But how was I going to tell him that the deal was done? He’d asked me to wait for him, but wasn’t there a saying about it being better to ask forgiveness than permission?
It turned out my fears about how to explain things to Grey were for nothing because I finally arrived back at the house, I learned my father had taken care of it for me.
And Grey Blackwood was gone.
21
Grey
“Do not interfere with an army that is returning home.”
~ Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Maybe I wouldn’t have taken everything the wrong way if my call to the team in Paris hadn’t gone to shit first. But when I got off the video conference, I was in a foul mood. I walked out of the private study in search of the one person who could possibly lift my spirits, but when I got back to our room, I noticed all of Ellison’s things were gone.
At first, I’d thought I’d walked into the wrong room, and I’d quickly backed out of it. But then I’d spotted my own leather business card holder on the small desk next to my sunglasses, exactly where I’d left both items.
I crept back into the room and opened the armoire. Sure enough, my clothes hung there just as I’d left them, but the other half of the space was full of empty hangers. After I moved to the bathroom and discovered his toiletries missing, I pulled out my phone to text him.
Me: Where are you?
I worried something unexpected had happened to call him away urgently. Surely, he would have interrupted my call to tell me or at least sent me a text informing me of his sudden departure?
I checked my texts and found nothing from him. I tried texting Marcel to make sure my phone was working properly. He responded right away.
Before I knew what I was doing, I was out the door in search of anyone who might have information about what had happened. I found Binnie out at the croquet course, but she claimed not to know anything. I looked everywhere but couldn’t find Cate. Finally, I had no other choice but to look for Ellison’s parents.
The butler directed me to Ian’s office, where Warren York was sitting at Ian’s desk. “There you are,” Warren said. “Finally. Ian has drawn up some papers for you. I thought you’d like to take a look at them.”
“Where is Ellison?”
Warren smiled in a way that made my skin crawl. “He left. Said now that we all had an agreement, he didn’t want to spend another minute in your company. I told him the polite thing to do would be to at least stay long enough to explain things to you, but he was in too much of a hurry to get back to his precious school. You know how he feels about that place.”
I could tell he was lying, but I couldn’t figure out why or what his game was. “What agreement?” I asked.
“Didn’t you talk to Ellison about giving York Capital back to us in exchange for getting Ian to sell you the Hell’s Kitchen property?”
I froze. Where the hell was Ellison, and what had he told them?
“Where is Ellison?” I asked again.
“He’s gone,” Warren said. “He’d left some work undone at school when he raced to the city to deal with everything last week.”
Ellison had definitely mentioned needing to finish up some work tonight for the academy, but I hadn’t realized it was anything he needed to be in Vermont for.
I glanced at Warren. “And Ian has agreed to sell me the building?” He must have been closer to Ian than I’d been led to believe if he had that kind of sway over him. But then again, they’d known each other for decades and were close family friends. It made sense.
He nodded. “As long as you put York Capital back in York hands. I understand you’ll be transferring the bulk of the investment assets out first.”
I felt like I was being played, only I couldn’t see the pieces on the board and I didn’t know the rules.
“What did Ellison tell you?” I asked, stalling for time.
“That he did what it took to get you to make us a deal,” Warren replied easily. “And you’re a man of honor, whatever the hell that means, and wouldn’t renege on the deal.”
He was right. I wouldn’t. Even if what Warren was implying was true. But I didn’t believe it. Ellison wouldn’t have…
I remembered him giving me a hug this morning at breakfast.
“Thank you. Really. You’re a good man, Grey. I’m sorry for everything, but I’m not sorry we had a chance to reconnect and get past everything.”
My blood slowed, and I felt myself pulling away from the conversation Warren was trying to have with me about legal terms and contracts.
“Are we good with the York Capital thing? Our deal? I mean… if Ian agrees to sell you the building, you’ll really give my family back the York Capital name?”
What… what exactly had he been asking me?
“I think he’s going to agree to sell it to you. But I need to know if he does… if he does, you’re going to sign York back over, right?”
The truth of our last encounter rang in my head with clanging cymbals. I’d asked him not to talk to Ian without me, but he’d clearly done it anyway. Just to be sure, I asked, “When did Ellison talk to Ian about this?”
“Yesterday afternoon. At least that’s what Ian told me.”
And Ellison hadn’t mentioned it to me even last night when we’d had our heart-to-heart. I thought about how open I’d been with him, how vulnerable. And he’d known the whole time he’d gone behind my back to talk to Ian about the building project when all I’d ever asked him to do was introduce me so I could talk to Ian myself.
I hated being managed.
I glared at Warren. “And you? When did he tell you about getting York back?”
“This morning.”
So that was that. I’d told Ellison how important it was to me to talk to Ian myself, and he hadn’t taken the opportunity to confess he’d already talked to him. Then he went one step further and talked to his father, my absolute nemesis, about it without me as well. So much for trusting him.
You knew better than to trust a York.
I turned to leave.
Warren called after me. “Where are you going? I have legal paperwork for you to sign!”
I turned to face him, angrier than I’d been in a long time. “As if I’d trust your attorney to draw up the paperwork. No. Your son was right when he said I won’t renege on the deal. I want that building, and I’ll give York back to get it. But I’ll have my own damned lawyers put together the contracts. Expect to hear from them tomorrow. In the meantime, don’t ever fucking contact me again. From now on, I will only speak to you through an attorney.”
I strode back up the stairs and packed my things as quickly as I could. The sooner I got out of here, the sooner I could wash the stink of this entire scheme off me.
I dialed Marcel.
“Hey, boss.”
“Get me out of here as fast as you can,” I said, hearing the rough anger in my voice. “Bonus points for finding a way to block Ellison and Warren York from ever being able to contact me directly again.”
“Oh, shit,” Marcel said softly.
“Yes. Oh shit, indeed. And before you say a word, this didn’t have a damn thing to do with my lack of faith or…or… baskets of fucking apples. It had to do with Ellison York fucking me over for the second and final time. Text me back when the car is out front.”