Aubert eats a little and then gives me a sheepish look. “Can I tell you something?”
I send him a flat, unimpressed stare. “Depends. Is it about your father?”
“Oui, but don’t throw atortilla at me.”
Despite myself, I am amused. Aubert is a sweetheart, no two ways about it. “No promises.”
He grins but sobers quickly. “After everything happened…I’ve never seen him like that…he was broken. He was also angry, but that was mostly at himself. He drank too much. Usually, he ignores how he feels…you know, becomesle Comte. But this time, he was…a man. Miserable.”
I exhale slowly, not sure what to do with that information.
“I know he messed up.” Aubert puts his hand on mine. “He knows that, too. He said he treated you like…like a problem to manage, not the woman he loves.”
Yesterday, Gustave told me he loved me, and now Aubert is telling me, repeatedly, that his father loves me.Dios mio! But these men know how to put pressure on a woman.
“I told him that Maman was the one who sent the photo to the tabloid. She got it from my phone.” His jaw tightens. “I didn’t know she knew my passcode. Papa was furious. He threatened to take everything away from her. Maman has some family money, but Papa has more, and it’s the de Valois name that gives her…you know….social power.”
I run a hand over my face. I don’t want to know this. I don’t want to know how Gustavefinallydefended me. I don’t want to be a weak idiot whogives in to the man she loves after he treated her like…what did Aubert say?
Aproblem to solve.
Like hell!
“He did remove Maman from the de Valois foundation. So…no hanging around the Louvre or any of that. And told her if she ever said one bad thing about you, he’d take the rest away.” Aubert seems super impressed with his father.
“The rest?”
“Yeah. He told her that if she ever tried to hurt you again, he’d make sure she was living in her sister’s attic in Marseille.” He gives a short laugh. “Maman didn’t take that well.”
No kidding!
He lowers his voice. “He also got Giselle fired.”
“He what?” Color me shocked!
“Papa is usually laid back about his influence. You know because he’s a de Valois.”
I did know that, so I nodded.
“He doesn’t show it off or use it often.”
No, he just kowtows to the demands of being a de Valois…whatever that means.
I pour myself a glass of lemonade because this conversation is making my throat dry. “Giselle will be fine, I’m sure.”
Aubert snorts. “I don’t think so, Tara. Papa’s made sure she’ll never work in any major European museum again.”
I swallow against the lump in my throat.
“He hates himself for not believing you. He said”—Aubert hesitates, eyes darting down, then meets mine again, earnest—“you’re the only person in his life he can be himself with.”
I’m not sure what to do with everything Aubert told me.
Gustave is behaving like a man in love; like a man who is remorseful for what he did…and what he didn’t.
I look at Aubert as a thought strikes. “How did your Papa find me?”
Aubert’s eyes lit up with mischief. “I totally stalked your sister’s Instagram.”
