While I waited, I found a few touristy postcards in the desk drawer and chose one to use. I wrote as polite a thank-you note as I could manage to Binnie. I hoped like hell she was ignorant of all these machinations, but I didn’t know for sure. Suddenly, every interaction I’d had at this party was suspect, and every friendly smile felt like manipulation. Either way, it wasn’t polite to leave without a goodbye, but I couldn’t stand the idea of faking nice in front of any of these people.
Instead, I snuck out like a thief and asked Henry the butler to give the postcard to Binnie for me.
It wasn’t until the car was pulling out of the driveway that my brain processed what Henry had mumbled under his breath as he’d held the door for me.
“Don’t be an idiot.”
Well, if he had been talking to me, it was too late. I was already a colossal idiot for trusting Ellison York again. I didn’t believe a word his father had said about him using me just to get the deal done. I’d seen the genuine happiness in Ellison’s face when we’d been together. He couldn’t have faked that.
But I’d trusted him to let me handle the real estate deal without going behind my back and involving his father. Why in the world would he have even told his father my business? There was no explanation. If there had been, Ellison would have texted me back.
When I got to the small airport, Marcel’s text directed me to wait for my own plane to land. I was annoyed he’d sent the plane instead of chartering a helicopter, but I did as he’d said. When the plane landed and I climbed on board, I saw Marcel himself. He and Luca were sitting in two of the wide leather seats wearing Hawaiian shirts and sipping fruity drinks.
“There he is!” Luca said, holding his drink up in a toast. “Thank you for getting me out of yet another baby shower.”
Marcel’s expression was full of maternal angst toward me. I chose to look at Luca instead. “What are you two doing here?”
Luca swallowed a sip of his drink. “We’re Greynapping you and taking you to a private island in the Caribbean. Don’t argue. You know how this one gets.” He thumbed in the direction of my personal assistant.
“I do, indeed,” I said softly, finally looking at my friend and right-hand man.
“Come to papa,” Marcel cooed, holding his arms out. Normally, I would have batted his hands away and bitched at him for teasing me, but this time I didn’t do either of those things. I walked into his arms and held him tightly, trying my hardest not to cry like a goddamned baby.
I sensed Marcel exchanging glances with his husband over my shoulder, but I was too far gone to care.
“Can I get you a drink, sweetie?” Marcel asked when our hug came to its natural end.
“God yes,” I groaned, dropping into the seat across from theirs. “Anything but a Persnickity High-Hat.”
22
Ellison
“Do not press a desperate enemy.”
~ Sun Tzu, The Art of War
When I returned to the Duckworths’ house, I secretly hoped to spend the rest of the morning flirting wildly with Grey over croquet. The two of us would snicker about the old-fashioned game, but we’d secretly enjoy the time outside together with each other on such a beautiful sunny day. He would be downright giddy knowing the building sale was in the bag and the project could move forward.
But that’s not what happened.
“Where’s Grey?” I asked Henry when I didn’t find him in our room.
“He left.” I could tell he wanted to say more, but he didn’t.
“What do you mean, left? Where did he go?”
“A car picked him up. He had his luggage. I presume he was headed back to the city. Maybe by way of the airport?”
I stared at him and almost laughed. “I just came from the airport.” Then I realized I wouldn’t have recognized him in a strange car on the road, even if I’d passed him. “Why? Do you know why he left? Are you sure?”
“He was picked up by a local taxi, and he had his bags. That’s all I know for sure.”
“But…” I tried to decide where to even begin. My phone.
I raced back up to the room and searched for it, but I discovered immediately that the room was completely empty of all our possessions. I turned around in circles before going back downstairs to find Henry again.
“Is Binnie playing a trick on me? Am I being pranked? My things are missing.”
Henry looked annoyed and nervous, an odd mix. “I believe they are in your parents’ room,” he said in a low voice. “And, unrelated to anything at all, Mr. Blackwood spoke to your father before he left.”
Anger overwhelmed me. I nodded my thanks to Henry before asking if he knew where my father was currently.
“Avoiding croquet by wandering down the beach, if I’m not mistaken.”
I stormed out of the house and down the boardwalk before kicking off my shoes and aiming at the man fifty yards down the beach. Thankfully, he was alone.
“What the fuck did you do?” I yelled.
I could see the smug satisfaction on his face when he turned to look at me. “I told him the truth.”
“What truth?”
“That you used him to get York Capital back.”
“He already knew that,” I snapped. “He agreed to it.”
His smile turned crafty. “Really? Because he seemed sort of surprised when I told him you were back in the fold and had happily agreed to spend another five years at York. “
Damn it. “Grey knows I wouldn’t have agreed happily.” Didn’t he?
My father shrugged. “How many times have I told you, Ellison? The truth doesn’t matter nearly as much as what appears to be true.”
So my father had lied. He’d manipulated. The only surprise was that I was surprised.
“My goodness, you should have seen the look on his face when I told him you’d already spoken to Ian, also.” He paused and gave me a sad smile as the wind off the water ruffled his hair. “Or actually, maybe it’s best that you didn’t, son. I’ve never seen someone so angry. Like you’d managed to ruin him twice, in a way, isn’t it?”
No, it wasn’t like that at all. But had it seemed that way to Grey, who’d barely begun to trust me?
Yes, I could easily believe my father had made it seem exactly that way.
I felt like a mouse under a lion’s paw. Like he was toying with me just because he could. And I’d always known my father was an asshole, but I hadn’t realized just how callously, needlessly cruel he could be until that moment.
I really wished Grey was there so I could ground myself in his calm presence, the antidote to all my father’s lies.
“You know, Ellison, I feel like it’s my duty as your father to say that if Grey truly cared about you, he would have known you didn’t have the balls to manipulate him that way, even if he deserved it.” He sighed. “He really doesn’t know you at all, does he?”
But he did, I wanted to scream. He knew me better than anyone. And he cared about me.
Or at least I thought he had.
“You know…” Dad snapped his fingers like he’d just had an amazing idea. “It’s not too late to put a stop to this business. My assistant has already sent his lawyers a draft contract, but we can rip that up if you’d like. Grey Blackwood can keep York Capital, Ian can sell Marlette his building, you can go back to your precious school.”