The American (Billionaire Royals Book 6)
Page 10
“Excellent. You are certainly worth your weight in gold around here.”
Sage backed away, feeling piece by piece of her heart clench and then shatter. She needed to think, to plan her escape.
She absolutely would no longer be staying at Thad’s apartment.
And she was certain she could resign with no guilty feeling of leaving the company in a lurch. And she had yet to decide if she would leave quietly or as loudly as possible. All at once her hurt choked her. How could they? How could any human use another in such an unfair way? And Thad, he seemed so sincere, brought her home to the family. She couldn’t believe it. Even in this town, even in the business world of grappling for position, she had never seen anyone treated so poorly.
She snuck out without anyone the wiser. And suddenly she knew where she wanted to go. After a few well-placed calls, she made her way to the chess pavilion.
When she arrived, two camera crews were already present.
“I’m happy you’re here. Let’s set up inside.”
As they gathered, more people came until she had an audience, live and over the internet, and on camera. She waved at the growing, curious crowd.
And then she spoke, and she told all. From the beginning to the end. The trickery, the co-CEO idea, her experience with Thad, all of it. For once, the reporters were without questions. Most eyed her with sympathy. Then a whole new batch joined them, shouting and calling out their questions. And suddenly Sage was tired, and she wanted to go home.
But she was surrounded. “Excuse me, could you make way?”
They just pushed in tighter.
And she started to panic.
“You heard Sage, make way.” Thad stood at her side, and they went crazy, clamoring for shots, shouting out accusations. Their bodyguards and a team of security formed a line, an opening, and Thad and Sage ran. They booked it past the remote controlled boats, dodging children.
“We’re gonna do this someday,” Thad called over his shoulder.
How could he even think she would want to be with him? As soon as she escaped the park, she was on the next plane home.
They ran faster, ducking into a restaurant skipping around tables and out the back door. “I have a car.”
She rolled her eyes. “Brilliant, where is it?”
“Will you get in it with me so we can talk?” He watched her as he ran.
Out of breath, her side aching, she nodded. “Yes! Let’s get out of here.”
He made a call and then took them over to the west side. “Almost there.”
They made their way past the famous statues. She loved that walk, all the trees, the shade. At last she saw a black sedan, waiting on the street to the west of the park. Her breaths were coming in great rasping gulps. She needed water.
Thad opened the door and she fell in. The driver handed her a water bottle. Then Thad got in the other side. The press rushed closer, but the driver pulled away.
The silence in the car was thick and uncomfortable. Sage wiped her face, gulped her water, and turned the AC vents to face her.
Thad handed her a towel, his eyes as sincere as ever, his face, kind. How could he be such an actor? Had she lost her ability to read people?
“I heard what you said, to the press, and I’m sorry.”
“That’s interesting.” She didn’t want to talk about this after all. Saying sorry was not going to cut it.
“But I’m not sorry for the reasons you think.”
She eyed him and waited.
“I’m sorry.” He leaned forward. “That you had to feel any pain, had to doubt me for even a second of our lives that I still hope to spend together.”
He was delusional.
“I wish I could erase the last few hours from our memories.”
“Thad, how can you think there is any way I would consider spending my life with you?” She waved her hand. “We moved forward way too fast, before, well, before I knew you.” Her eyes narrowed and even though her lip wanted to shake, she refused to show sadness.
But he saw. He reached forward and ran a thumb along her mouth which made Sage almost collapse in his arms, sobbing out her sorrow, but she resisted with the strength of the thought that he had caused all her hurt. He was the reason for her pain.
His deep voice warmed her even still. “Sage. I’m going to prove that what you just told the press about me is not true.”
Prove? Could she be wrong about all of this? Did she mishear? Or jump to conclusions?
“Did you not tell Zachary that we are engaged? Give him your wedding plan before I even knew it?”
“I did.” He held up a hand before she could interrupt so she waited, impatiently.
“He was going to fire you.”
“What?” A great weight clenched at the bottom of her stomach.
“He felt like you would tell the press.” His mouth quirked in a half grin. “Which you have done.” He looked out the window for a moment. “And so I gave him pieces of a fake plan to save your career. It would have all made sense to everyone later, once we made our announcement to the press.”
“But the wedding?”
“I was going to talk to you about it. St. Patrick’s seemed as good a place as any, and once I knew I wanted to marry you, I didn’t want to have to wait too long.” He shrugged. “If you were opposed, we naturally would have changed things.” He ran a hand through his hair and his face took on such a pained expression she considered what he said with greater attention.
And then the weight of what she had just done sunk in. “So you weren’t in collusion with Zachary, riding me along, using your charms to seduce and trick me into marrying you in a public way so that you could unethically make millions of dollars?”
He shook his head. “No. But I don’t want you to take my word for it. I never want this to be a point of confusion between us, or distrust.”
A feather of hope tickled at her conscious. She had never felt equal parts happy anticipation and dread. If he was everything she thought him to be originally, then she had just destroyed him with the press and the gravity of what she’d done, started to sink in. On the other hand, he was here, so he seemed willing to forgive.
“Thad, I hope.” She cleared the catch in her throat. “I hope you can forgive my hasty response. I was responding to the greatest hurt of my life.” Her eyes filled with tears before she could stop them.
He pulled her into his arms. “Oh Sage. It is I who must beg forgiveness.” They pulled to a stop along the river front, the bridge where they leapt off together towering above them. Then he opened a laptop, and proceeded to show her email after email to Zachary, proof of how he was setting their original plan in motion, the email when Zachary was ready to cut Sage loose in a non-complimentary way, and then his response to hold off, that he would talk to him in the morning. That he had new news to tell him. They were not colluding. Zachary didn’t even know the plan until Sage had overheard them talking about it.
She turned to Thad, ready to apologize again. But he covered her mouth with his own. And she clung to him. He was real. His love was real. She could still have him in her life. But slower. She stopped. “Thad. Would it be alright if…”
“We slowed down a little bit?”
She nodded, smiling through her tears. “You agree?”
“I think we need to spend some quality time on dates with no one else present, while I explore the softness of your mouth.” He winked and would have starting kissing her again, but then he stopped. “I’m willing to slow down, court you properly, as they say, but don’t doubt my sincerity or my plans. I have one purpose only and that is to convince you to marry me, as soon as possible.”
She laughed. “Understood.”
Then he opened up the video app. “Now, I think we have an announcement to make to all our adoring fans.”
“Thad, I’m sure they hate us.”
“But they won’t in just a few minutes, because what they hate most of all is being manipulated. They hate ha
ving a hunch, reporting it, and then finding out they were wrong or misled. But Sage, they were right all along. We are everything they thought. And they got to experience our first real fight and now let’s show them the make-up.”
And so, with tears still watering her eyes, her mascara less than perfect, they recorded a video up to YouTube, explaining the rest of the story. They got out of the car, video still running and with the bridge in the background, Thad kissed her in front of their 2 million followers. Then they sent the link to Thad’s personal assistant who would take care of getting it out to all the presses.
As they drove back down the streets of NYC, with nowhere to go, sure their apartments were swamped with the press, Thad suggested they slip in to a Broadway show, and Sage couldn’t have been happier.
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Her other books in this series:
The Heir
The Crown
The Duke
The Duke’s Brother
The Prince
The American
The Spy
The Princess
Copyright © 2018 by Sophia Summers
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