Chapter 40 A LIGHT THAT FLICKERS
The board meeting ended in less than three hours, and I was glad they kept everything simple and straightforward. By the time we were done, Troy was already waiting for me—along with the press.
“Are you ready with phase two?” Troy asked. I could see the worry etched clearly in his eyes.
“Can’t wait to get it over with,” I replied coldly. “Let’s go be the perfect son my dad wants me to be. Let’s go pretend like the woman who ruined my entire life is finally back after so many years of acting like I was the bad son—the one who forgot his mother after an accident that left a hole in my head.
Let me finally give the world what they’ve always wanted, because I’ve always been the villain in this story and never her,” I said before pushing the hall doors open.
A squad of reporters rushed toward me instantly, camera lights flashing nonstop in my face, blinding and suffocating. I hated every second of it.
And then the questions started pouring in.
“Are you finally handing the head hotel back to your mother?”
“Does this mean you’ve finally recognized your mother after so many years?”
“Mr. Lennox, does this mean you’re finally working things out with her?”
The questions kept coming, each one painting me as the ungrateful son while she was framed as the loving mother who left the city just so her sick son—who couldn’t stand her—could have a life. Now everyone sounded like I owed her a favor.
“I’m just taking a break,” I said calmly, forcing control into my voice, “because let’s be honest—I already have a lot on my plate. This hotel was the starting point of our empire, a dream that lived in my mother’s head long before it became reality.
She only wanted to build a suite where people who traveled far and were bound by work could stay comfortably—whether it was for business trips, family vacations, or honeymoons—in a beautiful city.
So yes, I’m taking a break,” I continued. “But that doesn’t mean I’m giving up.”
I couldn’t bring myself to fully fit into the role my father wanted—the role everyone expected me to play—so instead, I sent a message to someone who might think she had already won.
I’m taking a break. I’m not running away.
More questions followed immediately, but I was already fed up with it all. I turned and walked out of the hall, desperate for air, desperate to breathe.
“Are you okay?” Troy’s voice came from behind me, announcing his presence.
“I’m fine,” I replied, loosening my tie as frustration bled through my tone. “But let’s book that flight back to Hollowmere, shall we? Our stop to see my father will be very brief.
If I spend more than three hours here in Brookleigh, I might as well cause a scene—one neither my father nor the witch will like. Not that I care,” I added bitterly, “but I hate to drag the suit into this. It wouldn’t be healthy for it.”
I pulled my tie off completely and tossed it into the back seat.
“Let me drive,” Troy said. “I left my car at the vet. Once we’re done, we’ll pick up Alba and prepare for our flight—I already booked one.”
I handed him the keys without hesitation.
I wasn’t even in the right frame of mind to drive. My thoughts were scattered everywhere, and I was drowning in them, sinking deeper with every passing second.
Troy’s POV
I kept glancing at him from the side window. He looked so lost, so detached from himself. I could barely see the light in his eyes anymore. He reminded me of a low, flickering streetlight, struggling desperately to keep the road illuminated but slowly giving in to the darkness.
I wondered what he was going to do once he learned what his father was preparing—a surprise I was struggling to keep hidden from him, despite his father’s strict instruction to keep it away from him.
I couldn’t bring myself to say a word, not when he was barely holding on. When I finally pulled up in front of his family house gate, I had to call his name just to get his attention, snapping him out of whatever nightmare his mind had created.
“Are you okay? If you feel uncomfortable, let’s just drive back home without meeting your father. I’ll call him and tell him we couldn’t make it,” I said when he let out a low groan and buried his face in his palms.
“When is our flight taking off?” he asked finally, lifting his head as his eyes settled on me.
“It’s about three hours away, so we have enough time for you to—”
“Let’s go to the vet and pick Alba up,” he cut in before I could finish my sentence. Yep. Typical Jaxon.
I immediately drove toward the vet and called Mr. Lennox on the way, informing him that Jaxon wouldn’t be stopping by as planned.
Jaxon, on the other hand, seemed uninterested in everything around him. He picked up his phone, scrolled through it briefly, then tossed it aside, followed by his suit jacket.
We picked Alba up and made it back to his house in less than thirty minutes, but the moment I pushed the front door open, who I met there nearly made me pass out.
She was worse than Alba.
Isadora—Jaxon’s younger sister—who had made my ten years of knowing her unbearable, worse than the five years I’d spent dealing with Alba.
“Troy!”
I shut my eyes as my name rolled off her mouth in a high-pitched squeal before she threw herself into my arms, wrapping them tightly around my waist.
“Isadora, please step aside—you’re choking me,” I groaned, trying to pry her arms off, but she was far stronger than she looked.
“Can you two move out of the way? There are people who actually need some rest,” Jaxon’s voice came from behind me as I continued struggling, with Isadora refusing to let go.
This was pure torture. I would rather walk, feed, and even bathe Alba for an entire year than deal with Isadora, who has had a crush on me since she was ten.
I thought she would grow out of it, but somehow it only got worse as she got older.
Jaxon walked past us, heading straight for the sofa while Alba trailed behind him before settling close by his side.
I practically begged Jaxon with my eyes to help me out, but instead he leaned back comfortably, looking completely uninterested in my suffering.
“I can’t wait to attend your wedding,” he muttered loudly enough for both Isadora and me to hear before closing his eyes and pretending to fall asleep.
I stared at him in disbelief, while Isadora immediately squealed in excitement and rushed over to sit beside Jaxon. Well, that did the trick—she finally let me go—but what the hell was wrong with Jaxon?
He used to threaten to kill me if I even glanced at Isadora once she started growing up. That was why, no matter how old she got, I could only ever see her as a whining child who never quite got the attention she wanted.
“Doesn’t that mean you approve of Troy and me?” she asked, her blue eyes glowing with excitement.
“No, Dora. Maybe when you’re all old and wrinkly,” Jaxon replied lazily.
I finally let out the breath I’d been holding.
That was too close. For a moment there, I honestly thought I was about to be forced into marrying Isadora, and just the thought of it made my skin crawl.