‘Oh, well. That’s it then.’ There isn’t so much a hint of sarcasm as a deluge.
‘Oui.’
‘So she’ll get part of your inheritance? When you choose. The inheritance she knows nothing about. That’ll be a fun conversation. If it comes.’
‘I’ll tell her,’ I grate out. ‘Why would I not?’
‘The small fact that she might take her money and piss off.’
‘Non. That will not happen.’ Though I’ve considered it myself. I’ll make sure of it. I know she loves me. I just have to make her admit it. And then? Then I’ll spend my days making her happy. The end—a happy ending.
‘She’s not gonna make it easy for you. You know that, right?’
‘And that is why you are team, Rose? You want to watch from the sidelines.’
‘Nah. If I want to watch you get battered and bloodied I’d get you into the boxing ring again. ‘I’m team Rose because I never liked Amélie.’
‘That, my friend, makes two of us.’
‘Ah, but she didn’t try to make you trot behind her like a fucking dog. Or carry her shopping.’
I put down my pen. ‘So that is relief I detect in your tone? The wicked witch is gone?’
‘What, me?’ He spreads his hands out on the arms of his chair as he leans back, making it bounce. ‘I don’t have an opinion. You pay me not to have one.’
‘I couldn’t pay you enough for you to keep your mouth closed. But I have a thought.’ I link my fingers at the back of my head. ‘If you’d fucked Amélie, she might not hate you so much. She might not have tried to belittle you at every opportunity.’
‘First of all, she didn’t belittle me because that would mean I gave a fuck. Second, she was mostly civil to me after the time I left her beautifully glossy, designer-labelled shopping bags at the café where she’d insisted I procure a frappe. But most importantly, how did you know?’
‘That she’d propositioned you? Call it a hunch.’ And call her vindictive after she discovered she was no longer welcome in my bed.
‘Yeah, well . . .’ He grimaces and tugs his earlobe. ‘No offence, but I wouldn’t fuck her with your dick.
I drop my hands and flip the folder closed. ‘Let’s go and get—’
‘Blind drunk?’
‘Dinner,’ I correct wearily.
‘That was gonna be my second suggestion.’ A smile catches in the corner of his mouth as he stands.
We make our way over to the hotel, opting to eat at Le Grill where I pick up the threads of our abandoned conversation.
‘I would’ve been very disappointed if you’d taken her up on it, you know.’
It takes him a moment to determine what it is I refer to before answering. ‘Not my style.’ As I cut into my steak, my gaze lifts but not my head. ‘I know you had an open relationship, but don’t laugh, it would’ve felt like I was the one doing the cheating.’
‘I’m honoured, I think.’ I begin to chuckle which, by his expression, he doesn’t appreciate. ‘But you’re wrong about the relationship being open. I just didn’t care what she was up to beyond the first few months.’
‘Why keep her around at all? Once you were in power, I mean.’
I place down my silverware and lean back in my chair. ‘To begin with, it suited my purposes. I know. Her father desired that the engagement be fulfilled.’
‘You mean, that you’d marry her?’
‘He hoped she’d be able to bring me around, like a dog, I suppose. That was never going to happen. As to why it’s gone on for so long, it was beneficial to have a member of the board side with me. Especially in the earlier days.’
‘Especially when you started tearing the competition apart. But you don’t need their permission these days.’
I nod in agreement. I suppose I never saw the need to rock the status quo. Amélie lived her life, and I lived mine. Occasionally we came together for some company function to put on a united front, but that was the extent of our dealings. I never felt the need for companionship, consumed with making Wolf Industries something bigger than him, bigger than us both, one obsession turning to another when faced with the intrigues of his will. And at the time, I thought perhaps I was looking for a ghost when, in reality, she was travelling the globe on the proceeds of a windfall, courtesy of Emile.
I felt no remorse or guilt after I slept with Rose in March. I didn’t feel the need to repent. Nevertheless, the experience changed me. She reminded me that there is good in the world and that not all people seek to benefit themselves. But I put all that aside when I returned to Monaco, still hell-bent on finding out who this woman was my father sought to benefit—who she was and what she was to me.