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I shrugged. “I guess I didn’t want to wait.”
“Sweetheart, I just needed to think about it?—”
“But I don’t want your money if you have to think about it.” I didn’t mean to snap, not when he was so good to me and did offer me the money, but my temper was running rampant these last ten days.
He stilled at the ire in my voice and withdrew his arm from the table. “My hesitation was not a reflection of my belief in your success.”
“Then what was the hesitation?” I put him on the spot and backed him into the corner with my eyes.
He stared me down in silence, holding my gaze like an enemy rather than family. “I guess it’s hard for me to accept that you’ve chosen to leave the family business. That’s my problem, not yours.”
“So you use your money to leverage me?”
“Where is this hostility coming from?” He raised his voice, only slightly, and he hadn’t done that since I was still living under his roof. “I didn’t offer you the money instantly, but I’m offering it to you now.”
“Well, I already got the loan from the bank, so this conversation doesn’t matter.”
“The interest on those loans is ridiculous. Take the money and pay off the loan.”
“I’m good.”
His eyes narrowed, and I knew his anger was just a couple steps behind. “It’s not a loan, Scarlett. I’mgivingthe money to you.”
“I’d rather stick with the loan.”
“Scarlett!” Now he raised his voice, his stare like the scope of a sniper. “Why are you behaving this way?”
Now it was my turn to snap. “You’re abillionaire. I’ve busted my ass for you the last five years, and you’ve paid me cents on the euro. Then I come to you to pursue something I’ve always been passionate about, and youhesitate?” Axel didn’t hesitate. He wanted me to open the biggest restaurant I possibly could rather than play it safe with that hole-in-the-wall. “I felt like I’d walked into a bank and applied for a loan and the underwriter had to review all my finances first.”
“I told you I just needed time to accept your decision?—”
“Well, I need some time to accept your money.” I left the chair and carried my dish to the counter. “You didn’t even like the food…”
“I did like it?—”
“Then why didn’t you eat it?” I rounded on him, my back to the counter.
“I’d just eaten before I came over here.”
“Axel could have just eaten an ox, and he still would have eaten all of it.” I turned back to the counter and grabbed a glass container to store the leftovers in the hope I would try it later…when I actually had an appetite.
My father came to my side. “Sweetheart, let’s just calm down?—”
“You don’t believe in me.”
“That’s not true.”
“I wanted to open a restaurant before, but all you cared about was the business.”
“Because that business was built with my bare hands.” He tried to keep his voice low, but it started to rise with his anger.
“I didn’t want to marry Axel, but you talked me into it. I wanted to open the restaurant, but you talked me out of it. You told me that I would be able to run the business after you’re gone, but we’ve been ambushed twice, and you don’t seem to understand why I want to step away. It seems like all you care about is yourself.”
He stilled, his eyes flicking back and forth between mine. For once, he didn’t have anything to say.
I couldn’t believe I’d just said that to him. “I think you should go.”
The anger in his eyes was quickly replaced by fear. “You know you’re the single most important thing in the world to me. I’m sorry that I ever made you question that. I’m sorry that the business was pulled out from underneath us and forced me to make these hard decisions. I’m sorry that I made you feel like you don’t matter. That I don’t believe in your cooking or in your success as a chef and a business owner. I’m sorry for all of it.”
