Chapter 40 BREAKING POINT PART 2
Vivienne sat on the concrete steps between the second and third floors, her back against the cold wall, staring at nothing in particular.
She'd stopped crying about five minutes ago. Now she just felt empty.
The mocap suit was still on, the sensors still attached to her body. She should probably take them off, but she couldn't find the energy to care.
Footsteps echoed from above.
Vivienne didn't look up. She already knew who it was.
Alexander appeared around the corner, and when he saw her, he stopped for a moment. Then he continued down the steps, slowly, until he was on the same landing as her.
He didn't say anything. Just sat down on the steps, leaving a careful distance between them. Close enough to talk, far enough to give her space.
The silence stretched out.
One minute. Two.
Vivienne kept her eyes on the fire extinguisher mounted on the opposite wall. Someone had scratched graffiti into the metal casing: "Dave was here 2023."
"You're right," Alexander said finally.
Vivienne turned her head slightly, just enough to see him from the corner of her eye. He wasn't looking at her. He was staring down at his hands, clasped loosely between his knees.
"I was pushing too hard," he continued, his voice quiet but clear in the enclosed space. "I tend to do that a lot."
Vivienne didn't respond. She probably didn't know what to say.
"My father ran the company the same way," Alexander said after another pause. "Demanded perfection from everyone. From me most of all." He let out a breath. "I watched him break people. Employees who couldn't meet his standards. Partners who made mistakes. Even family members who disappointed him."
He rubbed his face with one hand. "I swore I'd never be like him. Swore that when I took over, I'd be different. Better."
"And?" Vivienne found her voice, rough from crying.
"Apparently I failed." The admission seemed to cost him something. "Apparently I'm exactly like him, just with better PR."
Vivienne shifted slightly on the step, drawing her knees up to her chest. The mocap suit made the movement awkward, the sensors pulling at her skin.
"Why?" she asked. "Why do you push so hard?"
Alexander was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke again, his voice was different, more honest than she'd ever heard it.
"This project means everything to me. Not just the money or the investor, though those matter too." He finally looked at her. "It's the first thing I've built that's entirely mine. Not my father's vision, or the board's compromise. Mine."
Vivienne saw it then. The fear underneath all that perfectionism. The same fear she carried every day with CrossLight.
"Every decision, every creative choice, every risk, it's all me," Alexander continued. "And if it fails..." He trailed off, shaking his head. "I'm terrified it won't be good enough, that I won't be good enough, that I'll prove my father was right to doubt me."
The vulnerability in his voice caught her off guard. This wasn't the demanding CEO from the studio. This was someone just as scared of failing as she was. This was the Alexander she knew.
"Your father doubted you?" Vivienne asked softly. Even though she already knew the full story.
"Always." Alexander's jaw clenched. "He never thought I had what it took to run Hunt Enterprises. Said I was too soft, too idealistic, that I'd run the company into the ground within five years." He laughed bitterly. "He died seven years ago. I've been waiting for his prediction to come true ever since."
Vivienne was just finding out that Andre had died seven years ago, first in the elevator this morning, then now. But she understood the fear. The voice in your head telling you that you're not enough, that you'll fail, especially when someone as important as one's parent instill that belief in you.
"You are good enough," she said, and meant it. "The concept is brilliant. The technology, the story, the vision, it's all brilliant."
Alexander looked at her, surprise crossing his face.
"But you can't expect me to be perfect on day one," Vivienne continued, her voice gaining strength. "You can't expect anyone to be perfect on day one. That's not how people work."
"I know..."
"Do you?" She turned to face him fully now. "Because in there, it felt like you expected me to already know everything, to instinctively understand what you wanted without any teaching, any guidance, any room for mistakes."
Alexander opened his mouth, then closed it. He didn't have a defense for that.
"I've spent ten years behind the camera specifically because I don't do well in front of it," Vivienne said. "I know my strengths, and performing isn't one of them. I'm a businesswoman, I build things, I manage people, I solve problems, but I'm not an actress and I've never pretended to be one."
"Then why did you finally agree to this? Aside from the fact that I refused to take no for an answer."
Vivienne looked away, back at the fire extinguisher with its scratched graffiti. "Because my company is drowning."
She felt Alexander's full attention on her now, but she kept going. If they were being honest, she might as well tell him everything.