Chapter 83 <fnfdd4> ?? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? ???????s, ????s? ??s?? fι?dnοvel</fnfdd4>
Maddox
F:.
27.00
I pushed open the door to the study and found my father already there, seated at his deck with his phone pressed to his ear. He didn’t even need to say a word. I could tell it was an important call just from the way <b>his </b>
forehead creased in concentration.
When he raised his head and looked in my direction, his expression softened a little. He raised his hand and gestured towards the couches near the window.
He still treated me with the same amount of consideration that he did when I had introduced Harper to <b>him</b>.
I took a seat on one of the couches, stretching my arm along the backrest.
After he wrapped up the call, he made his way to me, lowering himself onto the opposite couch with a faint sigh.
“That was the director in the southern region,” he said, loosening <b>his </b>tie a little. “They’ve hit a few snags.”
I leaned forward. “I can fly down there tomorrow if I need to”
He gently shook his head. “No. I’ll handle it myself. You don’t need to concern yourself with that right now since you have a lot going on in London.”
I leaned back in my seat, studying him. Having him take that off my te felt…different<b>. </b>
“So,” he said after a few seconds, “what about Harper? Shouldn’t you be with her right now?”
“I’ll join her once we’re done here. She knows where I am, so I can spare a few minutes. What did you want to talk about?”
He studied me for a moment, then rested his chin in the palm of his hand. “You really like her.”
My head tilted slightly. “What makes you say that?”
“The way you look at her. You never looked at Kate like that.”
Augh escaped my lips, even when I didn’t mean to. Kate had never been anything serious to me. I didn’t even realize my gaze on Harper was different, but hearing my father point it out, struck something deep inside me.
“Too bad her first time here had to be ruined,” he continued, his voice lower. “My wife really crossed the line at lunch. I spoke to her afterward. She tried to justify herself by saying she was trying to get rid of Harper because of her social ss. As if that mattered.” His expression hardened for a moment, then softened again. “She forgets how she was when I met her.”
Anotherugh escaped my lips. “Uncle Sebastian definitely says that at times.”
“He’s the next person I wanted to talk about. I spoke to himst evening. He’s really getting a divorce<b>.” </b>
9:00 Wed, Oct <b>1 </b>
“Yeah… that was shocking, to say the least.”
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“He sounded so casual about it.” He shook his head, as if remembering the moment he was told.
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I nodded in agreement. “That’s exactly how he was with me. We even shared a drink. Like his marriage hadn’t just crumbled. And the way he always used to look at his wife, I thought he was crazy in love.”
He sighed deeply. “Sometimes, people just drift apart.”
Just as he was about to speak further, the door creaked open, and just like that, the air shifted when my father gave me a heads up.
“I told Margot toe here.”
After closing the door behind her, she made her way to the couches as if she owned the damn ce.
Her eyes narrowed slightly when she saw my father and I sitting across from each other like equals.
Without hesitation, she took the seat beside him, cing her hand possessively over his.
“Well, your father emphasized the importance of my presence, so here I am.”
I almostughed at her attempt to clear things up. “I didn’t even ask you anything yet. There’s no need. It’s your house anyway.”
“You’re right about that.” She pursed her lips before smiling again, like she had my father tightly wrapped around her finger. She turned her head towards him, her voice turning sweet. “So, honey, what is it you wanted to discuss<b>?</b><b>” </b>
He exhaled slowly, not even meeting her gaze, but looking past my shoulder instead as he said, “I’ve decided to visit Rachel’s gravesite.”
She pulled her hand away from his in a sharp movement, herposure faltering. But she wasn’t half as shocked as I was.
The words hit me hard and my chest tightened. After all these years, he actually said he would visit her gravesite and out loud.
Margot recovered quickly with fake politeness. “Why now?”
Even with her voice carefully controlled, I could still hear the bitterness underneath it. As if she could ever cover it up by cing her hand over his again. I saw right through her. She didn’t approve. She never would.
She must have expected my father to change his mind, but his gaze remained as steady as his voice when he spoke his next words.
“Because some things need to change. And that should’ve happened a long time ago.”
Even though I’d never admit it out loud, hearing him say that and finally taking a step toward honoring my mother was better than the entire Larkspur Hills.
9:00 Wed, Oct 1
“Maybe we should go together,” he said, finally looking at me.
“Yes,” I said quickly, nodding hard, my chest a mix of relief and excitement. “Yes, absolutely.”
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For the first time, Margot looked like the outsider in the room, the corners of her mouth unable to hold her
smile.
