I can finally be free.
But, of course, it all comes at a price.
The company is still in the hands of Gautier, Pascal, and Blaise.
My sister is still working there . . . working for them.
It pains me to even think that, to know that what we worked so hard for, all my father’s morals and accomplishments, has been washed away. Sure, his legacy will always survive, but Gautier is running the company completely differently now. The online store is up and running. He’s collaborating with artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat in limited-edition runs, which is producing a flurry in stores. Even the branding has changed, becoming something flashy and cheap.
Sales are up. I guess I never assumed his plans and ambitions for the company wouldn’t work—rather, that they were never needed. Sales are up because this is a novelty, but I have doubts they will stay up in the long run.
And Seraphine is there, trying to deal with it all, knowing that my father is most likely rolling in his grave.
But she won’t give up. I talk with her at least once a week, trying to convince her to leave, or at least to come here and visit.
She won’t. She’s too loyal for that. Too determined and stubborn. She wants to do this for our father. She wants to stay on board to have her say, even if no one listens to her. She wants to be there just in case, to keep our enemies closer.
She says it’s the only thing she knows how to do, the only thing she wants to do.
I worry about her. Not just about her safety, I worry most about her sanity. What it’s like to work in that building alongside Blaise all day. She insists he drives her crazy, and I believe that. I also worry that she may start putting trust in him when she shouldn’t. She says that Blaise has been distancing himself from his brother and uncle and that his confessions to us are still holding true. But I don’t know. She can be too trusting about the wrong things, and I wish I were there to keep an eye on things myself.
But I don’t want to leave Sadie, even though she’s used to having my brother, Renaud, around, and I often fly her mother down to visit. I don’t want to leave construction either, not at this crucial time.
I know that going back to Paris will have to happen sooner or later. I’m able to conduct my business here without having to be in Europe, especially with a board of managers and directors underneath me doing the work, but even so, I need to check in on Seraphine.
I need to check in on my uncle.
I need, in some way, to let him know that I haven’t run away, I’m just biding my time. Neither he nor Pascal have contacted me. I guess there’s no need. I’m out of the picture. I lost. My father is dead. I have no control over the company. They set me up, and they won.
Still, I have a feeling my uncle isn’t going to let me forget what I did to him. He doesn’t take humiliation lightly. I can only hope that he’s too wrapped up in the company to come after us, even though I’ll be watching my back for the rest of my life.
But I don’t mind.
Because I have the love of my life by my side.
I have a new life here, one that transcends the one I had before, one that feels more truthful and real than I could have ever imagined.
That’s what love does to you.
It wakes you up. It makes you real.
Even so, I have a hard time believing that Sadie is lying here beside me, as she does every morning. That I could be so lucky to have found her, that I didn’t let her go, and that she didn’t let me go.
“What is going on in this brain of yours?” she asks, reaching over and running her finger between my brows. “You’re not normally so frowny first thing in the morning.”
I give her a wry look. “I think you have me confused with someone else.” Ever since moving here to our quaint little cottage in the vineyard, I’ve discovered the joys of sleeping in and taking things slowly.
“Okay, well, you don’t normally think so much when you get up,” she says. “What’s on your mind?”
“Only you,” I tell her. I lean over, brushing her messy hair off her