by Lula Baxter
It took losing everything to realize that.
“What?” Gabrielle cries, rising up from her chair. “What do you mean buying out?”
“It means we’re dissolving the company. You can keep the name, it was your father’s company after all. I’m taking my half of the liquid assets, the Monte Carlo hotel…and Hawthorne Pharmaceuticals.”
“Alexandre, you are not thinking clearly. Obviously, this has upset you and—”
“No, I’ve been thinking about it for a while. We both know it. This needs to end, what we do. We’re no better than the companies we sabotage at this point.”
“I’m sorry. Is that what you want to hear? I shouldn’t have told her.”
“No, you shouldn’t have,” I say in a cold voice. “I should have.”
She stares at me for a moment, unsure of what to say. Then she straightens up and takes a deep breath, calmer now. “You need to think about what you’re doing. This is obviously a reaction to what has happened. I’m sure tomorrow you will have changed your mind. Go home and sleep on it then—”
“No.”
Gabrielle blinks at me, then her face starts to crumple. “Why are you doing this to me?” she cries.
“I’m giving you what you want, control of the company. Do good, Gabrielle.”
I turn to walk out.
“Alex! Alex don’t go!”
I ignore her and open the door to leave. When I close it, I hear the crash of her glass paperweight as it slams against the door behind me. It’s followed by a string of expletives.
“You are making a mistake, Alex!”
I just smile to myself.
Chapter Forty-One
Astrid
“Astrid!”
Sarah blinks in surprise, nearly dropping her basket of books when she sees me in the university bookstore.
“Hi Sarah,” I reply, feeling almost as awkward as she looks.
Classes start in a couple of weeks and I’m here buying books for the semester. I knew it was going to be like this for the first few months, the looks and whispers and uncomfortable interactions. Sarah is just the first of many of my old “friends” that I’m going to run into.
Something about that puts me strangely at ease. Last year, I would have been terrified by this sort of confrontation, making some excuse to slink away and hide my face forever. Now, I realize it’s not me, it’s them. Maybe they just don’t know how to face a woman who is willing to give up so much for what she really wants, no matter what the cost.
“Sorry I didn’t call or anything after the…well, you know.”
“Yeah, I know,” I say with a wry smile.
She gives me a pained look. “It’s just that Bruce and Eric have been friends for so long. He’s known the Campbells forever and, well, you and I we were just….”
“Roommates. I get it.” I thought we were friends as well, but I guess that was back in the days when the weather was still fair. Back in the days when I was an “acceptable” person to associate with. She’s already learning to play the game.
I see the engagement ring on her finger. “Oh, I see he finally popped the question. Congratulations.”
The color rises to her cheeks. “Oh, this.” She splays her fingers looking down at it as though it’s burning her skin. “Yes. It was over the summer.”
“Well, again, congratulations.”
She drops her hand and looks at me curiously. “How are you, Astrid?”
“I’m fine. Really.”
She gives me a doubtful look. I suppose it would be hard for anyone to assume that I’d be fine after what happened with Bruce. As far as that goes, yes I am actually fine.
It’s the other betrayal that’s eating me up inside. But Sarah doesn’t know anything about Alexandre, and I’m not about to give her that bit of chum to lure all the other sharks in with.
“Well, I should get going. These are getting heavy,” I say, lifting my basket. “I’ll see you around.”
The look on her face tells me she hopes that’s unlikely, but she gives me a smile all the same. “Good to see you, Astrid.”
“You too, Sarah.”
I finish collecting all the books I need and while I’m waiting in line to pay for them I think about this past summer, especially the later part.
The lie I told my parents about staying with Angela ended up being true. I’m still there and I’ve decided to stay as roommates with her during the final year of school.
As much as it kills me, I can’t stop thinking about Alexandre. I once heard that hate isn’t the opposite of love, apathy is. I’m anything but apathetic toward him. The actual, physical pain in my heart is anything but apathetic. It’s simply the opposite side of the coin that was once love. It’s just been flipped on its head, filling my entire body with another sort of all-consuming emotion.
Jeanne was wonderful in the aftermath, playing both the referee, keeping him at a distance from me to give me space and time to think, but also the temporary mother-figure I needed to pour my heart out to.
When I get outside, lugging my heavy bags of books, I nearly drop them when I see Alexandre standing there.
“What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to explain myself. And to apologize.”
“Apology accepted. I don’t need an explanation,” I say, trying to quickly walk away. The books make it difficult. With a heavy bag in each hand, I feel like a fat duck, waddling down the street.
I nearly topple over on my right side as the left is suddenly free of its burden when Alexandre rescues the bag from my grip.
“Give it back to me.”
“Hand me the other one. Let me at least walk you home.”
“No.”
“I’m no longer a part of Bernard Financiers.”
“Good for you. Give me back my bag.” It was a snap response, bubbling to my lips before I had time to think about the consequences of that statement. Then it hits me. “Wait a second, what does that mean for my father’s company?”
“I kept that part for myself. Along with some other assets.”