“Is that all you wanted me here for?” she asked, her voice steady.
“Yes,” he said without hesitation.
She pressed her lips into a thin line as she rose from the couch, smoothing down her dress.
She might have faked her smile all she wanted, but her steps betrayed her. They were too hurried. Like she couldn’t wait to be gone from a conversation that hadn’t gone her way. I was more than satisfied to watch her like that.
I didn’t have to say anything to my father, like throw my mother’s name at him like a weapon. He came to that decision on his own and that alone was enough to make me d I kept my mouth shut.
He didn’t even linger on it like I half expected. Instead, he shifted the conversation.
“I’m d you’re bringing Harper to the fundraiser.”
“Yeah, she’ll definitely be there. She was actually talking about how there was no need to be so fancy when I wanted her to make a decision about her dress.”
As if on cue, my phone buzzed from the back of my pocket. It was a text from her.
“I’ve been on the balcony for a while. It now feels a little awkward being alone.”
I exhaled quietly, hovering over the screen with my thumb as I didn’t reply right away.
I looked back at my father and said, “I’m thinking of moving back to San Francisco.”
His forehead creased. “San Francisco?”
“Yes.”
“There’s more workload in London,” he pointed out. “You haven’t even been there for two months.”
“I can handle it,” I said confidently. “Working from here won’t be a problem.”
He gave me a look of amusement. “I see what’s going on here. You just want to be closer to Harper.”
I yed along. “You got me.”
I thought back to that drink I had with Uncle’s Sebastian and the way he’d pointed out the inconvenience of constant flights between London and San Francisco just for my fake dates with Harper.
I smirked, lowering my gaze as I typed a quick reply to her that I was on my way.
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My father’sst words lingered and as much as I wanted to brush them off after I told myself I was only ying along, I couldn’t. Because there was a part of me that actually wanted toe back because of her.
I came to the balcony and found Harper waiting for me, her arms crossed as she stared below, like the view had personally offended her. She didn’t even look back when I arrived.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as I approached her.
“It’s Grayson.” Her voice was furious. She still wasn’t even looking at me.
Of course it was because of him.
I leaned against the railing next to her, keeping my expression calm, even though my jaw clenched slightly.
“Still letting him piss you off after everything?”
Her head shot in my direction. “That’s not it.”
“Sure looks like <i>it</i>.”
She let out a heavy breath, pacing the balcony like she was trying to walk the anger out of her system. “I don’t even know where we stand anymore. One minute he’s against me, then the next, he’s…” she trailed off while firmly shaking her head. “It’s justplicated.”
I hated the way she said that, like she was giving him an excuse. Like she still wanted to believe he could be the
guy she needed.
“So what?” I said, my voice low. “You two are going to be best friends now?”
My tone was sharper than I intended and she stopped pacing just on the other side of the balcony as she faced me again.
“I don’t think so. Everything’s just messed up. It’s like I said. He switches sides whenever it suits him and I…“ She trailed off again, tightly wrapping her arms around herself.
I pushed myself off the railing, closing the distance between us. “You wish he would always choose your side, but that will never happen and you know it.”
She parted her lips, like she wanted to argue, but no words came out and she dropped her shoulders with a sigh of defeat.
“When did the two of you even talk?” I asked.
“It was right after I spoke to Tiffany.” She huffed.
“You spoke to her? Alone?” My eyes slightly widened.
“Rx. I didn’t drag her by the hair across the floor or anything like that. She told me she smashed Anna’s phone and dropped it in the ocean.”
9:00 Wed, <b>Oct </b><b>1 </b>
“Well, shit.”
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“She wanted me to beg for all the information she found on that phone about my sister, but no.”
“My offer still stands. You know I can easily find out everything about her now that we know she’s in London.”
She gave me a small smile. “There’s no need. I want her to be the one toe looking for me.”
That statement alone made me clench my fist as I remembered how she’d hoped she was finally reuniting with her sister but it was all a set up.
“You know what? There’s something Grayson said to me and I haven’t forgotten about it. Tiffany said it too.”
I raised the corner of my mouth, thinking it was about to be some bullshit. “And what was that?”
“That I’m nothing special to you.”
I scoffed. “What?”
“Yup and it’s because you didn’t show me everything. Grayson didn’t tell me what he meant <i>by </i>that no matter how many times I asked.”
It all made sense and I nodded in understanding.
“I know exactly what that means,” I said. “If Tiffany has even the slightest doubt about us, she won’t stop with her bullshit. She needs <i>to </i>see you as someone special to me. I meant to do this anyway, soe with me.”
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