I can’t let another misunderstanding get between us again. Not after all these years.
“Calliope, listen to me. I swear it’s not what you think. Please, come up to my room and we can talk properly. I’ll tell you everything, I swear. If there’s any part of you that still trusts me, even just a little, please come up with me.”
32
CALLIOPE
Stacey is watching Nick and I never told her when I’d be back, so there’s room for me to oblige, but the thought of being alone with Elijah right now feels like walking into the jaws of a lion.
What more could he say that I don’t already know? Betrayal is heavy in my gut, mingling with the hurt that I was already falling for him again just for him to do this and accuse me of stealing from a company I’ve put my heart and soul into.
I don’t want to even look at him.
But he’s hard to resist. Elijah stares at me with these big, earnest eyes and he clutches his hands together. “Please, Calliope. I can explain. It’s nothing like you think, I swear.”
“Oh, so I’m stupid? Unable to work it out by myself?”
“No! Not at all, it’s just… you don’t have all the pieces. Please… please let me explain.”
My gut says no and demands I kick him out of the car and drive home. Unfortunately, my gut isn’t in charge as my heart thaws ever so slightly to the pleading in his voice.
“Fine,” I say coldly. “You have five minutes.”
Elijah’s hotel might be the fanciest building I’ve walked through in my entire life. The floors gleam with polish, gold detailing wraps around ornate pillars reaching to the ceiling, and the elevator is definitely almost the size of my bathroom.
I have a really tiny bathroom, it seems.
We ride the elevator in silence up to the eight floor, then Elijah leads the way down the red carpeted hall to a door at the end where the numbers 818 decorate the wood in gold leaf.
“Fancy,” I murmur as he opens the door and ushers me inside.
Elijah doesn’t reply, likely wary that I’ll snap at him again, so as he disappears into a door just off the short hallway, I walk into the living room and stop dead.
The open plan lounge to my right is lowered into a cutout in the floor with several long couches and a fireplace that lights up with orange flame just as soft, cream lights sweep across the ceiling matching my movements. It’s almost as if this room is alive. I walk a little further, staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows that showcase the beautiful city lights as the world grows dark, and to my left is a large archway leading to a gigantic bed up on a platform and draped in blue blankets and a dress shirt Elijah must have left here.
My mind wanders. What would Nick’s life be like in this kind of world? Where money isn’t an issue?
I shake the thoughts free and wrap my arms around myself. It doesn’t do well to dwell.
“Can I get you something to drink?” Elijah’s voice rises behind me and I turn on the spot, ready to tell him to shove his drink and just tell me the truth, but he stands there barefoot, holding a box of hot chocolate mix, and something stops me.
Maybe a drink would be nice. “Fine. But if this is a stalling technique, know that I have to get back to Nick soon.”
“Not stalling,” Elijah replies quietly. “Merely trying to feel more human before we get into this.”
I grunt softly and turn back to the living room, eventually taking up a seat on one of the couches. The cushions are soft and firm, hugging my ass and back in such a way that my anger starts to deplete in favor of comfort. Maybe this is the real delaying tactic. I study the flames in the fireplace and quickly realize they’re fake, but the warmth is just as inviting as the real thing.
Elijah reappears five minutes later with two steaming mugs. He hands one to me, and I’m hit by the scent of chocolate and a slight drizzle of peppermint. As he sits across from me, I wrap my hands around the mug and soak up the warmth, then I fix him with a steady stare.
“Alright. You said you want to explain, then explain.” It’s hard not to launch back into a tirade of anger against him because the acidic curl of betrayal still lingers underneath my ribs, but I let him talk, favoring sips of my drink instead.
“You’re right,” he says quietly, balancing his elbows atop his knees and holding his cup between both hands. “I did ask the lawyers to speak to you. And your name did come up in relation to the fraud we found. I can’t go into too much detail becausethat’s still an active legal case, but Buster found discrepancies between stock and profit, as if someone were using company funds to purchase stock and then pocketing the profits of the sales. And when I brought this to the attention of Jimmy…” He pauses briefly. “He fingered you. He said you were the only person with stock access to your department, the warehouse, and the stores. That you were in charge of orders and more. So for a brief moment, it did look like you were the one who would be doing this.”
My heart starts to pound. It never once crossed my mind tosteal, but when he lays it out like that, it sounds like it’s something I and only I could do. Of course Jimmy would immediately point the blame at me. I’ve never given him a decent reason to fire me and he doesn’t want the responsibility of the website and everything else, so having me taken out by a crime? It writes itself.
“When I came to San Francisco, I came for you. Well… not you, initially, but your subscription service. Telling people I was here to check on my stock was a good cover because everyone knows how sensitive gem suppliers are. But I was here to see how the subscription was run, how you dealt with customers and managed your stock, how sturdy your model was, and if it would survive being duplicated and expanded.” Elijah sips his drink slowly and shakes his head as he licks away some froth from the corner of his lip. “I’ve always been impressed by it and when I saw the inner workings? It was a dream. In fact… I wanted your subscription service. I thought I would have to bid for it, but Jimmy was happy for Amber Limited to absorb Angelic Jewels as long as he got a big paycheck and job security. On paper, that seemed fine, but upon arrival, I saw his focus was more on the stores, and I have no interest in that.”
As he talks, I drink slowly and savor the sweetness of the chocolate mingling with the bright rush of peppermint. I had no idea he was that interested in my business, and thinking back to the phone call I overheard at New Year’s, it suddenly makes more sense. Of course, all Jimmy would care about is lining his own pockets.
