head. “If you’ll do anything for me, then go away, Weston.”

Our eyes met, and his were filled with tears. God, I was such an idiot. Even after everything that had happened, I still wanted to believe him. I wanted to pretend I’d never seen the email and go back to the way things were. I’d really fallen hard.

Eventually, he nodded. “Okay.”

He turned around and opened the door, but I thought of one thing I needed him to do for me. So I called after him.

“Hey, I told my family I’d accidentally left some of my work papers in an area you had access to. I was too embarrassed to tell my father and my grandfather that access was in my bedroom where I’d given you more than just insight into our bid. So if you want to do something for me, at least keep up that charade. The last thing the men in my family need to know is that I let my emotions get in the way of business.”

Weston winced. “I get it.”

After he walked out, I sat staring at my closed office door. It felt symbolic. The way we’d left things the other night had been so unfinished. We’d obviously needed to have a final conversation. Now that it was over, I should feel some closure. Though, closure meant accepting what had happened and walking away from the closed door. My heart didn’t want to walk away. So instead, I’d have to put a double lock on that door to make sure it didn’t accidentally creak open again.