“I came to apologize.”
“You’re drunk.”
“Very,” he admitted.
“Go away.”
“No.”
I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t surprised. The man was used to getting what he wanted. He didn’t care what anyone else thought. It was all about him. All about what he wanted.
CHAPTER 46
KENT
Istood outside Sylvie’s apartment door for what felt like an eternity, my fist hovering inches from the wood. My stomach churned with a cocktail of guilt and dread. Mostly whiskey, but the guilt and dread were definitely making things a little dicey. I could handle the liquor, but I didn’t like all the feelings mucking things up.
The woman staring at me was a stranger.
Gone was the joyful little Christmas dynamo I’d come to know over the past couple of weeks. This Sylvie looked guarded, her arms crossed tight across her chest like armor. Her usual sparkle had dimmed to something wary and brittle. She looked at me like I was a stranger. Or worse, like I was someone she’d trusted who had just proven himself unworthy of it.
And that fucking sucked.
“Can we talk?” I asked.
She looked me up and down like I was a cockroach. “I think you’ve said enough for one day.”
The words hit like a slap, but I deserved them. Hell, I deserved worse. “Please, Sylvie. Just five minutes.”
Something in my tone must have gotten through to her because she sighed and unlocked her door, pushing it open. She gestured for me to come in.
I stepped inside and watched as she shrugged out of her coat, taking great care in hanging it up. I kept mine on just in case she decided to toss me out on my ass. I didn’t want to freeze to death.
“I don’t know why you’re here, but I really don’t want to hear anything from you,” she said.
“I’ve been thinking about this all night,” I started, running a hand through my hair. “About us. About the offer. About everything.”
She waited, her green eyes never leaving my face. No encouragement, no softening around the edges. Just waiting.
“I need to apologize,” I continued. “For the insulting offer, first and foremost. For not being totally transparent about the details.” I took a shaky breath. “I knew full well the offer would be jarring, and disappointing, and not what you or your family wants. But I pushed it forward with my father anyway because…” I trailed off, the words sticking in my throat like sawdust.
“Because why?” Her voice was quiet, but there was steel underneath it.
This was the hard part. The part where I had to admit truths about myself that I’d been avoiding for years. “Because I’m starting to understand why I did that. I’ve always felt like I had something to prove, Sylvie. Always felt like I was disappointing my father, like I wasn’t living up to the Bancroft name.” I laughed, but there was no humor in it. “This was my chance to do something right by my family. To finally be the son he wanted.”
Her expression didn’t change, but I saw her knuckles go white where she gripped her own arms.
“You and your family?” I said, forcing myself to meet her eyes. “Collateral damage. I came here knowing that. Before you jumped my battery and overcharged me for tossing that tree in the ditch—and yes, I’ve known the whole time that you did that—I didn’t care about the collateral. But now?” My voice cracked on the last word. “Now I care a great deal.”
For a moment, I thought she might soften. Her arms loosened slightly, and something flickered in her eyes that looked almost like the old Sylvie. But then her face crumpled, and I realized she was fighting back tears.
“All of this would have meant so much more if you’d told me before I brought it to my father thinking your offer would be some sort of Christmas miracle that saves us all.” Her voice was thick with unshed tears and disappointment, which cut deeper than anger. “I looked like an idiot, Kent. Like a doe-eyed girl who got duped.”
I grimaced, taking an involuntary step back. “That was never my intention. Sylvie, I swear to you.”
“But it happened anyway, didn’t it?” She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, and the gesture was so vulnerable it made my chest hurt. “Your intentions don’t matter when the result is the same.”
God help me, she was absolutely right, and I had no defense. No excuse that would make this better.
