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“And he’s not thrilled you didn’t tell him what Thomas has been doing.”
“He told me that too. But I pointed out that he knew anyway and didn’t do anything about it.”
His mother laughed softly. “Did West tell you why he didn’t do anything about it?”
“No,” he said.
“And you didn’t ask because sometimes you feel as if you can’t question him, right? Because he’s the boss?”
“He is the boss. That was a work situation.”
“No,” his mother said. “That was a family situation. He didn’t do anything because he knows you’ve got your pride too. If you told him you could handle it, then he wanted you to know he respected that and you. He didn’t want to step on your toes.”
He never thought of it that way before. “But he fired Thomas,” he said.
“That was a business decision. What Thomas did was wrong. Sure, Thomas said he was protecting the business, but if he was, he would have gone to West with that information and your brother would have handled it. Instead he rubbed your face in it to make it seem as if you’ve just somehow brought bad publicity to your brother.”
“He called West an idiot,” he said.
“Did you tell West that?” his mother asked. She sounded appalled.
“No. Why? I knew West would take care of it the way he saw fit.”
Again, he didn’t want to come off as a wuss or tattling.
“And he did,” his mother said. “Business or not, no one messes with our family. You need to remember that.”
“I will now,” he said.
“Then go fix things with Lily. If you don’t, I’ll have to get involved. We know I can get anything patched up.”
He grinned. “You can,” he said. “I’ll let you know how things turn out at some point.”
“Don’t wait too long,” she said. “That’s an order.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He hung up with his mother and sent a text to Lily. He hadn’t heard from her since she’d told him to leave.
He couldn’t just give up. He wouldn’t.
He wanted to know if they could talk again. He wanted to make it right and hoped that she’d give him a chance.
She didn’t reply and an hour later, he was losing hope until there was a knock on his door.
It had to be someone in the building because otherwise the front desk would have messaged him.
He opened the door to see Lily standing there. “Hi,” she said quietly. “Benjamin let me in. I hope that was okay.”
“It was,” he said. He’d have to thank the doorman for that.
“I want to apologize first for throwing you out last night,” she said. Her eyes were red and swollen and he could tell she’d been crying.
“I get it,” he said. “You were upset. I was upset. I was hurt. I didn’t understand why you wouldn’t tell me about your past. If I had known I could have been prepared.”
“I told you why. I don’t want to go back to that place. I moved here and became Lilian.”
“But youaren’tLilian,” he said. “You know it and I know it. You’re Lily with a shield in front of you. I’d thought I was able to break through it, but now I wonder if that wasn’t the case.”
