“Of a company he chose to step down from—”
“And willingly left to his nemesis?”
“After spending twenty-five years at LC—”
“I saw the Strauss Holdings logo in his town house. What are the odds, Alex? What are the odds the acquiring company’s logo—”
“Don’t even get me started on that,” Alex interrupts, pointing at me. “I can’t believe you spoke to Tracy about this before you spoke to me.”
Because you would have talked me out of it, I think. And I would have let you.
He groans loudly. Outside the conference room we’re in, an intern stops to stare at us. I glance at her out of the corner of my eye before stepping back from Alex. Like a magnet, I drew too close. He’s looking at me with molten eyes, his defenses on full guard. But he’s not just angry. He’s hurt. And like a wounded animal, he’s lashing out.
“Alex,” I whisper. “Robert didn’t want you working here, and then all of a sudden he did.”
He shudders, stepping farther back from me, and I know I’m hurting him worse, but I have to get this out.
“Because he realized your job description fit into his agenda. He’s probably been planning this from the moment Dougie weaseled his way into the CEO seat. If he couldn’t have LC unspoiled, Robert was going to dismantle it. All he needed was the right opportunity and a motivated buyer.”
Alex’s voice is rocky. “What does any of that have to do with me?”
“In your apartment, he challenged you to see this launch through. He offered to help you with the presentation not because he thought you would succeed, but because he was deliberately setting you up to fail. Think about it. I’d put money on him leaking that presentation, and then Strauss upping their offer of purchase after they saw it. Tracy confirmed as much.”
I say my piece, then snap my lips together. There’s no sense of victory here. No thrill at possibly cracking this case. But I can’t keep secrets anymore, and that includes what’s going through my mind.
He sighs, like the fight’s gone out of him. “I want you to consider,” he says, “the possibility that this is a story you concocted in your head, a loose end you want wrapped up before you go to London, so you won’t think of Tracy Garcia as a mentor you never proved your worth to.”
My nose wrinkles, his blow landing. We’re slicing each other open right now, trading wounds. I picture Tracy and me in the break room—how eager I was to please her, how she knew it, how it’s coming back to ruin me now. But as frustrated as I am at being used, I can’t even deny that she’s anything other than a fighter, and a leader.
“It wasn’t about proving myself,” I say. “I’m trying to keep this company alive so I’m not in a constant panic over everybody’s job security, including mine. I just accepted a new job! In a foreign country! And Molly told me it was a risk, but I did it anyway! Fari and Brijesh—they have good situations here, which I know because they’ve told me—”
“Companies get bought,” he says. “It’s normal. You’re desperate to find a villain, but there isn’t one. It’s just business.”
“If I’m desperate to find a villain, you’re desperate not to find one,” I counter. “But maybe it’s closer to somewhere in the middle. Your father might not be all bad. But from what you’ve told me, he isn’t all good, either.”
Alex’s mouth pulls into a flat line. He stares at a spot over my shoulder, unseeing. “Can you blame me for searching for the good in him, Casey? Please don’t act like you don’t understand. I’ve seen the way you try to measure up to your own parents.”
And I do. Understand. I’ve always wanted to be the type of person they would be proud of. When it comes to his dad, Alex wants exactly the same. But him saying it—him naming the feeling—is what finally cracks open the lie.
I’m not supposed to follow in their footsteps. I’m not responsible for continuing their legacy. It’s mine to choose, and unlike theirs, it doesn’t even have to be tangible. It could start with this exact moment: refusing to stay quiet, to be complicit. Fighting to protect the people I care about.
It could be that small. That huge. But I don’t think there’s anything that would make my parents prouder of me.
“I love you, Alex.” Tears well in my eyes, and his expression softens. “I love you on purpose. Not situationally. Not when it’s convenient. No strings attached, no conditions. I know I hurt you with all of this, and I promise I won’t ever keep secrets from you again. I swear it, up and down, back and forth, with every part of me. But please, just think about everyone you care about here, in this building. Believe me just for a little while. Follow through with it for their sake, and if I’m wrong, I’m wrong, and if I’m right … at least we’ll know.”
Alex comes to me, cups my face in his hands. We’re both quiet for the span of a few breaths, holding each other and saying nothing and thinking everything.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper again. “You deserved better. From everyone.”
His thumbs brush my wet cheeks, and he pushes his forehead against mine. “Did you tell Tracy…” He gulps. “Did you tell Tracy I sent Robert the presentation?”
I look up, his words transmuting into something different as they register. “You believe it,” I whisper. “You believe me.”
“Did you tell Tracy?” he asks me again.
“No.” I shake my head. “Of course not. I love you, and that means I’ll protect you at all costs, so of course I didn’t tell her. Is there something else I don’t know?”
For a while he says nothing. Then, “I’m not sure. Maybe. I’m not sure.”
Hope blooms in my chest. “Can it help Tracy get her proof?” I ask him, carefully as I’m able. “Can it invalidate the acquisition?”
“I’m not sure,” he says again, shaking his head.
But it’s not because he really isn’t sure. It’s because what I’m suggesting he do, ultimately, is betray his father. I know it, and he knows it.
I’ve been planning this for a while.
The timing’s right.
Spare no expense.
If I gave you anything, it’s the Harrison hustle.
“I wanted your job.” The words jump out of me from nowhere, but I’m glad I said them. This was the last secret between us. The very last one.
His voice is quiet, almost nonexistent. “What?”
“I applied for your job, because … I don’t know. Because I was under a false impression about what I was supposed to want, and so I pushed myself toward a path that wasn’t a natural fit for me.” I look up at his blurry face, a kaleidoscope of caramel color through my wet eyes.
Alex gulps. “I didn’t know.”
I laugh darkly. “I know you didn’t know.”