‘You’ve spent decades trying to prove to him that you were worthy of being born. It’s what’s driven you to be a doctor, to volunteer at Rainbow House, to make a difference. It’s why you’re so determined to save me. You’re trying to turn me into the son my mother wanted me to be because you can’t turn your father into the dad you’ve needed him to be.’
‘Stop!’
The strangled cry constricted his chest, tightening until he could barely breathe. It was nothing compared to Alex’s ashen appearance. But she had to hear this, she had to understand what she was doing. And why.
‘He loved your mother, he loved your brother and now he l
oves Rainbow House,’ Louis said quietly. ‘All the volunteering you do forces him to keep the door open to you, and appreciate your hard work. But I can’t imagine how much it must eat away at you that he’s never loved just you.’
‘How could you be so cruel?’ She shook her head, the words so quiet he had to strain to hear them.
‘It may be cruel, but it’s also the truth. You and I aren’t so different. We have each buried our demons yet convinced ourselves we’ve dealt with them. If you stop thinking I’m deliberately trying to hurt you just long enough to think clearly, you would see that all the pushing you’ve been doing to get me to take on the Lefebvre Group is motivated by your need to go back to your father and tell him that Rainbow House is safe.’
‘No.’ She shook her head but the way she bit her lip betrayed her uncertainty.
‘In your eyes, marrying me would be the ultimate sacrifice. The one thing that would prove to your father that you would do anything for him. But it won’t work, Alex. He’ll have Rainbow House but it won’t be the magic cure you think it will be. It won’t change the way he either does or doesn’t love you.’
‘You don’t know that,’ she managed hoarsely. It was all the admission that he needed.
Until that moment he hadn’t realised how badly a tiny part of him wanted her to tell him that none of that mattered any more, that she loved him. The fact that she hadn’t cut him deeper than he could have imagined possible.
‘And then you’ll just be left married to me. As miserable as my mother was with my father.’
‘That’s not true.’
He couldn’t allow her tears to get to him. This was the best thing. For him and for Alex.
‘It is true. And I won’t do that to someone. Alex, I won’t do that to you.’
He would find another way to save Rainbow House, whether it meant gaining control of the Lefebvre Group or not. But Alex would be free and he wouldn’t be in her life to darken it.
She deserved better than that. Better than him.
He stalked across the room, the heavy walnut door bearing the full brunt of his frustration. And there, her face white and pinched, stood Brigitte, her hand raised to knock.
Shock bounced around the trio and then the older lady spoke, her voice as dignified as ever.
‘Monsieur Étienne Morel is in the drawing room with his father Monsieur Alain Morel. They ask me to tell you that they have found a loophole. Something about there is no need for you and Mademoiselle Vardy to marry?’
* * *
‘This proves nothing,’ Jean-Baptiste sneered as he raised his head from the papers Louis had set on his desk barely a day later. ‘I’m not signing a thing.’
‘As you wish.’ Louis dipped his head as though it didn’t matter to him one way or another. ‘Then the contract will go to the board instead.’
For perhaps the first time he realised that it didn’t matter. He’d wasted so much time fire-fighting all the little blazes his father had always set in his path that he hadn’t realised they’d sapped all his energy and stopped him from battling the infernos that he really wanted to tackle.
There were more important things than wasting time on Jean-Baptiste.
Like Alex.
Ever since last night he’d been replaying the argument in his head, wondering if he’d done the right thing, if he could have done things differently.
‘You can’t send it to the board. I won’t authorise it,’ his father ground out, desperately trying to appear in control.
Louis turned as if to leave, pausing only at the door.
‘It isn’t a matter of authorisation. There’s a legal obligation for your board to see all documents that pertain to the Lefebvre Group. It will be dealt with by both teams of lawyers. I have no control over that.’