Losing Control

‘Because you have your business, your commitments... Ireland is hardly a convenient location for you. You have no presence here.’

He shrugs. ‘Maybe it’s time I changed that. A new headquarters, a new operation—it’ll be great for the local economy and it’s time I had a base, a home.’

‘A home?’ I’m going to be sick.

‘Are you not feeling well?’

My eyes narrow on him. Have I gone green? Then he gestures to where my hand clutches at my stomach and I snatch it away. It’s too incriminating, too revealing of the painful secret I hold from him.

‘How can you ask me that when you’ve just dumped this news on me?’

He has the audacity to almost smile as he nods. ‘Fair enough—but the sooner we move past this and get started on presenting a united front, the sooner the investors will get off your back—our backs.’ He straightens and clears his throat. ‘We can talk properly on Monday morning. Eight work for you?’

‘Monday?’

Try never.

But what choice do I have? If Marie has passed on those shares, she has done it because she has faith in her son. Faith she didn’t have in me to pull the investors back onside.

Or maybe it’s her way of getting her son back?

‘Yes, I have to fly back to London for a few days. It’ll give you plenty of time to get used to the idea.’

Whether it’s for her son or for the company, I can’t fight Marie’s decision, and so I nod as I pull my bag up off the desk. ‘Eight o’ clock, Monday.’

I expect him to leave. Instead he hovers.

‘You can go now.’

‘How are you getting home?’

He looks and sounds as if he cares. But I know better—hell, he’s told me he doesn’t—and I resent having to give an answer. I do it in the hope he will then leave, giving me the space I so desperately need.

‘I have a car in the basement.’

‘Good.’

Thankfully, he heads for the door, and my resentment gives rise to strength. I call out. ‘Cain?’

He pauses and looks at me over his shoulder.

‘If we do this,’ I say, square on, ‘we’re equals. You are not my boss, and you don’t tell me what to do. We agree together. Is that understood?’

His lips quirk. ‘Agreed.’

I swear I can see admiration in his gaze before he turns away again. Well, he can keep his fucking admiration.

‘And Cain?’

Another look.

‘I was a fool to love you once too. I won’t make that mistake again either.’

His brow lifts. ‘Tit for tat? Really, Alexa? I would have thought that beneath even you.’

Argh! I want to scream at him, pound at his chest until he acknowledges that he was the one in the wrong. Not me. And not Liam. Never Liam.

But I can’t make him see that without telling him the whole truth, and I fear that more.