Page 26 of Cade

Thinking the conversation was over, Cade went back to his computer, looking for any reason to still be here when April showed up. He had no way of knowing that she would show up here, but his gut was rarely wrong and be felt like she was on his way to him.

His patience was rewarded when less than an hour after Lauren left, April showed up. Security questioned if she was allowed up and Cade, of course, told them she was. Apparently, there had been some issues with parking that Catherine had handled, but they wanted to be certain that all was well. Then he went to the elevator to meet her.

As the doors slid open, April stepped out, nearly walking right into him before she looked up. Her eyes were on the ground, paying no attention to where she was going, but still in a hurry.

“Woah,” Cade said. He reached out to steady her as they almost collided.

April swayed as she came to an abrupt stop, but recovered. “C-Cade,” she said, clearly surprised that he met her at the elevator.

“The one and only,” Cade teased with a wink. It was time to turn his charm all the way up and convince this woman to marry him so he could buy some time to find his father and stop this.

April picked at an invisible piece of lint on her skirt, not looking at him, even though she was only an arm's length away. He took a step back and gave her some room. While he was playing a dangerous game with a very thin line of right and wrong by getting her to marry him, he didn’t intend into actually force her to anything.

“I need to talk to you, now,” April said, her strength growing as she rose her head to lock eyes with him.

This was who he wanted to marry, the woman that would stare him down. He wanted her to challenge him, he decided. It was why he’d cleared his day, even if he didn’t realize the reason then.

“Come into my office,” Cade told her.

April nodded and Cade rested one hand on the small of her back to guide her into his office. He heard her sharp intake of breath at the contact and knew he was on the right path with her. She was affected by him as he was by her.

As they entered his office, Cade closed the door behind them and broke the contact between them. He felt the loss much more than he expected, instantly wanting to touch her again.

“What can I help you with?” Cade asked as he clasped his hands behind his back to keep from giving in and touching her again.

April took a moment to gather her words and Cade patiently waited, taking in the petite woman in front of him. She had changed little over the years. She had blossomed from a young adult into a woman, and mostly carried herself as such, but he would know her anywhere.

Her dark hair only accented her big brown eyes. She was shorter than him, but when she spoke, she was unafraid of his much larger self.

“How the hell could you just go ahead and tell my boss that I’m marrying you? You have no right to do such things and now I’m going to look like an idiot when we don’t get married. What is wrong with you?” April paced and shouted.

“I told you what I wanted,” he said calmly.

“I asked you for one thing, Cade. Your refusal to answer ended the idiotic path I was on by even considering your proposal.” She pointed a finger at him. “You think that you can twist me around into a corner and make me do what you want? I asked one thing, just a little bit of honestly.” What had started as shouting had slowly dropped to a whisper.

“My father,” Cade admitted. “My father was the reason I left, and I thought I was doing the right thing for you.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” April told him.

“Have a seat.” Cade gestured to the empty chair as he walked around his desk and took his own seat, needing to put the distance between them if he was going to come clean. “I want to be clear that nothing I say here can leave this room.”

“I don’t run my mouth,” she said, offended.

“My father didn’t like that. We were so close. It didn’t matter when we were just friends before or dating later on, he didn’t like you. You already know the man didn’t like me much as it was, so it’s not a reflection of you. He thought you were a distraction and looking to get your hands on my money,” Cade added an eye roll at that.

April held up her palm for him to stop. “I would never.”

“I know. At no point did I ever believe him, but that’s not the point. He threatened me, but he also threatened you if I didn’t end things.” Cade wanted to leave it there, but she shook her head.

“Threatened how?” April asked.

“He was going to stop your financial aid, stop your enrollment, stop you from being able to work. The thing is, he was capable of it.” Hopefully, this would be enough because she didn’t need to know that he’d also threatened her family and close friends.

“You should have told me,” April whispered.

“We weren’t the same people then. At least I know I wasn’t. I didn’t want you to convince me not to make the change. I needed to get away from you and keep all the toxic shit that was my family from touching you. I respected and loved you too damn much to let you get dragged down for me.”

“Cade,” April sighed. “It truly never occurred to you that I might have been willing to have that fight alongside you instead of you doing it alone?”

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