Chương 4
They were not celebrating.
They were discussing something.
The problem was that I had no idea what.
And that uncertainty bothered me more than if the photo had shown something obvious.
I had learned that lesson in business.
The most dangerous problems were rarely the ones you could see.
"Who sent that?"
Teresa's voice pulled me back.
I looked at the phone.
"I don't know."
She stepped closer.
"Are you going to respond?"
"No."
"Why?"
Because whoever sent it wanted a reaction.
Because fear made people careless.
Because I had spent too many years building a company to suddenly start making decisions based on incomplete information.
I locked the phone.
"Because I need facts."
Teresa nodded.
She seemed relieved by that answer.
Maybe because she knew I had a tendency to carry everything alone.
Maybe because she had seen what happened when I buried myself in work instead of dealing with pain.
Leo rested against my shoulder, already losing interest in the adult problems surrounding him.
That was another thing about children.
They forced you to remain connected to ordinary life.
A baby did not care if your wedding collapsed.
A baby still needed a bottle.
Still needed a diaper changed.
Still needed someone to sing a song badly while walking around the room at midnight.
I placed him back on the bed.
"Stay here with him."
Teresa looked at me.
"Where are you going?"
"To talk to someone."
Her expression tightened.
"Victoria?"
"No."
I picked up my jacket.
"Ethan."
The name changed something in her face.
She had heard it before.
Everyone close to me had.
Ethan was not just an old business partner.
He was the person who had known me before the money.
Before the company.
Before people started introducing themselves by mentioning my success.
We met when we were twenty-seven.
I had just bought my first commercial property.
It was an abandoned warehouse with broken windows, leaking pipes, and a roof that looked like it was one storm away from collapsing.
Most people saw a disaster.
Ethan saw potential.
He was the kind of person who could walk into a terrible situation and immediately see the angle nobody else noticed.
I was the one who worked until three in the morning making sure the angle became reality.
For years, it worked.
Then success changed the math.
Money creates distance.
Not always because people become greedy.
Sometimes because people start believing they deserve more than they have.
Ethan believed Sterling was as much his as it was mine.
Maybe he was right.
That was the part I never admitted.
Without him, the company might never have started.
But without me, it might never have survived.
The fight was not really about ownership.
It was about two people who both believed they were the reason the other one succeeded.
I drove away from the venue without telling anyone.
My phone kept vibrating.
Messages from guests.
Messages from employees.
Messages from people who had no idea what happened but wanted to know.
I ignored all of them.
By the time I reached Ethan's office, the sky had started turning gray.
The wedding had been scheduled for late afternoon.
The celebration was supposed to continue into the evening.
Instead, I was standing in a parking lot outside the building where the man who once tried to destroy my company worked.
His office lights were still on.
Of course they were.
Ethan had always been terrible at leaving work.
I entered through the lobby.
The receptionist looked surprised.
"Mr. Vance?"
She recognized me immediately.
That was the problem with owning a company.
Even after relationships ended, people remembered your face.
"Is Ethan here?"
She hesitated.
"Do you have an appointment?"
"No."
Her expression suggested she wanted to say no.
Then she looked at my face and decided not to.
"He's on the fifth floor."
The elevator ride felt longer than it should have.
When the doors opened, Ethan's assistant stood from her desk.
"Can I help you?"
"I need to see Ethan."
She glanced toward his office.
Then back at me.
"He's finishing a call."
She seemed uncomfortable.
That made me curious.
Ethan had built a reputation for confidence.
His employees were usually confident too.
This hesitation was new.
Two minutes later, his office door opened.
Ethan stepped out.
He stopped immediately.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
He looked older.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
The kind of older that comes from carrying things you cannot tell people about.
"Julian."
I nodded.
"Ethan."
His eyes moved over my suit.
The wedding suit.
"You got married today."
I almost smiled.
"That was the plan."
Something passed through his expression.
Guilt.
Maybe.
Or maybe I wanted it to be guilt.
"Come inside."
I followed him.
His office looked exactly like I expected.
Expensive furniture.
Minimal decorations.
Nothing personal.
That had always been Ethan.
He could build places where people lived without making one feel like home.
He closed the door.
"What happened?"
I placed my phone on his desk.
The picture was still open.
His face changed.
Not enough for someone else to notice.
Enough for me.
"You know her."
It was not a question.
Ethan sat down slowly.
"How did you get this?"
"That's not an answer."
He looked away.
That was answer enough.
My chest tightened.
"How long?"
"Julian."
"How long have you been talking to Victoria?"
He rubbed his forehead.
"That is complicated."
"No."
My voice was sharper than I intended.
"It really isn't."
Silence.
Then he leaned back.
"I met her before you introduced us."
The room felt suddenly smaller.
"What?"
"Not personally."
He shook his head.
"Not like that."
"Then explain."
He looked at the picture.
"She contacted me."
"When?"
"Months ago."
My hands tightened.
"Why?"
Ethan did not answer immediately.
And that hesitation told me there was more.
"Why, Ethan?"
He looked directly at me.
"Because she wanted information about you."
The anger that rose in me was immediate.
May you like
But underneath it was something worse.
Disappointment.
