He walks past me on his way to the bathroom. I turn.
“Do you need me to come with you… sir?”
He stops but doesn’t turn or even glance at me. “No need.”
The coldness in his voice feels like an icicle being dropped on top of me.
Is he mad at me? Well, I did reject the expensive watch he bought for me.
So long as he acts normal when we get back to Chicago, it will be fine.
“Understood.”
He disappears into the bathroom. I try to ignore Ryker’s presence – and his disapproving glare – as I put on my shoes and pick up my purse. Then I make my way to the door.
“Stella,” Ryker speaks just before I reach it.
I draw a deep breath and glance over my shoulder.
“Don’t worry. I did what I’m supposed to do. I’m not that stupid… sir.”
Ryker says nothing. I leave Ethan’s room and go to mine. Inside, I throw my purse on the bed, kick off my shoes and walk towards the balcony. I open the sliding door and lean against it. My eyes rest on the mountains in the distance as they fill with tears.
I’m glad I was able to see Switzerland. I’m glad the Odermatt acquisition is going to pull through. I just wish the trip could have ended with me winning Ethan’s heart, too.
But there’s nothing I can do about that. I’ve lost. Whatever we had here in Switzerland is over.
It’s time to go home.
Chapter Fourteen
Ethan
“You’re back,” my father greets me from the top of the stairs.
I look at him. I haven’t even been at home for ten seconds and he’s already showed up. It would be nice if this was a warm welcome, but I know that’s not the case.
“Everything went well,” I report to him. “We have Odermatt Corp.”
It may not have gone according to plan, but in the end, we were able to get the result we wanted, thanks to Ryker and Asher’s presentations, the strings I pulled to get the missing files back, and Simone Odermatt’s full cooperation.
I was able to get the result I wanted.
“Odermatt signed the papers?” Dad asks as he starts to descend.
“Yes, but there is still more paperwork to be done before everything becomes final and official,” I answer.
My father reaches the bottom of the stairs. “But you have the program files?”
“Yes.”
I already have them in a secure location.
“And you’re sure no one else has a copy of them? Like Preston or West Cove?”
I let out a breath. I should have known my father already heard about the details of what happened in Zurich, including the fact that one of Odermatt’s employees ran off with his files. He may no longer be the CEO, but it still is his company, as it will always be. None of the gears that keep it running turn without him knowing.
“I’m sure,” I tell him. “The investigative team I formed was able to ascertain that Jonas Schmidt didn’t come in contact with anyone after he left the office building. He took the files for a personal reason. His father helped Simone Odermatt make them and he didn’t want them in someone else’s hands, so he took them and fled to a dead relative’s house in Liechtenstein. He intended to destroy the files, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He was found just locked up in his room.”
“I see.” My father sits on the stairs. “That’s the story he gave you?”
I give him a puzzled look. “What do you mean?”
What does he know that I don’t?
“Did Reuben talk to you?” I ask him.
I have a feeling it was that cantankerous old man who told my father about all this. I wouldn’t be surprised if he kept something from me while he was biting my head off over the phone.
My father draws a breath. “Reuben is a fool. And a traitor. He paid Schmidt to steal those files. He was going to give them to either Preston or West Cove, whoever gave him more money. But I stopped him.”
My eyebrows furrow. “You stopped him?”
My father grins. “I’m not completely useless yet, you know.”
Far from it.
“But Schmidt had the files,” I say. “And if not for the team I sent out, he wouldn’t have been found. Are you saying you knew where he was all along?”
“Schmidt had the files because I told him to hold on to them. I also told him to hide for a while.”
“Excuse me?”
That was all my father’s doing?
“Odermatt still had doubts about selling his company, didn’t he? I thought I’d give him some time to make up his mind.”
“So you let him believe he’d lost those files, his life’s work, so that he’d realize that they’d be better off with us?”
“Exactly. And after he’d made that realization, I told your team where Schmidt was and he was found right before you left Switzerland.”