Not ready to face him just yet, I used some wipes to clean off the layers of makeup I’d spent an hour applying. What was waste of time. Well, not totally. Alex had looked at me like a decadent dessert he wanted to devour. The effort had been worth it to have him look at me like that.
When I went downstairs, he was on the couch, two glasses of red wine poured and the food containers spread across the coffee table already. He handed me a glass, then gently lifted my legs and draped them over his lap like it was the most natural thing in the world.
I settled in with a sigh, choosing to ignore the fact that a couple hours ago we’d been arguing about him confronting my brother. Right now, that didn’t seem to matter as much as it had at the time. I looked at him as I sipped my wine, his tie now gone, his jacket off, and the top few buttons of his shirt undone.
Concern was etched into his handsome features as his gaze dragged across my face. “Was that woman the reason you wanted to leave?”
I nodded, and he took a deep breath before he cocked his head. “Let me guess. That was your father’s mistress.”
I nodded again, my throat tight as I sipped my wine. Alex shoved a hand through his hair, exhaling slowly. “Jesus, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that she’s messy?”
A bitter, humorless laugh escaped me. “That’s one word for it.”
“Do you want to talk about her?” Alex grinned at me. “Feel free to be as catty as you want. I won’t judge.”
I shook my head, but he kept quiet, giving me the space to really decide. After swallowing another generous gulp of my wine, I finally started talking. “Mallory. That’s her name, Mallory Foundry.”
I stared into the glass, my gaze tracing the rich red ripples when my hand started shaking ever so slightly again. “She used to be Dad’s executive assistant. Before everything. She was in her late twenties when the affair started. She’s thirty-five now.”
Alex’s jaw tightened. “He had an affair with a girl who’s only a few years older than you?”
I grimaced, my answering nod tight. “Our family lawyers are trying to get my father’s conviction appealed. They’re pushing to have Mallory charged instead. Apparently, they have documentation, texts and emails, that frame her as the mastermind, showing that she convinced him to funnel an insane amount of money out of Thayer into offshore accounts. Accounts she then used to fund an extravagant lifestyle overseas.”
“She fled?” he asked.
“Yeah, she lives somewhere in the Mediterranean now. Or at least, she did.” I gestured vaguely at the window. “Except thatapparently, she’s back and married or engaged to someone rich enough to buy her a diamond the size of a fist.”
“I noticed that,” he said quietly. “Do you think she’s taking him for a ride?”
I huffed out a short breath. “In more ways than one, probably. She’s good at finding benefactors.”
Alex reached for my hand and threaded our fingers together. “She’s not your problem anymore.”
“She has a son,” I said suddenly. “Court Jr. He’s six. She says he’s my father’s. She built half her narrative around it, but they did a DNA test the other day that proved otherwise.”
He shook his head. “Holy shit. Do you think she was lying or do you think she just gets around so much she doesn’t know who the father is?”
“Either way, it’s not a good look for her. Messy doesn’t begin to cover it.” I stared at the floor for a beat. “I didn’t expect to see her. I thought she was gone and that part of my life was contained. Maybe even over.”
He tipped my chin up gently until I looked at him. “You’re not alone in this, Jane. I’m sorry she’s back, and frankly, I think she’s an idiot to have returned under the circumstances, but whatever happens, we’ll face it together.”
“I know, but that’s part of the problem,” I admitted so softly that my voice was barely above a whisper. “I’m so used to holding everything together that when someone else steps in, it feels like I’m doing something wrong.”
“You’re not,” he said simply.
I wanted to believe him, but instead, I just curled into his side, my wine glass cradled between my hands as I tried to process that Mallory Foundry was back in my city. Back in my orbit.
Bitterness climbed up the back of my throat as I thought about how good she’d looked. Like she was living her best life while my father rotted in prison.
“She ran,” I said without really meaning to, but as soon as those two words were out, the rest followed almost naturally after. “The second the water she was in with my father started to boil, Mallory ran. She left the country before anyone could corner her properly.”
He leaned back into the couch, one arm stretched along the back behind me, close without pressing. “I get that you’re going through it.” The strong column of his throat moved as he swallowed, but his voice was steady. “It’s a lot. All of this. Seeing her again and your family history being dragged back into the light, being with me, the company changing hands, and the situation with the board getting worse before it gets better.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding when he smiled down at me. “I’m not going anywhere, Jane. We can take this slow. We have our whole lives ahead of us and I like you. I hope I made that clear during our snowed-in trip, but the point is that there’s no rush and no pressure from my side. Ever.”
That guilt dragged me under again, coming on in a sudden, intense wave. It was ridiculous. Unfair. But it was there anyway.
“You aren’t what I expected,” I admitted. “Not even close.”