“What are you going to do with it?” I ask suddenly wary.
“Allow him to run it as he sees fit. He still doesn’t even know I’m the one who invested. I’ll keep the investment in a shell corporation so it stays that way.”
I study him carefully. A million questions run through my head, but I’m done caring. Done giving him the benefit of the doubt. School is about to start and I have to focus on that. Then I need to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. The possibilities are endless now.
“Give me my bag,” I say, less forcefully this time.
“It would be easier for me to carry it. Let me walk you home.”
“Is this you being different?” I ask pointedly. “Because from my vantage point it’s still the same Alexandre trying to control everything.”
He stares at me a moment with unreadable eyes. Finally, he sighs and hands the bag back to me. I snatch it and feel the immediate sag in my arm as it’s weighed down. I turn around to continue walking and he continues to keep pace with me.
“What are you doing?” I ask with irritation.
“Making sure you get home safely.”
“I hardly think a mugger is going to be interested in my books on twentieth-century imperialism. Or is that just another lie to cover why you’re really here?”
“It isn’t a lie, Astrid, I do want to make sure you get home safely, but yes, I do have an ulterior motive.”
I stop and give him a sarcastic smirk. “So, what is it this time? Did you just happen to be here as a ruse to take over my mother’s foundation? My grandparents own a house in a senior citizens community in Florida. Are you after them now?”
“I came for you. Only you. I want to tell you everything, the entire truth and then let you decide if you’re willing to give me another chance.”
“I’ve already made up my mind about you. I want nothing to do with you, Alexandre.”
/> “Is that true?” he asks, giving me a searching look.
I pause too long and hate myself for it. I’ve never had anything remotely approaching a poker face and I’m sure he can see the emotion still left in me.
Not apathy.
Hate.
The opposite side of the coin to love.
“Yes,” I say firmly and continue on. “I don’t care what you have to say.”
“I’m going to say it anyway,” he replies, keeping pace with my awkward gait.
I sigh heavily. He reaches out to take the bag again and I snatch it out of his reach.
“Very well,” he says in a resigned tone. Then he starts talking. “I know it was Gabrielle who told you and I don’t fault her for that. She simply told you what I should have a long time ago. Yes, I was in Monte Carlo to just happen to run into your father. I ran into you instead. It was a fortuitous meeting that was only partially related to my interest in Hawthorne Pharmaceuticals. I really did find you intriguing, attractive, enjoyable to be with. Everything that happened on the boat and that night had absolutely nothing, nothing to do with my interest in your father’s company. That was all you, Astrid.”
I feel my pace falter a bit at that, but recover quickly. I’m determined not to fall for him again.
“You were right, I did take the choice away from you when I sent those photos. I won’t lie about it now. A part of me did it, not for any business reasons, but because I couldn’t stand the thought of you being with him. By the time I flew to America to meet with you, everything had turned on its head and I was using the company, the money as a way to get to you instead. You changed the game for me. All of a sudden, life wasn’t about winning or having control or conquering. Right now, my entire life is all about you, Astrid.”
I stop and close my eyes before turning to him. “I’m sorry about that, Alexandre. Because right now, my life is about anything but you.”
He’s better at hiding his emotions, but I can see it in those clear green eyes. I’ve hurt him. The crazy thing is, it hurts me just as much.
“I’m sorry you came all the way here to try and make it up to me, but I need to focus on myself, Alexandre. Without more disruption. Without more drama,” there’s a pause before I add, “without you.”
I turn and walk away. This time, he doesn’t follow me but he does leave me with three parting words:
“Au revoir, Astrid.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Alexandre
“Mr. Campbell.”
“Please, please, call me Clyde. Mr. Campbell is my father,” he says with a jovial laugh.
I just return a dry smile as I sit down at the table across from him in at Capital Grille.
“Let’s get you a drink,” he says, snapping his fingers toward a passing waiter. He’s already ordered a drink, which looks like slightly more than two fingers of bourbon.
“Nothing for me,” I say when the waiter stops.
“You sure?” Clyde asks. “I think business is always best done over drinks.”
“I’m sure,” I say to the waiter. He nods and continues on.
“So,” Clyde says, settling back in the booth and picking up his drink. “You know Brett well?”
“Well enough,” I say with a smile. Brett Forrester is the CFO of a marketing firm in town, as well as a squash partner of Clyde Campbell’s. He also happens to have a bank account in the Cayman Islands that the wife he is planning on divorcing for a woman half her age doesn’t know about.
In order to get him to arrange this meeting with Clyde, I promised not to tell the soon to be ex-Mrs. Forrester about that account. What he doesn’t know, is that I did tell the marketing firm he works for that they should probably take a closer look at the books he’s in charge of. I’m sure the news about the off-shore account holding embezzled funds will eventually trickle down to his ex.
“He said you had some business to discuss?” Clyde says after taking a long swig from his drink. “Something I’d be very interested in hearing about. He wouldn’t give me any more than that.”
“I thought it was best kept between the two of us. I’m sure you’ll appreciate it.”
