“Father called me this morning; he’s not yet aware,” he finally added.
I put the phone down on the desk after sending an email to the private airfield. I was going to fly, after all. “You seem surprised.”
He shrugged. “I expected you to call him, send an email, or maybe even write a message in the sky, you know? I thought you’d be happy to add a little more to the failure he sees me as.”
I nodded, angry that the way he saw me could still affect me, a level of pettiness that was insulting to a whole new level.
“Why would I?” I snorted. “You’re already so beneath me in our father's eyes. Doing this would be wasted energy.” I didn’t miss the flash of hurt in his eyes before he turned around and exited my office without another word.
He deserved it for taunting me and throwing random accusations, and yet despite everything, I could not help but feel like a serious asshole at reminding him that he’d never compare to me in our father’s eyes.
A text popped up from the airfield, letting me know we'd be able to leave within the hour.
I called my driver and stood up, grabbing my camel cashmere wool overcoat from the coat hanger in my office.
“Sir, where are you going?” my secretary gasped as I passed her desk.
I stopped and turned toward her slowly, raising an eyebrow. Was she actually questioning my moves?
“It’s almost worth wondering who’s working for whom here, Marie.”
“No, I… Sir, you…” She shook her head, gathering her thoughts. “You have back-to-back meetings this afternoon. The first one is in fifteen minutes.”
I sighed, looking at my phone that announced the arrival of my driver. “I’ll be gone for the rest of the day. Act accordingly.”
“But Sir, Lord Bir—”
I sighed again. “I’m paying you an indecent amount of money to deal with things, sodeal,” I added firmly and turned around again, knowing that she would be unemployed if she dared to stop me once more. She was smart enough not to.
The flight to Yorkshire was fast and it gave me little time to figure out how to ‘fix’ things, as Ethan demanded. I was not the nice brother. People either feared or envied me—they didn’tlikeme. This girl was completely immune to me now, which was both puzzling and aggravating.
I could not seduce her or throw money at her, and no matter how many times I accused her of being a gold digger, I knew she wasn’t.
I didn’t have many moreniceattributes to throw her way, so despite Ethan’s warning, I would have no other choice than to use a more forceful incentive to bring her back.
I gave her address to the driver who had been waiting for me at the airfield, and the closer we got to her address, the more it looked… gray.
The car stopped in front of a row of identical-looking semi-detached houses and I frowned at the tiny homes.
“Are you sure we’re at the right address?”
The man looked at his screen. “Yes, sir, this is the address provided.”
I sighed. “Charming. Could you please wait here? I do not intend to stay very long.”
“Of course, sir, I’m booked for the whole day. I will just park a little up the road.”
“Very well.” I exited the car and buttoned my coat, looking at the house in front of me critically.
Was it really where she lived? I shook my head and walked to the front door. I was sure that this house was not even as big as one of the guest houses of my country estate.
I rang the bell and waited as I heard some children shouting from the house next door.
Looking at it, I frowned—did Ava want to raise that child here? How dreadful was that?
I sighed with irritation, venturing to the side of the house to a garden that was ridiculously small when no one answered the door.
I snorted, looking around. I was pretty sure that the terrace of my London penthouse was bigger than this garden.