Discretion (The Dumonts, #1)(56)

“So then don’t tell the world.”

He sighs and runs his hand over his hair. “Sometimes I think you don’t understand business at all, my nephew.” He gets up and stares down at me.

I look away, trying to think, but the grief has muddled my brain, making it harder to see the clear picture. I was always so afraid of upsetting my father, and I let that fuel me in keeping secrets. But the truth is, it’s more than that. It’s my own pride. It’s my family’s pride. If it were something I could admit to Seraphine or Renaud and keep it between ourselves, I would. I would own up to it, and I know they wouldn’t shun me.

But that’s not how my uncle works. If this truth comes out, it’s going to be bigger and worse than I could have ever imagined. He would make sure of it.

That’s what he does.

“Come on,” he says to me, holding out his hand to help me up, and it takes everything in me not to break his arm instead. I would if I didn’t know he’d have someone doing the exact same thing to me after. “Let’s go tell your family what’s happening. That you’re forfeiting your shares and your father’s shares to me.”

“What about Seraphine?”

“She’ll have her job. Don’t worry. You can have a job with us, too, you know, if you ever get bored.”

I ignore his hand and get up on my own.

I feel like I’m betraying my family all over again.

“You’re doing the right thing, Olivier,” my uncle says, his voice silky smooth. “I assure you, by doing this you’ll be happier in the long run. Distance yourself from us, that’s what you’ve always wanted anyway. Concentrate on your own legacy. Build a family. Fall in love.” At that, I look at him sharply. He smiles. It’s all cold. “But I promise you, if you don’t do this, you won’t ever find love again.”

I know from the way he’s looking at me, like a dog that’s caught a scent, that he knows about Sadie. That whatever I’ve tried to do to protect her, to hide her, has been a waste of my time. He knows about her and will use her as leverage if he has to.

Another reason why I have to do this.

I’ll give all power to the devil if it saves Sadie from his grasp.





CHAPTER FOURTEEN

SADIE

You’d think that going to the funeral of someone you didn’t know would be a somewhat easy thing to do, but in some ways I think it’s harder. You’re not quite sure how to act, what to say. You feel so removed from the person and the situation and all the people mourning around you that you want to apologize for it.

That’s how I felt at Ludovic’s funeral.

Granted, it wasn’t a small affair at all, and not a single soul there was looking at me wondering what I was doing there or caring if I was crying or seemed distraught or not.

Everyone was focused on Ludovic Dumont and his legacy.

There were celebrities, models, actors, chefs, fashion designers, socialites, and billionaires. So many rich and influential people that you couldn’t swing a cat without hitting one of them.

The flowers were beautiful, the procession was beautiful.

The speeches were endless and heartfelt and heartbreaking.

Especially Olivier’s.

His speech is the one that made the tears spring to my eyes and fall freely down my cheeks. It looked like I was mourning Ludovic, but instead I was mourning Olivier.

I was mourning the fact that now he, along with Seraphine and Renaud, were orphans. That he lost a man who meant so much to him so soon after losing his mother. I knew family meant absolutely everything to Olivier and that he talked about his father often and with a great sense of pride. He was so proud to be his son.

And that was especially apparent in his eulogy, one that he had to stop a few times to compose himself because the heartache was too much.

But even after all that, I still feel like I shouldn’t be here. I mean, I’m not even with him. He didn’t talk about “hiding” us anymore, but he said he didn’t want the tabloids to focus on the mystery woman he brought to the funeral, so it would be best that I sit with the general public.

So that’s where I am now, watching as the casket is lowered into the ground, feeling like I got off the hook when everyone else is so affected.

Watching Olivier as he grapples with saying goodbye, his sister leaning on him on one side, his older brother, Renaud, leaning on the other.

So much is going to change now. The company and wills. I can already tell that things are going to get really ugly with his uncle and everyone else. They were at each other’s throats before this happened, and now . . .

It’s really the perfect excuse to leave.

If I was someone else, I would.

In fact, I think if I were the Sadie Reynolds I had been pretending to be all this time, the one who threw caution to the wind and chose to stay in the French Riviera with a stranger and follow him to Paris to have hot sex, I think that Sadie would say au revoir.

After all, Olivier is going to be extra busy now.

He’s not going to have any time for me.

He’s going to be dealing with all this change and grief and loss and stress, and I’m the last thing he needs to worry about.

I need to go.

I need to get to Madrid and get on that plane the day after tomorrow and go.

It would be better for him to deal with all this on his own.