“Just checking on you,” Jericho says. Concern fills his expression as he lowers to sit next to me on the sand.
I’ve spent the last two days on the beach sketching. I knew I’d see Jericho at some point today because I haven’t been at work for a few days. I needed to disappear for a while to wrap my head around my new normal.
I set my sketchbook down and look at him. He looks like he’s come to some decisions, too.
“You look like shit,” he adds.
“Thanks.” I know I look like hell, but at least I feel slightly better for not having to worry about Bastian. The moment we were done with him, I also messaged William to let him know I’d taken care of that problem.
“This isn’t the time for sarcasm.” Jericho gives me a sidelong glance, disapproval etched into his face. “What’s going on with you? You’ve been quiet. Quiet is never good when it comes to you.”
“I’m fine.”
“You know you’re far from it, so don’t tell me that.” The skepticism in his voice reminds me that he’s my brother and I can’t hide anything from him.
“What do you want me to say? Do you want me to wallow in my sorrow and vent about all the ways I fucked things up with Aurora?”
“Yes. It’s the human thing to do when we fuck up, but just so you know, I believe you could still fix this if you wanted to.”
I shake my head. “I can’t. It’s better this way. I’ve done all I can do to fix the parts that needed fixing.” By tonight, I’ll have the documents for Sunset Cove and the divorce papers. I’ll take them to Aurora’s father in the morning, and that will be it. I’ll be gone from their lives.
My next task will be to talk to my grandfather. One more person to disappoint.“So, you’ve seriously come to a final decision on everything?” Jericho searches my eyes with caution.
“Yes.” I keep my gaze fixed on him. He knows my plans and knows what they mean for us both in terms of work. I’ve avoided talking to him until this was all over. I know he’s done the same, probably because he needed to think too. But it looks like he’s ready to talk.
My decision to stop the sale of Sunset Cove obviously means I won’t get Park Avenue.
As we know, Grandfather wants Jericho to be the CFO. It follows that Bastian will take the lead in my place. That is what my decision will mean, providing Jericho decides to fulfill Grandfather’s wishes to get married.
“What will you do?” he asks.
I look out to the sea, gazing at the horizon as my options swirl around in my head. They’re all good options, but they feel dead without my wife.
I return my gaze to meet his and compose my mind enough to give him an answer.
“I’m going to head back out to Saint-Tropez for a few months and help Mom with the gallery. When I get back, I’ll set up my business like I planned before.” Back to the original plan. “Have you decided what you want to do?”
“I want the CFO position. The other night got me thinking that as we have Bastian in the palm of our hands, I might be able to work with him if I need to. Of course, I would prefer not to. I wish it were you, but I don’t want to rob myself of my legacy.”
“And you mustn’t. I would hate that.”
“I know, but it means we won’t be working together anymore. That’s going to be strange.” As far as sentimentality goes, this is one of the rare occasions I’ve witnessed the emotion in him. “I wholeheartedly respect and agree with your decision for Sunset Cove, but it’s a huge change for us.”
“It is, but I think we both knew the day would come when we’d need to stop working together.”
“We did.” His voice holds the solemn edge of remorse.
“So, you’re seriously agreeing to get married?” I raise my brows.
He lets out a haggard sigh and nods. “Fuck… I guess I am. But I don’t expect to have what you have.”
“Have?” I shake my head again. “You mean had.”
“No. I mean exactly what I said. Knight, if you’re going to lose the empire, don’t lose the girl too. You love her. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t think she was worth all this.”
“I’ve done too much to her.”
“That doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed.” An earnest look sneaks into his expression. “I hate to bring this up now, but if I didn’t, I know Giselle would be furious with me.”
At the mention of Giselle, I tense. “What is it?”
“Giselle’s letter. Go read it again and listen to her this time. Just listen to her.”
The letter he’s talking about is what I classed as a suicide note, except it was a letter written months before she died.
“Or simply listen to me.” He straightens, keeping his gaze leveled with mine. “I’m a guy with many regrets that I can’t change.”
The hollow in his voice suggests he’s talking about the darkness from his past.
“The sort of regrets you still won’t tell me about?” I stare at him, wondering if this might be the day he decides to talk to me.
“Yes, those.”
“You just gave me a lecture on being human and talking things out.”
“Because your mistakes can be fixed. Mine can’t.” He places a hand to his heart. “My girl got away and I’ll never see her again.”
That’s the most he’s told me in the twelve years I’ve been waiting for him to talk.
“Your girl?”
“Story for another day, brother.”
“Will you ever tell me?”
“Yes, but not today. Today, you must only think of her.” Jericho opens my sketchbook, revealing the sketches of Aurora I’ve done. Once again, he’s showing how much he knows me. He taps the page with his index finger and gives me a small smile. “Told you you’d have your hands full with this one.”
“Yeah, you did.”
With that, he rests his hands on my shoulder, pushes to his feet, and leaves.
I watch him until I can’t see him anymore and I think of what he said to me about himself and my situation that he believes can be fixed.
Can it really?
Could I even dare to hope that Aurora would forgive me?
I wait until the sun sets before I go inside the house, then I head up to my bedroom and straight to the cupboard in the walk-in wardrobe where I keep my old things.
There’s a box at the back of the shelf where I keep the things I wanted to remember Giselle by.
It contains little things from the years we knew each other right up to her death with that letter.
I open the box and find the letter on top, right where I left it years ago when I sealed everything away, never to look at again.
Instinct wants me to close the box and put it away, but I hear Jericho’s words in my head telling me to read it and listen, so I take out the blue envelope containing the letter that pushed me over to the dark side and set the box down.
