Page 82 of Don't Fall for the Billionaire
“I know. It’s just you were here the other day.”
“Excuse me, Ashton. Grant Roman is here to see you.” Lila poked her head through the door.
“Send him in. Hey, Grant.” I stood and shook his hand. My father did the same. “What brings you by?”
“I was in the area, so I thought I’d stop by and have you sign this. It seems it was missed when we listed the West 53rdproperty. The new renter is stopping by my office to sign the rental agreement in an hour.”
“And if I don’t sign it?” I raised a brow.
“What do you mean?” Grant chuckled. “I can’t proceed with the rental without your signature on this line.” He pointed. “What is going on?”
“Nothing.” I grabbed a pen from the holder on my desk and signed on the line.
“Thanks. I’ll talk to you later.” He smiled.
“What was that all about, son? Why were you hesitant to sign that document? You have a renter for one of our properties and you’re hesitating? What the hell is wrong with you?”
I threw the pen across my desk and leaned back in my chair.
“You want to know what the hell is wrong? Charlotte is the new renter of the property on West 53rd. Apparently, she’s opening a pie shop.”
“As she damn well should. That little lady can bake a mean pie.”
“She’ll fail. She doesn’t know anything about running a business,” I said.
“She seems like a smart girl. She’ll figure it out. Besides, you can give her guidance.”
“No. I am not helping her.”
His brows furrowed. “What is your relationship with Charlotte?”
“What do you mean? She’s my employee.”
“No. No.” He wiggled his finger. “There’s more to it. I can tell. I saw it at dinner the night Margo and I were over. I noticed the way you two looked at each other. Did you sleep with her?”
My eyes diverted to the wall.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” my father said. “Okay. You slept with her. Big deal. Unless there’s more going on here than you’re letting on.”
“There’s nothing going on between us. I made sure of that.”
“Why, Ashton? Charlotte is a good woman. If you have feelings for?—”
“I don’t.” I cut him off.
“You never were a very good liar, son. You’re thirty years old. Don’t you think it’s time to start thinking about settling down? You’re already successful in business.”
“Settle down? Coming from you?” I chuckled. “Yeah, right. That’s the last thing I want to do, thanks to you and mom.”
“Don’t you dare blame us.” He pointed at me.
“What you two had wasn’t love or a marriage. It was nothing but a war zone. Do you have any idea what that did to me? Hearing you two cursing at two in the morning, finding mom sitting on the edge of her bed, crying while you were off screwing other women?”
“Your mother wasn’t a saint in our marriage either, boy.”
“And you sit there and wonder why I won’t let Charlotte in,” my voice filled with rage. “Because of you. Because of Mom. Because of both of you and the wreckage you called a marriage. I won’t drag Charlotte or Eloise through that. I won’t become you. So congratulations, Dad. You’ve made your point. You and Mom taught me well. Love isn’t worth it. Not for people like us.”
“Go ahead and blame all you want. I’m not perfect. I never said I was. And for the record, you’re nothing like me. You spent your entire life proving to me that you were your own individual person with your own mind. And now you sit there, all highand mighty, blaming your mother and me for your inability to love someone? Grow up, Ashton.” He stood from his chair. “You make your own choices. Nobody makes them for you. If Charlotte makes you happy, hold on to her. Don’t make the same mistake I did.” He walked out of my office.
