I blushed at being caught so early in my petty childish action.
“It’s not a date.”
He shook his head with a small wistful smile. “Please, Ava, let's drop the act, okay? You can’t bethatnaive.”
I sighed.No, no, I’m not, and if it wasn’t for his child growing inside of me, I might have seen it as such, but not in this situation.
Everything was already too complicated to just add a pointless fling to the mix.
“I’m not sorry.”
“You shouldn’t be.” He gave me a small smile. “I was impressed. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
I looked at the time and wrapped my shawl tighter around my shoulders. “Well, I need my sleep and it’s quite late. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yes, have a good night, Ms. Byrnes.”
“You too, Mr. St-John,” I replied with the same playfulness.
I exited the car and walked to my door with a yawn, well aware that he was still there, waiting for me to go in.
I walked in without turning back, feeling just a little lighter now. Maybe we could be amicable, maybe things wouldn’t have to get completely ugly, and maybe one day he would want to be a part of this child’s life—because no matter what, I would never deprive my child from their father if Hugo wanted to play his part.
Now I just needed to figure out what Hardings wanted from me and be nice until he signed his contract with Hugo. Regardless of how dismissive he'd seemed to be about the astronomical amount of money, I’d seen how limited in time he was to get this project running and I knew that this money was a dream come true.
I felt like Hugo and I had finally turned a page, and just for that, I fell asleep that night with a smile on my lips.
Chapter 14
Hugo
Onehundredandfortymillion… That deal was every businessman's wet dream and yet it left a bitter taste in my mouth. Instead of feeling euphoric and giving my father a smug call as soon as it was socially acceptable to do so, I was sitting at my desk, glancing from the clock on my screen to Ava’s empty desk much too often for my own sanity.
She was not late yet. Actually, she still had thirty minutes before her starting time, but she was usually early and I was not comfortable with how unsettling it was for me that she would deviate from her usual routine.
I was about to text her when my phone rang showing Ben’s number.
“Who died?” I asked, picking up the phone, only half joking. It had to be serious for him to call me at that time.
“What? No one.” He sounded wide awake and not drunk. He sounded even… excited.
“It’s 3 am in New York. Aren’t you supposed to either be sleeping or fucking?”
He chuckled. “I didn’t have time. A rumor spread like wildfire about Hardings investing an insane amount of money into our new project.”
“I see.” It had to have been Elmhurst opening his big mouth and finding excuses for how he could not invest because Hardings was there.
Getting Hardings to invest was already a long shot and him offering such an amount was unheard of. He was the worst investor there was but also the best.
“Everyone had been calling me since they found out about it. We are crawling with offers.”
I nodded and let out a little huff of relief when I saw her appear in my line of vision. She threw me a small tentative smile, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling back, even if I knew it would be better if I didn’t.
I could not really give amiability a chance, because this woman was extraordinary. She was not only beautiful, she was also brave, kind, astute and very smart… She was dangerous.
“…much?”
“What?” I asked, finally breaking eye contact with Ava, the Sorceress.