“It’s irrelevant.”
“It isn’t to me.”
“This is a very small town. You’re a Hawkins. You should have known better. We’re simply saving you both from ruining your lives.”
“She’ll hate me if I just leave without saying goodbye to her. Please don’t take that away from me.”
“You should have thought about that before you decided to pursue a Montgomery,” her grandfather asserted.
“It’s not like that.” Hesitating for a moment, I added, “I love her.”
Their stares shifted to one another before Mr. Montgomery spewed, “What could you possibly know about love?”
I stepped forward and stood in front of his desk. “I know what it feels like to lose the two most important people in my life. Please don’t make me lose a third.”
“The decision has already been made, Tristian. One day, you’ll understand why I had to do this.”
“There’s no getting through to you, is there?”
He shook his head.
There was nothing else I could say that would make this right for me.
Nothing else I could do to make this hurt less.
Nothing.
Not. One. Damn. Thing.
Instead, I bargained, “If I agree to go, then you have to give me something, Mr. Montgomery.”
He narrowed his stare at me.
“You need to give Belle a chance at running your company.”
He jerked back. “Belle?” He chuckled. “She has no interest in—”
“How do you know? You ever talk to her about anything other than what’s expected of her? She obeys your rules, follows your every command. You have no idea who Belle is. She’s so much more than just your granddaughter. She’s smart, witty, and she loves with all her heart. Anything she puts her mind to, she’ll accomplish. I know that because I know her. I know her more than I know myself, Mr. Montgomery. With all due respect, you’d be a fool not to let her prove to you that she can excel in running your empire. I’ll leave if you agree to give her that chance.”
He leaned back in his chair, taking me in for a second.
The silence was deafening. The tension so thick that you could choke on it.
“If you agree, I want it written on paper with your signature.”
He cocked his head to the side, eyeing me up and down. “Quite the businessman you are. I don’t normally negotiate with anyone, but in this case, I’ll oblige.” With that, he wrote out our agreement and then signed it before handing it over to me. “I can assume you know your way to the front door?”
I nodded, suddenly feeling sick to my fucking stomach. I needed to get the hell out of there. I could feel my temper taking over, and I knew I had to leave before it did.
On my way out of the office, my grandfather expressed, “I’m not trying to hurt you. I’m trying to save you.”
Staring back at him, I uttered, “Belle already saved me from myself.” I turned and left.
My feet moved on their own as I walked out of their home. For some reason, I peered up at her window, surprised to find her there.
My heart dropped, shattering to the ground below me. My whole world seemed to come crashing down in a matter of seconds. Everything I thought I had under control, everything I wanted to believe, all of it…
Gone.