“I married you. I gave myself to you.” I step toward the door, practically shaking.
“Erin, please. Stay. We’ll talk about this.”
“No. I have to get out of here.” I grab the handle to his door and throw it open.
“Erin, wait.”
But I don’t wait. I shut the door and hurry away. His secretary Maureen says something to me, but I don’t hear her. I walk as fast as I can back toward the elevators.
I ride them down and run out of the building. I hit the streets and just start walking. Griffin calls my phone, but I don’t answer. I’m not ready to talk to him. I’ll call him back soon, but not just yet.
I don’t know what to think about any of this. Apparently my father put part of his company in my name behind my back, which seems totally insane and unlike him. Part of me wants to believe that he did it because he cares, but I know better than that. He has some ulterior motive at play here, I just need to find out what it is.
But what hurts the most is Griffin’s response. I’m sacrificing so much for him and yet he doesn’t see it. I know I made a mistake when I agreed to spy on him for my father, but I’m trying so hard to atone for that. He said that I was forgiven, but maybe he’s the liar. Maybe he can’t ever get over what happened and move past it.
Maybe marrying him was the biggest mistake of my life.
25
Griffin
She’s not at the apartment when I get home from work and she’s not answering her cellphone.
I’m worried. I should be angry, but I’m worried. She stormed out of my office, leaving me to take care of Lacey for the rest of the day, which is no big deal. But she disappeared in the middle of our conversation and nothing felt resolved.
That’s the bigger issue here. This whole ownership thing is a huge deal. I don’t know how she could possibly be ignorant of this, but clearly she didn’t know about it. I don’t know what to think about that.
I know I need to trust her. She’s already done so much for me. She told the truth when she didn’t have to, she ran away from her parents, she protected me, and she married me. She’s given me so much of herself, and yet… I can’t help but feel paranoid. This whole situation is insane and I’m out of my depths.
I just want to talk to her. I’m not accusing her of anything, I’m not saying that she’s been on her father’s side this whole time or something like that, but I do want to have a conversation about this. Clearly we can’t do that if she’s missing.
I don’t know what to do. I take care of Lacey like always, but Erin doesn’t come home. I feed Lacey and finally put her to bed, and still Erin isn’t home yet, making me more and more worried. I try calling again, but her phone is off.
I start to think about maybe hiring some guys to go around looking for her, but that’s a little too much. I even go so far as to think about showing up at her father’s place and demanding to see her, just to check if she’s there or not. I want to make sure she’s safe above all else, and if she ran back to her family, then so be it. I’ll move on and at least she’s safe and sound.
It’s this not knowing that’s driving me insane. I want to protect her, but I can’t protect her if I don’t know where she is. I wish I could swoop out and find her, locate her with no problem, and explain everything that I’m feeling.
I pour myself a drink and force myself to wait. I can’t do anything other than that. I look over the financial records of the Fisher Consortium again, trying to figure out how Erin could possibly own so much of the company without her knowledge. The only way it happened was if Fisher had a crooked lawyer and Fisher forged Erin’s signatures himself. Which of course is entirely possible.
I’m through my first drink by the time I hear the front doorbell ring. I practically get up and run to answer it.
Erin is standing there, frowning at her feet. “Sorry,” she says.
I grab her and pull her into my arms, hugging her tight. Relief floods through me. I kept picturing the worst, seeing her washed up dead on the bank of the river or something equally morbid, but she’s here and she’s safe. That’s what matters. We can resolve the rest of this stuff later, but for now, she’s safe.
I pull her inside. “Don’t be sorry. I’m just happy you’re okay.”
“I didn’t mean to worry you.” She sighs, shaking her head. “I really messed this up, didn’t I?”
“Come on. It’s fine.” I’m surprised at how upset she seems. “I was just worried about you.”
“I’m okay,” she says. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer. I’m sorry… I’m sorry I came back here.” She looks down at the floor.