I passed it to her, knowing at that moment I was well and truly owned.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Chapter Seventeen
Vanessa
The restaurant was busy enough to make the table where I was sitting private; no one would be interested in looking over or trying to listen to the conversation that could become heated. No one knew I was here, apart from Simone, no one knew I had agreed to meet him, because no one would've supported my decision to do this. But I needed to. I needed closure. I'd spent most nights with Jackson, my clothes and toiletries making their way over to his house and it was time, it seemed, to close the door on the past and move solidly forward. This was the only way to do it.
Simone brought a mini tasting menu over, smiling gently. She was aware I was meeting Richard and hadn't tried to talk me out of it. I now knew something of her past: a husband who was serving time in prison for attempted murder and a second failed marriage that ended on bad terms initially, but he'd since become a sleeping partner, showing support after the fact and conducting business through his lawyer. I didn't have such hopes for Richard, in fact, my hope was that after this I wouldn't hear from him again.
The food tasted delicious, when I thought about what I was eating. Simone outdid herself continually, although I was biased. The reviews she'd had from the critics had been phenomenal, good enough for her to be pleased with them, and good enough for the restaurant to be fully booked through until October. If I didn't concentrate on the small mouthfuls I took, it tasted like cardboard. I was preoccupied with my past and I need to bang the door shut and bolt it.
We'd agreed on a price for Cole Henderson. Seph had told me that Richard's father had been instrumental in ensuring Richard sold to me and didn't play games by suggesting that he buy me out instead. I was pretty sure that Richard didn't have the available cash to buy me out, as his father had always controlled his trust fund, although, in the past, he'd been free and easy with it, not thinking much about affording a new car or expensive golfing holiday with his old school chums. I'd occasionally benefited from some of Richard's wealth: jewelry, a couple of holidays abroad, meals out. But I'd generally paid my own way and when I'd left, all the jewellery he'd bought me remained in the apartment. I didn't want it to be used as golden mud to fling at me.
I was on my second large glass of wine and was nibbling at a tiny morsel of cake when Richard arrived, predictably late, although only by a few minutes. He'd always liked to make a grand entrance and have all eyes on him. A bit like a prom queen.
Instead of standing, I gestured to the chair opposite. The manners of well-to-do-society that I had learned quickly from mixing with Richard's parents and peers were used when it was advantageous for me to do so, but right now he could speak to me on my level, a level he detested stooping to. "Hi," I said, knowing if I told him that it was good to see him, I'd be lying.
"Vanessa," he said, sitting down. "I don't have long. I'm meeting my father at the club at nine."
I nodded. That was good. He looked tired, slightly overweight and his complexion was becoming ruddy, probably with the alcohol he drank. I was appalled for having a relationship with this man, but I tried to be kind to myself. There was a multitude of reasons I slept with him and became his partner and I had learned a lot with the benefit of being able to run the business with the safety net of his father's deep pockets, not that I'd needed it. "That's fine. I wanted to meet one last time just to clear the air between us."
He nodded. "You were never one to part on bad terms. I remember that horrific New Year's Eve ball at Montgomery's where his cousin or someone was so spiteful to you and were so pleasant to her later when she was spewing up in the bathroom. Anyone else would've let her choke on her own vomit."
Surprise that he remembered hit me, but he hadn't always been Richard the dick: not at first. "How are you?" I asked. "Really?"
He laughed, a note of bitterness hanging in the air. "Honestly? You care?"
"We spent six years living together. I'd be a complete bitch if I didn't."
He looked away, not meeting my eyes. "I'm sorry I was such a cunt the other night here," he said. "I had no right to sabotage what you've done with the business. I was jealous because you were so good at all the marketing crap and I was pretty much a sleeping partner."
I sat back, unable to believe his words. "I'm not arguing with you, Richard. It did feel as if it was all me."
"You know I didn't pass the masters course we were on?"
"What?" I said, dumbstruck. "You said you had; your father had that family dinner for you..."
He shrugged. "He knows now. He found out that you'd been running the business and then, shit, I fucked up. You probably don't want to know."
He was right, I probably didn't, but I'd also probably find out anyway. "Tell me. Because if you don't, someone else will and it won't be anything like the truth," I said, wishing I hadn't started the second glass of wine because it was highly likely to see air again.
"Before I tell you, it's going to make you feel even crappier than you did when you found out I was seeing someone else," he said. He looked like shit, a guilty piece of shit and I braced myself, half knowing what he was going to say.
"We're over, Richard. We've formally agreed on terms on the apartment and business. What you've done is in the past. I'm not going to go postal on you now for something else that you did. Just let me have that painting I really liked that's in the spare bedroom." I didn't actually want it, but Sophie did. She had a thing for collecting an object from each of her exes and had spied that picture when she stayed over once.
"I was seeing someone before we broke up. She told me she was pregnant but I didn't believe her, I thought she was just after money. A few months after you left, she came back with the baby and asked for a DNA test. I refused, so she went to my father. You can imagine the rest," he said, pulling at the skin around his nails.
"Was it yours?" I found I truly didn't care. I'd never contemplated kids with Richard, it had been all about the business. Now, with more responsibility than ever before, I'd found myself wanting more than just my job: I loved being with Jackson and his family, I was spending quality time with Sophie, usually based around champagne, shopping, and manicures and I was socialising with my future business partners and team, making us feel like a unit. And I kept thinking about Jackson picking up Tommy's children and how good he'd looked and how loudly my ovaries had started singing. I hadn't been with the right man; I hadn't loved him; he'd just been a way forward. I hadn't loved Richard. Did that mean I loved Jackson? The thought caught my breath like a butterfly in a net.
Richard shook his head. "No. It could've been and my father knew that. Life went to shit a bit after that."
"Do you want a glass of wine?" I asked, not sure quite what else to say. I wasn't sorry, because he'd brought it on himself.
"No. I'm officially sober." He pushed his chair backward, away from me. "You're happy with how the agreement's turned out?"
"Yes," I said. "You know Alice, Sally, and Josh are buying in?" He'd find out sooner or later, so again, it was best he heard it from the horse's mouth.
