A Clandestine Corporate Affair(56)
He was in the bathroom grabbing his toothbrush and razor when Ana appeared in the doorway.
“Hey, what’s with the duffel—” She actually jerked back when she saw his face. “Oh my gosh, you’re white as a sheet. What happened?”
Ana thought for sure that Nathan was going to tell her someone had died.
“I have to leave,” he said.
“Why? Where are you going?”
“Back to my apartment,” he said, and at her confused look added, “Permanently.”
She felt the color drain from her face and her heart plummeted to her toes. “You’re dumping me?”
“Trust me when I say you’re better off without me. You both are.” He pushed past her and walked back into the bedroom, tossing his things into the duffel bag sitting on the bed.
No, this could not be happening. Not again. “Nathan, please, tell me what happened. Did I do something wrong?”
“You didn’t do anything.” He zipped the bag shut. “Jordan ratted me out.”
Damn it. She knew it. She knew they couldn’t trust him. “So you’re leaving me so you can still be CEO?”
“It has nothing to do with work. It’s me. I confronted Jordan, words were exchanged, then I hit him.”
If her brother had betrayed her that way, she would have hit him, too. “It sounds like he deserved it.”
“Violence is never the answer. It’s not safe for you to be around me. Not you and especially not Max.”
“Nathan, that’s ridiculous. It’s one thing to get in a fight that’s unprovoked, to bully someone, but Jordan betrayed you and you lost your temper. You would never do anything to hurt me and Max.”
“Are you sure about that? And is it a chance worth taking?”
“I’m one hundred percent sure.”
“Well, I’m not.” He grabbed the bag and headed out of the room.
She followed him. “No! You are not going to do this to me again, damn it!”
He pulled the front door open and she hurled herself at it, slamming it shut again.
“We need to talk about this, Nathan.”
He gazed down at her, looking tired. Tired and resigned. Just the way he’d looked the last time, and she knew in that instant that he wouldn’t be changing his mind. “There’s nothing to say.”
The ache in her heart was so intense she winced. “You said you wouldn’t hurt me.”
“I thought I’d changed. I was wrong.”
“What about Max? He needs you.”
He shook his head. “He’s better off without me.”
He put his hand on the doorknob, but he wouldn’t look at her. She could stand there blocking the door until hell froze over, but he was still going to leave. He was already long gone. Walking out the door was just a formality now.
She moved away from the door and he pulled it open. He had one foot on the porch when she blurted out, “If you leave, this is it. I’m not giving you another chance. Not with me or Max. Walk out that door and you’re out of his life forever.”
He paused, half in, half out of her life, and a kernel of hope bloomed in her chest. Maybe faced with the reality of losing them permanently would shake some sense into him.
He turned, looked her in the eye, and her heart started to beat wildly.
Please, please don’t do this.
“I’m sorry, Ana,” he said, then he stepped out the door and was gone.
After he left Ana’s condo that night, Nathan drove around for hours. He knew he should go home, but his apartment just wasn’t home any longer. He finally rented a hotel room and slept there, and that was where he’d been staying for the past week. And as for work, he’d been functioning on autopilot.
He missed Ana and Max. He hadn’t even known it was possible to miss someone as much as he missed them. There was a gaping hole in his heart, in his soul, and the essence of who he was, and the desire to live the life he’d worked so hard building, was slowly leaking out. Before long, there would be nothing left but an empty shell. Without them in his life, he felt, what was the point?
He hadn’t talked to his brother since the day of their confrontation, but Wednesday morning Jordan knocked on Nathan’s office door. Nathan should have told him to get lost, but as Jordan had pointed out, this was business. Nothing personal. When they were at the office he had no choice but to talk to him.