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“I cannot get tired of seeing you, ma vié. I need you to understand that you mean the world to me.” I pause, overcome by the depth of my emotion. After arriving from France yesterday morning, I went straight to Jasmine to confess my love to her. It’s impossible to keep my feelings in because it has become too heavy for me to bear.
Although she hasn’t said it back, I know she loves me, too, especially since she agreed to trust me, even with my inability to explain why I couldn’t call her for two weeks. I took her to an art museum, after which I brought her to my home, and we had amazing sex. Like with the lake, Jasmine is the first woman I’ve ever brought to my house. I’ve lived a wild life, so I’m surprised and excited that I still get to experience many firsts with Jasmine.
“When do you want to see me?” Jasmine asks.
“This morning. I’ll come pick you up at home.”
“Alec,” Jasmine groans. “You know Riley is home.”
“Then I think it’s time I speak to him about us,” I answer. “Jasmine, there’s no point in hiding it. I’m here to stay, and I’m too grown to sneak around with my woman. I will tell him, and then I will move you into a separate apartment so we can feel free and comfortable to be around each other.”
“Alec, I—”
Jasmine is interrupted by Damien’s urgent call. “Master Alec!”
He breezes into my room, his phone outstretched. “Your mom,” he whispers. I roll my eyes and gesture for him to cover the mouthpiece with his hands before I speak to Jasmine. “Let me call you back, ma beauté. Is that okay?”
“Yes, sure.”
“Okay.” I hang up the phone and take a huge breath before taking the phone from Damien.
“Hello, mother.”
“Alec, how dare you!” She growls into the phone. “You left the dinner table and went to New York? Is this a joke? You embarrassed us in front of Lugard Sicily. Why would you do that?”
Anger spikes my blood, and I struggle to maintain my composure. This isn’t the time to blow up at her. I’ve held it in for years. Whenever it happens, I want it to be in her face because I want to look into her eyes as I tell her all the many ways she lacks as a mother.
“Mother, I do not owe you or anyone an explanation of my whereabouts,” I say as gently as possible. “I am a grown-ass man and can do whatever the fuck I want.”
“Don’t you dare curse at me, Alec! Don’t you dare!” She yells, her breaths coming in spurts. “You acted like a classless crony by leaving the table without a proper excuse. Imagine my shock when I found out you left for New York! Without a proper goodbye.”
“Goodbye, to whom?” I laugh. “You? Have you forgotten that you hate me traveling to New York so much that whenever I want to travel, you retreat into your room and give orders not to be disturbed? When have we ever had proper goodbyes, hmm? Tell me, mother. We can be disillusioned about many things, but not about the fact that this isn’t a proper family. I left because I had to. I see no reason why I have to tell you my activities every second.”
To my shock, my mother laughs. “Alec, I don’t care what you have going on in New York, but I want you back in France for your date with Eve on Friday.”
The thought of going on a date with another woman sucks the life out of me, but I don’t know how to get out of it. This means I’ll have to undo years of partnership and undo the thread that is holding Sicily and Ace together.
“Tell whoever it is that has you running back to New York all the time that you are already married to Eve Sicily. Any other relationship outside of the one you have with Eve is a big joke and does not exist to me and this family. Come back to France and do what you ought to do as a man and heir. Do not mess this up.” The line clicks in my ear.
For a long moment after the call, I stared into space, wondering how my life would have been if I had been born into a normal family, where all my choices were mine and I didn’t have to worry about following anyone’s footsteps. Since I was a child, I’ve been obsessed with gaining the acknowledgment and favor of my parents. I no longer care for it as an adult, but their force is hard to break, as I’m the only heir to the empire.
“I’m sorry, Master Alec,” Damien says softly. “I may not understand exactly how you feel, but I sympathize.”
I turn my head toward him, my gaze boring into his brown eyes. “They want me to marry Eve.”
“They’ve always wanted that,” Damien says. “Since we were young, your family has always said that. It’s a transactional marriage.”
“You would expect me to have acclimated to the idea, right?” My lips pull up in a self-deprecating smile. “I mean, they’ve drilled the idea of this sham marriage into my head since I was about eight years old. You would expect that I’m already accustomed to it.” I shake my head and grab my phone. “But I’m not.”
I text Jasmine to get ready for me to pick her up within the hour. “I’m not marrying Eve,” I tell Damien, who blanches.
“Master Alec, please think about this carefully,” he says. “It will be better for Ace and Sicily to be allies than contenders. If you reject Eve, there will never be an alliance between the two conglomerates, and it will backfire.”
“My life is not a means to an end.” I roll off the bed. There’s a peace I feel in my soul now that I’ve made the decision not to marry Eve. “It was easy to consider marrying Eve because I never thought I’d experience love, but now that I have, I’ll be doing myself a great disservice marrying Eve.”
Damien arches his brows. “You’re in love with Jasmine?” He asks. “You said it wasn’t serious.”
“I was lying to both of us,” I answer. “I love her, Damien. If any marriage is going to happen, it’s between me and Jasmine.” I walk into the bathroom.
