Huffing, I slammed the files on the desk. I’ve been brainstorming since the breaking news, but I couldn’t come up with anything.
Achilles Valencian literally destroyed Antonio Raymond’s image before the whole world. From the gossip I heard from others around the office, after this blow, Antonio’s company’s shares dropped in the market drastically. Apparently, he was doomed.
I even heard police had some proof against him doing illegal businesses in small towns. I was sure Ace had a hand behind it. Otherwise, how did the cops get proof strong enough to destroy a powerful businessman just in a day?
Only Achilles Valencian could do it.
After what that man did to Caleb, I should’ve seen it coming. But this was a big blow. How did he manage it?
My legs itched to go to his office and ask him directly. I wanted to know what was running through his head. What was his next plan? Because I was sure, after this, Antonio wouldn’t keep quiet.
A groan left my mouth.
The knock on the door didn’t have my heart leaping. Because I knew it wasn’t him. He wouldn’t knock at all. He’d have just barged in like the caveman he was!
Tobias poked his head through the door before strolling in. I scowled.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Tone gentle.
“No!” My answer was sharp, arms crossed over my chest.
“Em, please. This is important.” His eyes were pleading.
I cocked my head. “Are you here for your friend?”
He let out a sigh. “I’m here to make my sister see the truth.”
My lips pursed. So, I was right. He was here for him, not me. Then realization hit me. He also knew everything. What happened that night. Of course he knew! Being his best friend and Tess’s twin, there was no way they didn’t tell him about their plan. How could he let them do that?
“You knew.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. The crack of my voice was clear. A look of sorrow surrounded his features.
“It was too late for me to do anything when I found out. I’m sorry. I couldn’t do anything to stop them.” He took a step closer. “I know what they did was extremely wrong. I’d stopped talking to them for months after I knew how cruelly they broke your heart. But trust me, Em. With time, I realized maybe his way to push you away was wrong, but it only did good to you. Now look at you, you’re doing so good with your dream career. You were a topper. If you’d stayed, you wouldn’t be able to do it.”
“What do you mean? How does his decision have any connection to my studies?” my voice rose as I spoke. Apparently, everyone knew what happened that night, but no one even once tried to tell me anything in those years. Now I wondered if Mom and Dad knew too.
“Do you remember when you failed in the exams for the first time?” he asked.
I frowned, confused about his question.
Shrugging, I answered, “At ninth grade.”
“And why?”
“What’re you trying to say? I didn’t study well!” I snapped, getting irritated.
He slowly shook his head. “Because you were too lost in Achilles to concentrate on your studies. You were too busy changing yourself, concerned about your weight, looks, and get up to impress him all the time you didn’t have interest in your studies anymore. You were getting lost in him so much you almost forgot who you really were. You’d become a totally different person back then, Em. And that’s because your life danced around him. You didn’t see anything beyond him. Not even your own career.”
I remained quiet. How could I argue when his every word screamed truth?
“And after that, your grades only decreased. From a bright student, you ended up staying in ninth grade twice. We were all concerned about your future, Em. And Achilles noticed it all,” he said, making my eyes snap to him. “You were already so lost in him, ruining your future. What do you think would have happened to a naïve fifteenth-year-old if she was thrown into a world filled with drugs and addiction by a boy she loved? Would you be able to handle the shock and pain to see him writhe in agony when he needed drugs? Would you be able to handle him when he was drunk out of his mind at some corner of a street? Would you? Would you be able to handle any of it?”
My throat dried up as his questions swirled inside my head. “I would have been there for him. I would have definitely given him some support.” I meant what I said. I meant every word.
He again shook his head. “Maybe you would. But it would be too traumatic for a fifteen-year-old to witness it. You were too young. Your whole future would be at risk.” A sigh left him. “He didn’t know where life was taking him, Em. And after knowing your plan to confess, he knew it was time to separate you from him. From his life. And after getting away from him, you finally focused on yourself once you moved to New York. You found your path back again and shone in your life. Look at where you are now. Seeing you now, I don’t have any complaints about him anymore. It was necessary for your own good.”
His words stung. But deep down, I knew he was right. I would have been broken seeing Ace like that. My heart was too fragile back then to watch him suffer that much. Still, my heart argued with all these facts. It didn’t want to come to peace with how easily he pushed me away.
“I understand your point. But everything has a way to do it. He could’ve just rejected my proposal! He didn’t have to do that with Tess! He’d no right to hurt me like that! Do you have any idea how I felt when I saw him with my own sister?” A tear rolled down my cheek.
“It was harsh, but it was necessary.”
I gaped at his words. Was he even hearing himself?
“Tell me, if he’d rejected you after your confession, would you give up?” He raised a brow. “Would you stop going after him?”
I opened my mouth and then shut it.
Never. I’d never give up.
“Your silence is your answer, Em. You’d never give up on him if he’d chosen the easy way. He could’ve used any girl other than taking Tess’s help to do that. Yes, you would be hurt, but after some time, you would again start fantasizing about him. But when you saw him with your own sister, it shook you. It made a big difference, Em. And you, being always insecure of Tess, made it even harder for you to take it.”
Averting my eyes, I turned away from him.
“If it wasn’t Tess, you’d never give up on him, Em,” he spoke in a soft voice.
“I didn’t want to give up,” I whispered, my throat tightening.
I felt his hand on my shoulder. “Nor did he.”
My gaze met his soft blue ones.
He nodded. “He adored you too much to let you go. But he had to. He didn’t want you to ruin your precious future on him when all he could think about was drugs and alcohol most of the time.” A sad chuckle slipped from his lips. “Though he kept himself totally sober, the days he used to go to see you and play chess with you. He tried his best to be better, Em. But he was in too deep.”
My heart tugged at his words. I still remembered those one or two visits a month when he’d spend the whole day at our place and stay with me. It was after his father’s death. He used to be always tired. And I was too always too excited and over the moon I never gave any attention to that. I used to think his tiredness, his losing weight, was because he was sad about his father’s demise.
Even in that situation, when he couldn’t even go a day without his addiction, he didn’t forget the promises he used to make me, to meet me once or twice a month. He never missed the dates.
Looking down, I pinched the bridge of my nose, closing my eyes.
“Now that you know and understand his reasons, you will forgive him?” Tobias queried, his voice expectant.
I didn’t answer.
“Em, please. Don’t torture him anymore. He’d already suffered enough.”
I cleared my throat. “Is he in his office now?”
His eyes lit up. “Yes, it was so difficult to keep him in his office away from you for some time so I can talk to you alone. Why? You’re gonna sort everything out with him?”
“Yes. I’m gonna sort out everything by asking him to free me from the three months contract. So I can go back to New York.” I turned around and walked out of my office.
He called out my name, but I didn’t stop.
Even though I accepted the good intentions of Ace’s reasons, it didn’t hurt any less. It wasn’t easy for me to forget everything.
Without knocking, I barged into his office. Halting his impatient pacing around the room, he turned to me. The disheveled hair of his indicated to the numerous times those long, lean fingers ran through them.
“Rosebud,” he uttered my name in a breathless whisper, casting my heartbeat go haywire.
Taking two steps ahead, I crossed my arms over my chest. “I need to talk to you about something.”
He straightened. A determined look flashed into his gray pools. The look of despair was gone. Nodding, he walked past me and went to the door. “Sure, I’ll listen to everything you have to say. But first, you’ll have to listen to me.” He locked the door with a click.
My eyes widened. “What’re you doing? You don’t have to lock the door to talk!”
“I need to make sure you don’t run away again, sweetheart.”
