Alec sighs and looks at me, his expression irritated. “Elena, why are we even talking about this? I gave you an out when I proposed. I told you that if you married me, you’d be agreeing to a life without love. So why do you suddenly want more?” He leans back against his pillow, a dismayed expression on his face. “After everything you just witnessed, you still want love? You watched multiple lives get destroyed over it, yet you still want it? Why?”
I look away, unsure how to explain myself. “Alec… you and I both grew up in households without love. Is that what you want for our children?”
He looks at me, and the coldness in his eyes has a shiver running down my spine. “All of this… what is this, Elena?” His eyes are flashing with an emotion I can’t quite decipher. Is it anger? Irritation? He’s making me feel like merely asking whether he loves me is inconveniencing him. “You got what you wanted—you managed to save your mother’s life. And I married you so I’ll get the job I want. That’s all this marriage is, Elena. It’s just a mutual beneficial arrangement.”
I clasp my hands, trying my hardest to keep from trembling. “That’s it?” I ask, my voice breaking. “That’s all I am to you?”
Alec looks down at his hands and shakes his head. “I care about you, Elena. Of course, I do. You know I do.”
Alec shakes his head and turns his back to me. I hear the words he doesn’t say. He cares about me—but he doesn’t love me, and he probably never will.
Chapter 55
A lexander
“You wanted to see me, Grandpa?”
I enter his office—the office that I’ve always considered to be the ultimate goal. Every time I walk in here, I’m filled with renewed determination. One day soon, I’ll succeed him.
“Take a seat.”
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.”