Page 23 of Heartbroken Husband
Underneath it all, the guilt was still there. Still as thick and suffocating as ever, but those other emotions were very real too.
None of this was happening in a vacuum.It, whatever it was, was happening on the ruins of everything I’d already broken, but the foundation Zach and I had built back then had been solid, strong enough to withstand the test of time.
At least, that was what I used to think. Right now, I could only hope that I’d been right.
CHAPTER 9
ZACH
My first instinct was to pick Adeline up and run. To where, I didn’t know, but running was out of the question anyway. First, because I just wasn’t that kind of guy, and second, because she’d never leave her girls behind. Frankly, neither would I.
I still had her wrist, my thumb pressed against her racing pulse. The speed at which it was galloping told me she wasn’t unaware of what was happening in this room. What this particular gathering of these particular people meant.
Like me, she’d put it together without a word being said. I’d be willing to bet on it.
She was still staring up at me with those same big, icy blue eyes that had looked so deeply into mine that night she’d told me she was getting married. To someone else. That night I’d let her go instead of fighting for her.
Instead of turning to her grandfather or even her cousin, it wasmeshe was looking to for answers.Meshe was waiting for to speak.
Somehow, despite all the years between then and now, it was like we were back in our own little bubble. One where we’d leaned on each other, counted on each other, and trusted each other no matter what.
This fucking bubble we were back inside was also one of the reasons I still felt guilty about what had happened back then. Deep down, I’d known all along that I should’ve fought harder, either for her or against that marriage.
I’d pounded my chest a bit, for sure, but I hadn’t fought the way I should’ve. I sure as hell hadn’t fought the way I would now.
With that thought in mind, I let go of her and turned to face the other men in room. Alex had risen from his seat at the table and was now standing with Nate near the windows, both of them looking glum. I appreciated the thought, but I didn’t need it.
Dad sat beside Clark Morris—not the senator, but the original Morris. The almighty grandfather, ruler of the clan. Each of them had an attorney at their sides and stacks of paperwork between them. I hadn’t been given any of those papers yet, but I knew those would be the contracts.
Simon Morris, Adeline’s cousin, was a stranger to me. She’d mentioned him in passing once or twice back in the day, but the two hadn’t grown up particularly close. As far as I knew, he was an attorney now as well, and it looked like he’d been tasked with getting her here.
He cleared his throat when my gaze met his, offering me a slight nod. I didn’t quite know what to make of it, so I was reserving judgment about him until later.
“Adeline’s divorce will be finalized by the weekend,” he started, but she scoffed and finally took a step forward, shaking her head when every eye in the room landed on her.
“I’m afraid that probably isn’t true,” she said as she looked around, then focused only on her cousin. “Louis has been giving me the runaround. You know that, Simon. We were talking about it five minutes ago. He won’t sign your papers unless I hand over my trust fund.”
“Give it to him, then,” her grandfather said, drawing every eye in the room to him now in turn. Personally, I was stunned.One glance at Adeline told me she felt the exact same way, which meant this was probably the first she was hearing of it too, but Old Mr. Morris just leaned back in his chair and folded his hands over his belly. When he caught both her and me gaping at him, he simply shrugged. “Let him have it. Most of it is gone now anyway, correct?”
On an instinct it seemed I had never stopped possessing, I moved closer to her. My fingers were itching to reach for her hand to hook our pinkies together, like we used to when we’d been kids, about to get in trouble together.
My dad rose from his seat, sliding his hands into his pockets as he looked around the table. It had been so long since I’d seen him, longer yet since I’d seen him in a suit, but it suddenly felt like no time had passed since he’d been here every day, ruling these boardrooms with an iron fist and expecting everyone to just fall in line.
“This is what’s going to happen now,” he said, his tone even and measured, as powerful as ever despite the fact that he’d spent the last year fishing, golfing, and God only knew what else. “The Westwood and Morris families are going into business together.”
My eyebrows shot up and I glanced at Alex, but he looked as shocked as I was. Despite all the time he’d spent with Dad in DC, it seemed the older men still had a few tricks up their sleeves.
“Alex will be acquiring an entire third of the stock of the Morris Company,” Dad said, and I nearly fell over.
Alex was blinking like he was standing in a sandstorm without goggles and Nate looked like he’d been caught by a petrification spell, he was standing so still. Dad smiled at Clark Morris, who was still leaning back in his chair like he found all of this incredibly relaxing.
“I’m eighty-five, kids,” he said on another shrug. “I’m finally considering retiring, and while I have four sons, who have sonsof their own, and so on and so forth, the Westwoods have been around long enough that I’d feel better knowing everything is in good hands.”
On the wordeverything, he looked directly at Adeline, like she was either a possession or a division of the company. My head was shaking before he’d even finished the sentence. I’d finally had enough.
I hadn’t fought for her or for what she wanted eight years ago, but I’d be damned if she got railroaded again now. I’d only walked into this mess less than ten minutes before she’d arrived, so I hadn’t had a chance to give her a heads-up, but it was time for both of us to take a fucking breath.
Stepping forward, I made eye contact with every person in the room and jerked my head toward the door. “Okay, that’s it. Adeline and I need a minute alone.”
