‘It made sense to Grenville. And, when Grenville died, I was not mentioned in his will. He left everything to Sam.’
Wait, hold on.Lex knew that he owned Thorpe Industries. She’d seen the company memo stating that Sam Thorpe had retired and that Cole was now the main shareholder and CEO of Thorpe Industries, the holding company with hundreds of smaller businesses under its wing. How had that come about if his brother had inherited everything from their father?
Cole explained about Sam renouncing his material possessions to become a monk and how he’d passed all his assets over to him.
‘I was on my way to acquiring their company, about to launch a hostile takeover. When I had their attention, when they had to deal with me, I was going to demand answers from my father and have that showdown I thought I needed. All I ever wanted was for them to see me, acknowledge me.’ Cole stared out of the window into the stygian night. ‘But my father pre-empted me from having any sort of closure by dying, and then Sam pulled this crazy stunt of passing everything over to me. I wish...’
His voice was laced with pain, making his words sound scalpel-sharp. ‘What do you wish, Cole?’ she asked softly.
He placed his hands on the island and stared down at the tiled floor. When he spoke, his words were so low that she had to strain to hear them.
‘I wish I knew what I did to make him hate me so.’
There was pain in his voice, also confusion, frustration and impotence. How did one understand a situation that had never been explained, created by a man who was now dead?
Cole straightened, shrugged and reached for the bottle of wine to top up their glasses. He lifted his eyes and she saw that they were as hard as agates. He’d emotionally retreated behind an impenetrable shield. ‘So, I got an interesting email today. A client of mine is having a garden party at his sixteenth-century chateau in Burgundy next weekend to celebrate Bastille Day and I’m invited.’
She blinked, not sure she’d heard him correctly. They’d been having an intense conversation about his brother and now he was talking about a garden party in France?
What?
‘Why don’t you come with me?’ he asked.
Okay, had she stepped into a strange metaverse? He was acting as if they hadn’t just had a deep conversation about his past and his family, and she wondered how he could switch subjects so quickly. ‘We were talking about your brother, Cole,’ she pointed out.
His shrug was annoyingly nonchalant. ‘Now we’re not. So, will you come? We can fly from Burgundy to London, and you can see where I live. I might be able to fly back with you on Tuesday, depending on my schedule.’
She stared at him, expecting to see another head emerging. ‘I can’t go to France, then London, with you.’
Cole lifted his glass and sipped. ‘Why not? Your sisters will only be back the following Saturday so it’s not like you have to be back for them.’
It was the craziest idea she’d ever heard. She couldn’t just fly off on a whim. It wasn’t what she did, who she was. She wasn’t the girl who jetted off on private planes to attend garden parties at French chateaux. She worked, she studied, she looked after Nixi and Snow—she didn’tjet.
‘And, you know, even if your younger sisters were due home, why couldn’t you take that time for yourself?’
She jerked up, her spine steel-rod straight. ‘Because that’s my job—that’s what I agreed to do.’
‘When you and Addi worked out your division of duties, was there a clause that said you couldn’t do anything for yourself any more, that you couldn’t do anything fun?’ Cole challenged her. ‘I’m not asking you to marry me, Lex, I’m asking you to come to a weekend party with me, to visit my home.’
He was moving the goalposts and she didn’t like it. They were supposed to be having a road-trip fling. It wasn’t supposed to last beyond this time in Rhodes. And, damn it, she was also mad because she was so tempted to say yes, to run away, to feel young, impulsive and free again. But she was terrified that, if she did, she’d never be content to return to the life she knew, the life she’d carefully created to give her sisters the stability she’d never had.
‘You can’t keep putting your life on hold for your sisters, Lex.’
‘Why not? Why can’t I do exactly that?’ she demanded, her voice rising. And how dare he say that? He hadn’t walked in her shoes. He didn’t know what motivated her to make the choices she had.
‘You’re putting them first because nobody put you first, Lex. You’re making sure that their lives are as wonderful as you can make them because nobody did that for you.’
Oh! He was right and she hated him for saying what she barely could admit to herself. She was trying to be all and do all for Nixi and Snow to make the little girl who still lived deep inside her feel better about herself, to feel worthy.
‘It’s not fair on you.’
Fair? Ah, now there was a statement she could fight. ‘You have to be kidding me! You, of all people, know that life isn’t fair. I learned that early and I learned that hard! And I did it without the cushion of money. How dare you criticise what I do, the choices I’ve made?’
‘I wasn’t criticising, I just want you to—’
‘Stop talking!’ Lex shouted.
She couldn’t hear any more, take any more. She felt emotionally battered, not necessarily by Cole but by the old emotions, hurts and truths he’d pulled to the surface. She didn’t take time for herself, and had put her life on hold, possibly because she still believed she needed to prove she was worthy of love.