Chapter 56 Chapter 56
Chapter 56 Chapter 56
“So, what did you want to talk about?” Ajax asked calmly, as he motioned Claudia to take a seat across the long office desk.
After the cops arrived with the arrest warrant and surrounded the entire estate in case his father returned, Ajax led Noémie’s sister up the stairs to the study room.
It was the only place he could think of for a private conversation.
With Sonia Halest on edge and Hannah being weird, the last thing he wanted was to give them something more to fret about.
Whatever Claudia was there for, he would have to deal with it on his own.
Although deep down, he couldn’t shake off this feeling of dread inside him. As if whatever was about to come out of her mouth would hurt him, more than he was in the right mind to bear.
Claudia sank into the cushioned chair, pulled it closer to the desk, and propped her hands on the table.
“First of all, fuck you.” Claudia hissed through her teeth, fixing him with a heated gaze she thought he would understand all too well.
The weird part was—Ajax only gave a small nod to the sentiment. Absolutely aware that he most probably deserved it.
“Look, dude, whatever. I’m not here to tell you what you should do or not. I don’t think I have that kind of right. But because Noémie is my sister and she probably wouldn’t speak of it unless pushed into a corner, you have to grow some balls and understand on your own.”
“Understand what?”
“That she’s sensitive. She always has been.”
Ajax pursed his lips. Not sure where she was getting at with that information. Of course, he already knew that.
Claudia leaned forward, her shoulders slumping, while her mouth released a defeated sigh. “And that she is madly in love with you.”
Ajax thought his chest was about to combust.
“The last time I met her, and when she told me everything that had happened between you two, I was so furious. I wanted to drag you to the court. I even called Neal, my boyfriend, to get things in motion. But Noémie stopped me. One would think that perhaps it was the fear of being embarrassed or being stamped out by upscale people like you—but that wasn’t true, was it? Absolutely not.”
She shook her head, leaning back in her chair. “I don’t even know what she sees in you. I mean, sure, you’ve got the looks and maybe have this creepy ability to charm people with an I’ll-be-your-doom look in the eyes, but what else?”
“You have always treated her so badly. Do you know that?” she asked, and Ajax found guilt pumping through his blood. He knew Claudia was right. “Not even a day off. Not a single one. And yet. Yet she worked and worked and worked and never complained. Do you know why?”
“She loves me,” Ajax said, having known that fact for a very long time but admitting to himself just now.
“Yeah,” Claudia said. “Because she loves you. She was crazy about you. And you never fucking bat an eye at all that she was sacrificing for you. I know. I know it’s not the job of a boss to pay attention to about the emotions of every employee. But what after that? What about now? Why are you still being so awful to her?”
Ajax wasn’t certain if he understood that line of questioning. “What do you mean? What did I do?”
“As if you don’t know,” Claudia huffed out, annoyed. “Some woman named Isabella dropped by our house last night. She said she was related to you and that we should stop Noémie from being a bitch and going after her—and let me quote this exactly how she did—naïve nephew. I mean, let’s be honest here. There’s no such thing as “naïve” about you.”
She gave him a once-over and scrunched her nose in disgust. “You fucking took advantage of her!”
“What?” Ajax was too shocked to care about how ridiculously he jolted up to his feet and leaned forward on the table. “And you’re telling me this now? Are you…” ugh! Couldn’t she start with this in the first place?
Ajax pursed his lips and rounded the table, almost skipping for the door.
“Where are you going?” she called from behind.
“To Noémie!” was that even a question? “I have to stop them.”
Ajax barely turned the knob when she spoke once again. “It’s too late.”
No. It couldn’t be. They couldn’t…
“Mom called me half an hour back. Noémie is already with them. They are on their way home.”
This couldn’t be happening right now. She couldn’t leave him. Not after what they shared last night…
Ajax hadn’t even noticed how tight his fingers had curled around the knob.
The more he thought about her, about her willingness to leave him behind so easily, something in his chest cracked and howled and broke.
Suffocated. That’s how he felt. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t fucking think straight.
“Ajax?” he heard someone call his name, but he was too far gone.
Yanking at the knob—and nearly snapping it off—he threw the door open and stormed outside.
“Ajax, wait!” Claudia tagged along with him, trying to keep up with his pace as he raced down the stairs and headed for the main entrance.
Sonia Halest got up from her seat the moment her eyes landed on the reddened face of Ajax. “What’s…what’s happening?”
Feeling something off, she shifted her gaze to the girl following after him. She caught Claudia by her arm. “What happened upstairs? What did you say?”