Hidden Truths (Violet Chain Book 2) (20 page)

It almost made me confess, it almost made me reveal the truth—almost. But I couldn’t. I was doing what was best for Violet. David was not going to let this go, because he didn’t believe a word I said, so I had to change tactics.

“I’m sorry I hurt Violet, I should never have let it get that far.”

“What do you mean by that?”

I knew after I said these words, I could lose David. But I had to say them. It was the only way David would ever believe that I didn’t want Violet anymore. “I have to be honest with you, I never really loved her. The only reason I stayed with her and pretended was because you didn’t think I was capable of doing it.”

“Oh I see. So you hitting Millen at her parents’ house was an act?” Just the thought of what Millen had said sent a scathing chill up my spine.

“You pretended to spite me? You played with an innocent woman’s heart to prove me wrong?”

“I guess you could say that.”

“So the whole freaking out on the judge at court because he let Phillip off was an act?” Definitely not an act. That judge was an incompetent jackass who wouldn’t know a guilty man if he laid eyes on him. To this day I still wished I had pulled Phillip out of that police car and beaten him to death.

“Yes. Quite honestly, I didn’t think Phillip did anything wrong. You have to admit, she did lead him on a lot.” I bit the side of my mouth at those words, trying to keep from completely losing it. Phillip was a disgusting piece of shit and the mere fact that I tried to justify what he did to Violet made me quiver.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Chain, how the hell can you justify what Phillip did to her?”

“I just did, didn’t I?”

David raked his hands through his hair. “And marrying her? You were so set on marrying her. It was practically driving you insane, there is no way that you could have faked that.”

“Look, David, this is the whole point. It was about the chase, it was about getting her to say yes. After that happened, I completely lost interest. I don’t love her, I never did. I swear.”

“You pretended. You got her and the game was over. All this was a game to you.”

I forced a smile. “Yup.” He threw something at me and I caught it in the air before it hit me in the face. I thought he was trying to hit me with a foreign object, but when I glanced down at it I realized it was the engagement ring, the one I had given Violet. The breath left my lungs, my heart sank as I stared down at it. It took everything in me not to break down.

“She asked me to give that back, she doesn’t want it.” That hurt, hurt bad, but I couldn’t show David, I had to keep the façade up. I wanted to cry, but instead I laughed. My reaction seemed to fire David up even more.

He pointed his finger at me. “You are a selfish, self-centered prick. How the fuck could you play with someone’s heart like that! God I’m so fucking stupid, I believed in you. I really believed you were a good person, but now I can see you’re no better than Phillip.” He sneered as he glared at me. I could see the disappointment, anger and hurt in his eyes, then without a word, he turned and walked away. It crushed me to watch him walk away, it destroyed me that he thought of me as nothing but a heartless loser. Because I wasn’t, then again, maybe I was. I had lost my girl and my best friend and felt helpless, because there was nothing I could do about it.

***

It took all I had in me to get out of bed and ready myself for work. I thought of calling in, but David was adamant that I come, as we had an interview with a man who he wanted to hire to be on our team. Not that David called me, or for that matter even emailed me personally, he had our new receptionist do it. It was obvious that he wanted nothing to do with me on a personal level and I didn’t blame him.

After the architect on our Minneapolis project quit, David was adamant about employing an architect for our company. He was tired of contracting out our projects and felt we needed someone reliable and available for us to use any way we need. David was always right when it came to business. I trusted his decisions completely. It was because of him that Alexander Enterprises had been as successful as it had. It was him who set up all the investors, him who made sure that we built in the right locations. Basically, David was the one who built the company, all I did was come up with the idea, the basic design and name.

What David was the best at was picking out the right employees to fit our company. But I was a little leery at the person he wanted to employ as our architect, Christopher Blu.

Christopher Blu was one of the most sought after architects in all of Philadelphia. People paid top price for a design by him. He was a wizard when it came to designing, being able to take eight hundred square feet of space and turn it into a palace. He was a freelancer, which was a problem that showed that he was not interested in being anyone’s employee. I didn’t blame him. The yearly salary David was offering him was a far cry from what he was used to making.

I walked into the office and was surprised to see not only Madeline, the older woman we had hired after Candace left, but another younger woman, with short dark bobbed hair and bright dark eyes. I approached the desk and smiled at her.

“And you are?”

“Sandy Blu, sir, I came from the accounting department. Mr. Keller just promoted me to an assistant position,” she answered. I couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“Are you related to Christopher Blu?”

She nodded her head. “He’s my older brother.” So I didn’t personally know all of the people I employed. But I had to admit I was impressed, but not surprised, that David promoted a woman to suck her brother into working for us. It was just like him to use any angle he could.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Miss Blu, I am Chain Alexander.” She shook my hand.

“Very nice to meet you too, Mr. Alexander.” She lifted a stack of envelopes and handed it to me. “Here is the mail and I just made coffee, would you like a cup?”

“No thank you, Miss Blu.” I waved my hand to Madeline. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, Mr. Alexander,” she responded.

“Madeline, is David in yet?”