It was Giselle’s mother who gave the letter to me a week after her funeral. She’s said Giselle had given it to her lawyer. But I always wondered if that
was true and if her mother ever suspected what Giselle planned to do.
It doesn’t matter now.
I lean against the wall and open the letter. The familiarity of her words seeps into me the moment I start reading, but this time as I read, I try to listen.
To my Knight,
If you’re reading this, it means I’m not here anymore.
You’ll also know how I decided to leave. Please forgive me.
I know you won’t understand what I did, but it hurt me to think of what my future would look like in just a few months when I start dying, and everyone I love will be in more pain.
As I write this letter, I’m watching you sleeping in the chair next to me in my hospital bed for yet another treatment we both know won’t work.
But I love you for trying. If nothing else, these moments between us mean more time spent together that I will always cherish.
I wanted to write this letter because I know you will feel everything under the sun, and you’ll probably hate me for what I did. But knowing you, hate is not an emotion that will ever come from you toward me.
I seem to be the exception to your rules.
I wanted my parting words to be something to help you find the same happiness you gave me.
It’s my turn to take care of you now and tell you to live and love and never stop trying to do either.
Live the life you want to live and enjoy every single moment of it. But most importantly, I want you to love.
I will always say that we were meant to be for this time only, but there is someone else out there who you’re meant to spend the rest of your life with.
When you see her, you’ll know her.
I don’t want you to be afraid to love her with everything inside you.
Don’t be afraid to choose her and make sure she knows she belongs to you, and never stop fighting for that love, even if you’re the one standing in your way.
Thank you so much for loving me and being my white knight. You saved me in every way possible. Now it’s time for you to save someone else.
Love you always,
Giselle
I stare at the letter, my soul trembling as those parting words flow into me and light touches my heart with peace.
Each word fuses with my mind, blending letter by letter, speaking directly to my soul.
When I first read this letter, it broke me, and I hated the idea of her telling me to love again.
The last time I read this letter, I couldn’t conceive what she was telling me, but now, her words whisper to my core, clearing the darkness from my view with one message.
One resounding message telling me I can’t lose Aurora.
No matter what I do, I mustn’t.
I fell for her when I first saw her. It was always what that feeling was—love. Not confusion, or curiosity, or lust.
Like a seed, it was love planting itself in my heart. Now it’s in full bloom, and I can’t lose it.
If I do, I lose myself forever, so now I have to find a way to get my love back.
My wife.
My Aurora.
I nod at the letter as if Giselle is standing before me.
“Thank you, Giselle. I will live and love and never stop trying.”
“So, it’s true.” Grandfather walks into my office, his face ashen and his eyes big and sad as he looks at the box on my desk, filled with the things I’m packing.
I stare back at him and give him a hopeful smile. I wanted to see him first when he got in, but I guess his PA gave him the rundown of what I was doing. She came in here an hour ago and found me packing. I told her I was leaving.
“Yes.” My voice sounds faraway and emotionless, but there’s a lot inside me, including the regret for my departure.
“No. I didn’t want this.” Grandfather shakes his head.
“I know. But I couldn’t do what you wanted me to do. I’m not selling Sunset Cove.”
He comes closer and stops in front of me.
“I told Vladimir earlier that the deal is off,” I explain further
“What happened? Everything seemed to be going so well.”
“It wasn’t. Aurora doesn’t want Sunset Cove to be sold, so I couldn’t do it. I know that’s disappointing to you, but this is what I had to do.”
“Couldn’t you guys have come to an agreement? The offer from Vladimir was substantial.”
“No. One of the things you’ve taught me is that some things are priceless. This is one of them. Aurora doesn’t want to sell the place, and when she found out about all the things I did to her father to get Sunset Cove, she left me.”
Understanding forms in his eyes. He’s fully aware of everything I did. He was right there with me every step of the way, commending my ruthlessness, so he should definitely understand the gravity of the situation.
“I see.” He presses his lips together. “I’m truly sorry to hear that. I really am. Anybody who looks at you can see that you love your wife. Your relationship with Aurora is something beautiful that came out of this arrangement, and I truly, truly hope you can get her back. In the same breath, it’s difficult for me to accept your decision to leave.”
“I know. I already knew that was going to be hard, and I never want you to think that I didn’t appreciate what you did for me.”
“I know you appreciate it, son, but I don’t want you to leave. I don’t want you to go, but whatever I do to keep you from this point on would place me in a conflicting position with your father and brothers. I want Jericho to be the CFO at Park Avenue if he follows through with my terms, but Bastian has done some impressive work with the foreign market that I can’t overlook if you choose this path.”
I’m already nodding before he can finish talking. “I understand. That’s why I’m taking myself out of the equation. I understood from the get-go that you wanted us to earn our way fairly. So, this is me making the decision easier.”
“It’s not easier, Knight.” He stares back at me as if he’s trying to speak to the inner part of me who still wants the empire.
“But this is my choice.” My solid, unwavering tone speaks for itself, showing there’s no chance I’ll change my mind.
A pained look washes over Grandfather’s face. “Are you sure this is what you choose?”
“Yes. I’ll start my own legacy with everything you taught me, and hopefully, that will be with my wife by my side.” Getting Aurora back is my only priority. Nothing else. “Fifty years from now, I want to have my own anniversary party where our grandkids are wishing us another fifty years of happiness. That vision starts right now.”
A newfound respect fills his eyes, and he nods, resting his hand on my shoulder.
“I wish that for you too, Knight.” He gives me a warm smile. “I can tell you it’s a wonderful feeling.”
“Thank you. For everything.”
“You are most welcome.”
I pick up my box and go, closing the chapter on this part of my life with the hope to start another.
