But now, his plan was out the window. He had to think fast. But all he could think about was how devastated Alina looked and it was all his fault. Would she ever forgive him?
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
THE BUILDING IS being torn down. It’s really going to happen.
Alina’s heart sank right down to her fancy high heels. Even the thought of the designer shoes couldn’t lift her spirits. Everything she thought she’d accomplished by convincing Graham that the building was so much more than a nondescript apartment building had been a lie.
He’d just been putting in his time to fulfill their agreement—an agreement that was at its end. And he didn’t even have the decency to tell her the bad news first. What in the world?
She wanted to ask him, really she did. But at that moment, her mind was in complete disconnect with her mouth. She opened her mouth but no words came out. She promptly pressed her lips together.
Sally, her manager from the café, moved to her side. “You said to remind you when it was almost midnight. It’s a quarter till.”
Alina was still staring at Graham as though in a trance and not the good kind—this was the kind where you are stunned because someone you cared about did something utterly astonishing and oh so hurtful.
“Alina?” Sally asked. “Did you hear me?”
She nodded.
And then with what was left of her pride, Alina straightened her shoulders, turned and headed for the door as fast as her legs could carry her. Tears pricked the backs of her eyes but she blinked them away.
In the background, she heard Graham call out her name. She didn’t stop. She couldn’t stop. She was a moment away from losing control. And she would not let him see her cry. No way.
As she exited the ballroom, she heard someone call out to Graham. Good. Maybe he would get distracted. Because she had nothing to say to him. The fairytale had come to a disastrous ending.
The elevator ride was slow and agonizing. When at last she made it to the ground floor, she rushed for the exit. She burst through the outer doors and into the night air. She didn’t notice the fluttering snowflakes or the plummeting temperature. She started down the first set of steps toward the road, hoping a taxi would come to her aid. But she didn’t see any in sight. How could that be? This was Manhattan, after all. There would be one shortly. There had to be.
“Alina, wait!” Graham’s voice carried through the evening air.
He hadn’t waited to tell her the news about the building first, so she didn’t feel any compulsion to wait for him now. Her vision blurred with unshed tears. She kept moving. And then the Rolls-Royce pulled up to the curb. How was this possible? It’s as though he’d been waiting for her.
She’d just reached the car when a sudden gust of wind swept over her. It chilled her to the bone and the strong air current swept off her shawl. She turned to see it flutter in the air and float away.
There was no way to catch it while avoiding Graham. She hopped in the car. “Please go.”
The car immediately pulled out. She leaned her head back against the leather seat. What had she been thinking all of this time? Like there was something serious going on between her and Graham? For him it was all business. She was the only one letting her heart get in the way.
* * *
How had such a perfect night gone so terribly wrong?
The next morning, a vision of Alina at the beginning of the ball filled Graham’s mind. It was quickly replaced with the devastated look on her face when she’d heard him say he was tearing down her home. He groaned in frustration.
He hadn’t slept all night. After Alina had driven off, he’d caught a taxi and gone immediately to her apartment. When she wasn’t there, he figured she’d gone to a friend’s place and he’d have to try and speak to her tomorrow instead.
He hadn’t wanted to, but he’d gone back to the party to make sure it was shut down properly. He knew it was just an excuse not to go to his apartment alone. Because he knew when he did, he’d never get any sleep.
Graham glanced down at the shimmery wrap that Alina had lost when she’d left the ball. He’d thought for sure the gust of wind would have swept it halfway across the city, but instead the wind stopped when the wrap reached him and, as if planned, it’d landed in his hands.
He wrapped it around his hands and unwrapped it as he tried to decide the best form of damage control. He was good at it when it came to the business, but when it came to his personal life, well, that was another story.
He’d never been successful at personal relationships because he’d never been invested. But things were different with Alina. She was different. And he was different when he was with her—for the better, he liked to think.
He lifted the wrap and inhaled. A jasmine scent clung to the delicate material. He inhaled deeper and smiled. He knew as long as he lived that he’d never smell jasmine again without thinking of her.
But he wasn’t a man to give up without a fight. Sure, she’d been shocked last night when she’d heard the news, but after some sleep, maybe she’d see things in a new light.
And so he took a quick shower and dressed. With damp hair, he rushed out the door. He di