The amicable look on his face fades a bit and he sets the glass down. “Well, you might as well get to it.”
“Very well then, Mr. Campbell. Do you know what is more powerful than money? More powerful than even having connections?”
Now his expression is suspicious. “Perhaps you should get to the point, young man.”
“Information.”
He just stares at me, the suspicion in his face now cautiously shielded.
“Until recently, I was co-owner of a company that, for all intents and purposes, specialized in information. I’ve learned information can make or break even the most powerful corporations. Imagine what it can do to a single man.”
Clyde wisely keeps his mouth shut, sipping on his drink, as he eyes me with something approaching resentment now.
“Fortunately for you, I made a promise of sorts to someone, myself as well, that I was done with that sort of unsavory business. Which is very lucky for you…and a certain Harvard law student, the daughter of one of your closest friends, I believe?” He’s unable to hide the surprise in his eyes at this revelation. “Not to worry, I’ll be sure to keep tight-lipped about her…and the unfortunate little surprise you made her get rid of last year. I wonder what Senator Clarkson would think, learning about what the position of one of his biggest contributors was on that particular issue. A position that is so antithetical to the one he runs his campaign on.”
“Now you wait just a—!”
I cluck my tongue at him, shutting him up. “As I said, your secret is safe with me. And to make you feel better, so is your wife’s. No one needs to know she was the one to break up the Schnyder’s marriage. Imagine the pearl-clutching if all the matrons at the Boston Ladies Auxiliary Board were to find out about the cause of that rather nasty divorce.”
His already pale face goes white as a ghost. “How dare you threaten my family.”
“Now, now, Clyde,” I say with mock reproachfulness. “Didn’t I just say your secrets are safe with me?”
“What the fuck do you want?”
“Well, this wasn’t meant to be a tit for tat situation, but…” I pause for effect. “Since you’re offering.”
He just stares at me, no longer bothering to hide his contempt.
“The Hawthornes are off limits.”
He blinks in surprise, no doubt wondering what their name has to do with all of this.
“Whatever strings you pulled to ruin them are cut as of today. All the damage you did, will be rectified. The journal articles. The FDA interference. The social snubbing. It ends today. All of your friends are now their friends. Everything…except your friends investing in Hawthorne Pharmaceuticals. They’ll keep their dirty fingers out of that particular pie.”
“I can’t make people like them if they don’t,” he says petulantly.
“I’m sure you’ll do your very best,” I say, my voice cold as ice as I stare him down.
His gaze lowers as he sips his drink.
An amicable smile quickly comes to my face. “Again, thank you so much for the offer. Rest assured, your secret, and the many others that I have on you and your wife, are perfectly safe with me, Clyde.”
He swallows hard, but won’t meet my gaze. It doesn’t matter, I can already tell that he’ll do exactly as I say, coward that he is.
This information was the last little bit of usage I got out of Bernard Financiers, before I terminated my ownership. It took some convincing to get Gabrielle to dissolve the company. Even giving her more than her fair share of the assets, she was reluctant to let go. When I finally made it clear that I would be leaving whether or not she agreed, she finally caved, allowing me to hold on to the hotel and Hawthorne Pharmaceuticals.
I thought it would be a more difficult transition than it was, but I felt strangely free once the papers were signed. Pe
rhaps my mother had a point about my reasons for staying on. I spent some time simply enjoying it, discovering a new way of life that was more than just revenge and conquest.
Coming to Boston was my next goal. I knew it wouldn’t be easy to win Astrid’s trust again and she proved me right. I’m hardly giving up on her, but I am giving her the space she needs.
Perhaps eventually, we can start over again.
Chapter Forty-Three
Astrid
“I still can’t believe it,” my mother gushes as she looks around nervously. The charity auction for the Sharon Dobay Scholarship Foundation is in the largest ballroom available at the Four Seasons.
The theme for the evening is Paris Nights. This is due mostly to the first and most prominent item donated, the necklace from Ardant Jewelers whose headquarters are located in Paris. I’m wearing a black halter ballgown with my hair up in a French twist, feeling sexy yet elegant. The darkened room sparkles with thousands of tiny white lights and every table lit with large candelabras. Servers walk around with the best champagne and tiny French hors d’oeuvres including pâté on crostini, fromage forts, gougeres puff pastry flavored with Gruyere, and caviar.
“It’s an absolute success so far, Mom. You should be proud.”
“Well, I certainly didn’t do all this on my own. So many people just came out of the woodwork to help. Candice Harper of all people! She didn’t even participate last year. I still have no idea what changed peoples’ minds, let alone how we got this location.”
“I guess people just know a good cause when they see one,” I say idly. I know exactly how all of this came about, but I’m certainly not letting her know. Getting the ballroom at the hotel was one thing, but having this crème de la crème crowd in attendance, the same people who were shunning the Hawthornes months ago, was an impressive feat. There is, of course, one noticeably absent family name on the guest list, a name that will probably never make it to this event in the future.
