Chương 8
Her brother asked whether banquet captain meant she got a sword.
Elena ignored all three.
The interview panel included the events director, the banquet manager, and a human resources representative.
Adrian was not present.
His name was not mentioned until the end.
The events director, a stern woman named Patricia Wynn, closed Elena’s file.
“I want to address the obvious issue.”
Elena folded her hands.
“Okay.”
“We received an instruction from corporate legal that your involvement in the gala incident should have no positive or negative effect on this decision.”
Elena blinked.
“Positive?”
Patricia’s mouth tightened.
“Mr. Cole apparently insisted on that word.”
Elena looked at the table.
Against her will, she smiled.
The banquet manager noticed.
“Is there anything about the incident you think we should consider?”
“Yes.”
Patricia raised an eyebrow.
Elena took a breath.
“I left my section without telling my captain.”
The banquet manager looked surprised.
“I gave my tray to Daniel, but I didn’t notify Carla.”
“Why?”
“Because someone looked like they needed help.”
Patricia said, “Would you do it differently?”
Elena thought.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I’d still go.”
The banquet manager smiled.
Elena continued.
“But I’d tell Carla first if I had five seconds. If I didn’t, I’d go anyway and apologize after.”
“That is not the policy answer.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
She got the promotion.
Not because she knelt beside Adrian.
Not because he offered her a seat.
Patricia showed her the scoring sheet afterward.
Her highest marks were from events she had run during Christmas season, months before the gala.
Elena photographed the sheet.
Then felt embarrassed and deleted the picture.
Then recovered it from Recently Deleted.
She wanted proof.
That was Adrian’s fault, she decided.
Or maybe it was simply human.
Grant Ellis visited Adrian eleven days after the gala.
He requested the meeting through attorneys.
Adrian almost refused.
Olivia made him accept.
“You are not discussing the bid.”
“Then why meet?”
“Because he requested a personal conversation and because adults occasionally speak even when no contract can be changed by it.”
“That sounds fake.”
“Most civilization is.”
Grant arrived without Claire.
He wore gray rather than navy.
Adrian noticed and hated himself for noticing.
They met in a private conference room at Cole Hospitality headquarters.
No lawyers stayed inside, though both sets waited nearby.
Grant placed his phone facedown on the table.
Adrian did the same.
Neither man sat at first.
Grant looked toward Adrian’s wheelchair.
Adrian was standing beside it.
“You don’t have to prove anything.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“I’m not.”
“Sorry.”
They sat.
Grant rubbed his palms together once.
“I knew you could walk.”
“So Claire told me.”
Grant looked up.
“She told you?”
“No. Samuel did after Claire told the review committee.”
Grant absorbed that.
“Right.”
“You saw me at therapy.”
“Yes.”
“And said nothing.”
“It wasn’t my business.”
“You were dating my fiancée.”
“She was your ex by then.”
“By four days.”
Grant exhaled.
“I didn’t come here to argue about chronology.”
“Convenient.”
“No. Exhausting.”
Adrian almost smiled.
Grant looked older than thirty-six.
Not dramatically.
Just tired around the eyes.
“My company is probably losing the bid,” Grant said.
“I’m recused.”
“I know.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I. The consulting payments should have been disclosed.”
Adrian waited.
Grant continued.
“The work was real.”
“To Claire.”
“Yes.”
“While you were sleeping together.”
Grant’s face hardened.
“We weren’t sleeping together when the contract started.”
“When did that start?”
“After she ended things with you.”
Adrian laughed.
Grant looked irritated.
“You checked her phone, Adrian.”
Adrian went still.
Grant saw it.
“Yes,” Grant said. “She told me.”
“That was private.”
The hypocrisy hung between them.
Adrian rubbed his jaw.
Grant looked toward the window.
“She talked to me before the accident.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“Did you kiss her?”
“No.”
“Did you want to?”
Grant considered lying.
Adrian saw the decision.
“Yes.”
There it was.
Pain arrived without spectacle.
Adrian had imagined this conversation many times. In most versions he said something devastating.
In reality he looked at the grain of the conference table and noticed a small chip in the edge.
“Okay.”
Grant frowned.
“That’s it?”
“What do you want?”
“I don’t know.”
“Neither do I.”
Grant leaned back.
“Claire said you used to ask questions like there was always one correct answer.”
Adrian looked at him.
“She said you’d ask whether she liked a restaurant, then tell her later you hated it to see if she changed her mind.”
Adrian remembered doing that.
Once.
Maybe twice.
He had thought it was funny.
Grant said, “She hated feeling studied.”
“Then she picked the right man.”
Grant’s mouth tightened.
“I deserved that.”
“Probably.”
“Still.”
A silence passed.
Then Grant said, “You know the worst part?”
“I doubt we agree.”
“I really love her.”
Adrian looked up.
Grant seemed embarrassed.
That made Adrian believe him more.
“I thought the consulting arrangement was smart,” Grant continued. “She understood donors. She understood your board. She wanted financial independence from you. I told myself paying her firm solved all three problems.”
“And the conflict?”
“I told myself she wasn’t making decisions.”
“Was she?”
“I don’t know.”
Adrian stared.
Grant nodded.
“That’s the problem.”
For the first time, Adrian saw him not as the man who had taken Claire, but as a man who had explained himself into a corner.
It was not forgiveness.
It was smaller.
More irritating.
Recognition.
Grant stood.
“The ballroom thing was ugly.”
“Yes.”
“What she did.”
“Yes.”
“And what you did.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Yes.”
Grant nodded.
He reached for the door.
“Grant.”
He turned.
“Why did you laugh when she said she wanted me to see what winning looked like?”
Grant’s face tightened.
“I was trying to keep her from escalating.”
“That was your method?”
“It was a bad one.”
“You looked like you enjoyed it.”
“I did for about two seconds.”
Grant met his eyes.
“I’m not better than you need me to be.”
Adrian sat back.
May you like
That sentence stayed with him.
Claire refused to see Adrian for another month.
