Chapter 47 The Invitation
Sarah felt like every good thing she had done for twenty years had been erased in a single month, and she started to shake, her knees feeling weak until Alex was right there behind her, his large hands gripping her shoulders to keep her upright, and he didn't say anything at first, he just pulled her back against his chest and held her tight, letting her cry into his shirt while the house stayed quiet around them.
"I've lost him, Alex, I’ve really lost him this time," she sobbed, her voice muffled against the fabric of his shirt, and she kept thinking about the way Mark had looked at the truck in the driveway and the way he had talked about Richard Harrington’s phone call, but Alex just shook his head and smoothed her hair down, his touch firm and grounding like it always was when she started to spiral.
"You haven't lost him, Sarah, he’s just hurt and he doesn't know how to process all of this at once, so he’s lashing out because it’s easier than talking,"
Alex said, his voice deep and calm as he guided her over to the sofa and made her sit down, and he knelt on the floor between her knees so he could look her in the eyes, his face full of a protective sort of love that made her feel a little less alone in the mess.
"He’s going to work for your father, he said he wanted a real future, and that means he’s choosing that world over mine," she said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, but Alex grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles, his eyes turning dark and serious.
"My father is playing a game, he’s using Mark to get a reaction out of us, and Mark will see through it eventually because he’s smart, so you have to just give him the space he asked for and trust that he’ll come back when the noise dies down," Alex told her, and he spent the next few hours just being there, making her tea that she didn't drink and sitting close to her on the couch while the sun started to go down, and for a little while, it felt like they were in a bubble where the rest of the city didn't exist.
The peace didn't last long, because around seven o'clock, a sharp knock came at the door, and Alex was on his feet in a second, his body tensing up as he went to see who it was while Sarah stayed on the sofa, her heart starting to race again because she wasn't ready for more bad news. Alex came back into the room a minute later holding a heavy, cream-colored envelope that looked expensive and formal, and there was a look on his face that Sarah couldn't quite read, but it wasn't good.
"It’s from him," Alex said, tossing the envelope onto the coffee table like it was something dirty, and Sarah reached for it with trembling fingers, tearing it open to find a card inside with a gold crest at the top, and she read the words out loud because she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"He wants me to come to dinner at the estate tomorrow night, he says he wants to clear the air and talk about the Veridian project without any lawyers or middle-men involved," Sarah said, her voice trailing off as she looked at the polite, professional handwriting, and she looked up at Alex who was already pacing the floor, his jaw set tight.
"You aren't going, it’s a trap, he just wants to get you in a room so he can manipulate you or threaten you without me there to stop him," Alex snapped, his voice getting louder with every step he took, and he looked like he wanted to rip the invitation into pieces, but Sarah stood up and shook her head, holding the card tight against her chest.
"I have to go, Alex, look at what’s happening to the firm, the accounts are frozen and the board is pulling away and now Mark is talking to him, so if I can sit down with him and fix this professionally, I have to take that chance," she argued, but Alex stopped pacing and stepped right into her space, his shadow looming over her as he looked down at her with that possessive intensity that usually made her melt, but right now it just felt like another weight.
"He doesn't do anything just to be nice, Sarah, he’s invited you because he thinks he can buy you off or scare you into leaving me, and I won't let you walk into that house alone when I know exactly what kind of man he is," Alex said, his hands reaching out to grab her waist, pulling her flush against him so she had to look up at him.
"I'm forty-two years old, Alex, I can handle a dinner with a businessman, and if I don't go, he’ll just keep squeezing until there’s nothing left of my life's work, so I’m going to call the number on the back of this card and I’m going to tell him I’ll be there at eight," Sarah said, trying to sound braver than she felt, because the idea of facing Richard Harrington in his own home made her stomach turn over, but she knew she couldn't keep hiding behind Alex forever.
"Fine, if you're going, then I'm going too, but I'm not going to sit in the car and wait like a bodyguard," Alex said, and his voice had changed, it wasn't the voice of the boy who made her breakfast or the student who carried her books, it was the voice of the man she had seen in the kitchen the night before, the one who knew exactly how much power he actually had.
Sarah looked at him, her eyes wide as she saw the change in his posture and the way he held himself with a new kind of arrogance, and she felt a chill go down her spine because she realized that the dynamic was shifting, and she didn't know if she was ready for the version of Alex that belonged in a mansion.
"Alex, you can't come, he'll think I'm using you as a shield and it will make everything look worse," she whispered, reaching up to touch his chest, but he trapped her hand with his own and pressed it flat against his heart, and she could feel it beating steady and strong, like he had already made up his mind and nothing she said was going to change it.
"I'm not going as your shield, Sarah, I'm going because he’s been waiting for me to take my place at that table since I was nineteen, and if he wants to talk about the future of your company, he’s going to have to talk to the Harrington heir, not just a decorator he thinks he can bully," Alex said, his voice cold and flat as he looked past her toward the window, and Sarah realized that he wasn't just talking about a dinner anymore, he was talking about stepping back into the life he had spent seven years running away from just to save her.
"You're going back to him?" she asked, her voice shaking, because she suddenly felt like she was losing the Alex she knew, the one who was hers, and replacing him with a man who belonged to the Harrington empire.
"I'm going to reclaim my seat, Sarah, and I'm going to make sure he knows that if he touches you again, he’s going to have to deal with me as an equal, so go ahead and call him, tell him there will be two of us for dinner, and tell him his son is coming to talk business.”