I sit down opposite him, confused as to why he called me in. I stare at him, struggling to reconcile the person he is in front of Elena and my mother, with the person sitting in front of me.
“How is your mother?”
I look away. “She’s fine,” I say instinctively, but she isn’t. She’s been crying a lot, and she’s barely left the house, scared of the way the paparazzi hounds her. It’s painful to watch, but there’s no other way.
“She’ll get through this,” Grandpa says, and I nod. She will. She must.
My grandfather pushes a stack of documents toward me, a resigned look in his eyes. “I’m old, Alec. Stuck in my ways. I think I know better, simply because I’m older, because I’ve seen so much, lived through so much. It’s because of my stubbornness that your mother stayed in a marriage she should have gotten out of years ago. It’s because of me she wasted away years of her life—years she’ll never get back. I won’t make the same mistake with you.”
I take the papers from him, my eyes widening when I realize what they are. “My position as chairman is yours. I’ll lift the marriage requirement. You’re well aware that I adore Elena, but don’t marry her in pursuit of your own goals. If you marry her, marry her because it’s her you want, because you can’t imagine your life without her, because you love her. I want for you what your mother didn’t get to have—a happy and fulfilling marriage. Don’t end up like your mother. Don’t do that to Elena.”
He hands me a pen and I don’t hesitate to sign the contract, my heart pounding. This is everything I’ve ever wanted, so why doesn’t signing this feel as good as I expected it to?
“The board will certify your appointment in the next couple of days. You and I both know that Dylan isn’t qualified to take my role, yet my stubbornness almost allowed him to.”
Grandpa sighs and leans back in his seat. “It’s because of your grandmother. It’s because I want all of my children and grandchildren to have what I had with her. Your grandma… she kept me grounded, she was my partner in every way that mattered, my best friend. She made life worth living, and I still miss her every single day. But what I had with your grandmother is exceptionally rare. Just being married doesn’t guarantee a bond like that. I should have known better.”
I nod, speechless. Never in a million years did I think he’d change his mind, or that he’d admit the flaws in his logic.
“Go on,” he says. “Go celebrate. Your mother will be so proud, and Elena will be too. Go celebrate with them.”
I rise to my feet and smile at my grandfather. “Thank you, Grandpa. I won’t let you down.”
He nods. “You never have, Alec. I’ve never said this to you, but I’m very proud of you. Not just of the way you run our business, but of your heart. The way you take care of your mother makes me so proud. I’m grateful to have a grandson like you.”
I smile at him, surprised. He’s never once said anything like that to me before, and I never even realized those were words I wanted to hear from him.
I’m still grinning by the time I get home. Not even the paparazzi stationed around our property can dent my mood.
I walk straight up to my apartment, in search of Elena. She and I haven’t been the same for a while now… there’s a distance between us of my own making. Seeing my mother fall apart the way she did has made me pull away from her involuntarily. I’m terrified that I’ll make Elena end up the same way—broken and unloved. The things Elena wants so badly are the very same things that’ll tear us apart. I don’t understand why she can’t see how strong our relationship is, precisely because we aren’t in love—because love was never the foundation of our marriage. She’s seen so many lives ruined under the guise of love, yet she still asks it of me. All I can hope is that it’ll pass, that she’ll realize sooner or later how destructive love would be to our relationship.
I pause in the kitchen doorway, my eyes on her. Despite every doubt and every fear, she’s the first one I want to share this good news with. I glance at her and smile.
She’s standing in front of the counter, glaring at some burned cookies, as though they’ve personally wronged her. “Buttercup.”
She looks at me and my heart stirs. There’s flour on her cheeks and in her hair, yet she looks stunning. My heart twists painfully. I’ve missed her.
I walk up to her and wrap her in my arms, hugging her tightly. I haven’t held her like this in days. Elena hesitates before she hugs me back, her arms wrapping around my neck.
“What brought this on?”
I pull away a little to look at her and smile. “You’re looking at the new chairman of our company.”
Elena gasps, holding on to my shoulders tightly. “Are you serious?”
“Yes. I just signed the contract.”
Elena smiles, her eyes sparkling with the same happiness I feel. “Congratulations, Alec,” she says, throwing herself back into my arms. I hold her tightly, enjoying the way she fits into me perfectly.
“Exactly the type of good news we needed after the tough couple of months we’ve just had,” she says, even though her smile melts off her face.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing, Alec.” She cups my cheek, a forced smile on her face. She’s trying to portray happiness, yet all I see in her eyes is sadness. “I’m so happy for you.”
“Elena, talk to me. Something is clearly wrong.”
She sighs and buries her hand in my hair. “I just… I thought you wouldn’t get the position until after our wedding.”
I stare at her, realization dawning.
She’s right.
She married me to save her mother’s life, but her mother has woken up now, and I… I married her to guarantee I’d get my grandfather’s role. The role I was just given.
She swallows hard and pulls away from me, her arms wrapping around herself. “When you proposed, you said Kennedys don’t ever divorce. But they do now. Your mother has set a new precedent. Not that that would even matter all that much, since no one knows we’re married.”
I tighten my grip on her waist, my heart sinking. “What are you saying, Elena? Are you saying you want a divorce?”
She shakes her head. “No. I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” I repeat slowly.
Elena looks away and sighs. “I don’t know what I want anymore, Alec. I don’t know.”
I pull away from her, my heart uneasy. I take a step away from her, letting her go. “Look, I just need some fresh air,” I tell her, walking away.
Elena grabs my sleeve. “Alec, no. Please don’t go. I’m sorry,” she says, her voice breaking.
I shake my head and brush her off. My head spins as I walk out of the house. I feel sick. The thought of her leaving me tears me apart—but if I were to hold on to her, would I be tearing her apart?
Chapter 56
E lena
“What’s wrong, sweetie?” Mom asks, looking up from her laptop. She’s in bed and I’m lying down next to her, just wanting to be close to her. I hate letting her out of my sight. I’m scared of losing her again. I look up at her and shake my head, struggling to snap out of my thoughts.
“You’ve been acting strange all week. What’s going on? Alec has barely been home either. Are you two fighting?”
I grimace, and Mom squeezes my hand. “Sweetie, you’re worrying me. What’s going on?”
I shake my head and sniff. “It’s nothing, Mom.”
I don’t want to burden her with my relationship issues. I don’t want her to worry about me. I wish I could hide how I’m feeling so she’d never have noticed in the first place.
Alec and I have barely spoken in days. It’s like we just co-exist. Ever since the topic of divorce came up, our relationship deteriorated beyond repair. He’s making me feel like he has no further use for me now that he’s become chairman. The way he’s treating me… it’s what I expected all along. He told me he wanted a wife he could use, someone he wouldn’t have to woo, someone that’d stay out of his way.
I would’ve been able to cope with that if he hadn’t first showed me what he can be like. If he hadn’t given me a glimpse of what it might feel like to be loved by him.
“Mom, do you regret marrying Dad?”
Her smile is bittersweet, and she sighs. “No. I don’t regret marrying your father, Elena. After all, he gave me you. The only thing I regret is staying as long as I did. I should’ve walked out the second I realized he cheated—the second I realized he no longer loved me, if he ever did at all. There’s no shame in loving someone with all your heart, Elena, but that love must be mutual. If you end up giving more of yourself than you get back, you’ll end up a shell of yourself, depleted, like I was. Had I walked out sooner, I might have had a different life. Who knows? I might have actually found true love.”
I stare at her, my thoughts whirling. “Even after everything that happened, you still seem to believe in love.”
Mom nods. “It’s not love that did this to me, honey. It’s the absence of love.”