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His eyes widened but his face was weathered with exhaustion, hair sticking up at odd angles, jaw covered in scruff. His T-shirt collar was stretched out, his jeans were stained above the knee, and his feet were bare.
“Charlie,” he breathed. My name sounded like a prayer from his lips.
“Hello, Sebastian.”
His eyes roamed over my face like he wanted to memorize me. “What are you doing here?”
“Abigail told me the house was still standing. I wanted to see it for myself.”
His fingers twitched like he wanted to reach for me, but he just dipped his chin in a jerky movement and stepped back. I entered his apartment and followed him to the kitchen. Papers were strewn over the table where he’d saved me from splinterdom, along with an opened can of the peach fizzy water I liked.
I picked it up. Mostly empty. “I thought you hated this stuff.”
“It’s growing on me,” he said as he gathered the papers and darted quick glances in my direction.
We faced each other.
Now that I was here, I felt stronger. He wasn’t a monster; he was only a man. And really, he looked terrible. That made me feel a little better.
I straightened. “So?” I asked. “I heard Sinclair had a black eye. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
That wasn’t what I’d meant to ask, but as soon as it came out, redness flushed over Sebastian’s cheeks, and his gaze slid to the side.
“Maybe,” he admitted.
“Maybe?”
“Okay, yes. He was being an asshole.”
“Breaking news: Theo Sinclair is an asshole,” I deadpanned.
He huffed, stealing another glance at me. His fingers drummed on the table, and then he seemed to brace himself. “You have every right to hate me. You should hate me for how I acted, Charlie. I never told you the whole truth, and I should have. That was wrong, and I’m sorry. I know an apology won’t make up for it, but I had to tell you that I know what I did was wrong. I’ll never deny that.”
Sincerity drenched his words, but I’d been fooled by him before. “Thank you,” I said, my guard solidly up.
“I thought my reasons were valid, but I know now they were misguided.”
“So what was it all about?”
“This business deal.” He waved a hand at the space, lips flattening in a grimace. “An old mentor of mine approached me with an offer to buy his company. It was my dream, but I didn’t have the money. The banks didn’t offer me enough collateral on my properties to fund the initial investment, so I had to find another way. Shortly thereafter, I got the news that I would be inheriting all of Lydia Radcliffe’s properties here in New Elwood, but I wasn’t the only one who knew about the inheritance.”
“You mean Theo Sinclair.”
“Yeah. He offered me more than market value as long as I got the Monticello hotel approvals and I finished the demolition here. It would’ve been enough to buy the company.”
“‘Would’ve been?’”
“Business deals tend to fall apart when you punch someone in the face.”
A laugh fell out of me despite myself. “Right. I’ll keep that in mind.”
He drank in my reaction with avid eyes, then swallowed and said, “I wanted to give the shares to my parents. To give them back what they lost. Especially for my mother.”
I thought of what he’d told me about his grandmother, and I finally understood the choice Sebastian had made. He’d chosen his family.
I probably would have done the same.
“I see,” I said softly.