“No, sir, I haven’t seen him.”

“Please send him into my office as soon as he gets in.”

“Will do.” I nodded and walked to my office.

I wanted to talk to David before the meeting and clear the air. Things did not go well the last time we were together, in fact things ended terribly, with him walking out of the apartment, mad and frustrated. David was my best friend and after deep thinking and soul searching, I made the decision to tell him the real reason why I broke things off with Violet. He deserved to know. I had already lost the one person who meant more than anything to me, Violet; I was not about to lose David.

I opened my drawer and grabbed the ring box and slid the ring out of my pocket, carefully placing it in the box and throwing it into my drawer. As I went to close the drawer, my hands stilled as I stared down at the ring box, thinking of Violet.

I reached for it.

Then withdrew.

Then reached for it again, snatching it up. I opened it up and smiled as images of me asking Violet to marry me flashed through my mind. It was the happiest day of my life. I frowned. I had to stop doing this, it was over, and there would never again be a Violet and me. I slammed the ring box closed and threw it into the drawer.

I wondered what she was doing. It had been a while since the last time I saw her at the club. I wish I had talked to her, told her I loved her. If I had, maybe she would understand, see through my façade and know how deeply I still cared and would always care for her.

The door of my office opened and in walked David, a man trailing behind him, dressed in white sneakers, blue jeans and a sports coat. He was taller than David, close to my height, maybe a half-inch shorter. His sandy brown hair was a little long on top, but shorter in the back. He had almond-shaped green eyes that were blinking very fast. Either he was nervous, or he had a tic. I had a friend in grade school who had a tic, often scratching his face over and over, until it would bleed. It was awful, I felt so bad for him.

David smiled cordially. “Chain Alexander, Christopher Blu.” I stood up and walked over to Christopher, shaking his hand.

“A pleasure to meet you. Why don’t we sit over here and talk,” I said, waving my hand towards the sofas.

As everyone got comfortable, I walked towards the bar, grabbing a few water bottles. I placed one in front of Christopher as I sat down. “I have looked at your designs and I have to say they are excellent, you have a keen eye for detail.”

He took a swig of his water bottle. “Designing is my passion, I have been doing it since I was a child.”

“Well it shows, Christopher, and we are happy that you took the time to meet with us,” David added.

Christopher laughed. “I didn’t have much choice, my sister is very insistent when she wants me to do something.”

I raised a brow. “Your sister was the one who suggested you meet with us?”

He nodded. “Suggested? You mean told, bitched and screamed until I said yes. She has a lot of respect for this company and felt like it would be a perfect fit for me. If you ask me, I think she is using me to further her career.”

David chuckled. “She is very eager to learn all there is to know about Alexander Enterprises. When I interviewed her for the assistant position she had a lot of questions, wanting to know right down to the last detail about exactly what we do.”

“You don’t have to be nice when speaking of my sister, David. I know she can be annoyingly pushy. But she is a very hard worker and you are very lucky to have her as an employee,” Christopher murmured.

“Indeed.” David crossed his leg and sat comfortably back on the sofa. “So tell me, Christopher, what will it take for you to join our team? All bullshit aside, give me a price.”

“A price?” He laughed. “David, it’s not about money, it’s about control. I like to have control of what I am designing, without any outside interference,” Christopher answered.

I waved my hand. “What exactly do you mean by that?”

“I mean I want complete control of my work.”

I thought on his words for a moment, before commenting. “But what if we find something we feel may need improvement?”

His eyes thinned. “Mr. Alexander, with all due respect, my designs are unique and designed according to what is needed. I guarantee that no improvement will be needed.”

There was always room for improvement with every design. Christopher Blu was a little more arrogant than I liked and it was obvious I would have to put him in his place. If he was going to be using my company name, I most definitely wanted the capability of making changes to designs if I felt it was needed; it was my name at stake here, after all. I glanced over at David and he raised his hands up, indicating to me to be calm.

“Christopher, I think what Chain is trying to say is that we here at Alexander Enterprises work as a team in everything we do. You will, of course, work only with Chain as he is the top architect here. So what I mean by that is that you will be expected to take any suggestion that Chain may have on changes to your designs.”

He chuckled, shaking his head. “Whoa, stop right there before you get ahead of yourself. I haven’t even accepted the position yet and you are already giving me guidelines. Tell me what your offer is before we talk about what I need to do.”

David cleared his throat. “I am offering you a two hundred and fifty thousand a year salary, quarterly bonuses, a complete benefit package and ten percent commission on all designs you create, but we get to change the design if needed.” I could tell that Christopher was not happy.

“The salary sounds fair, but I want twenty percent commissions on my designs.” David’s eyes grew as large as saucers and I could tell he was shocked and pissed. No one had ever challenged David before and that was exactly what Christopher was doing, challenging him.

“Twenty percent! You’re out of your blasted mind.” Christopher seemed to draw off of David’s anger. He slid his foot over his knee and steepled his hands and smiled.

“That’s my offer, take it or leave it.” David glanced up at me and I could see the infuriation in his eyes.

The door opened and in walked Sandy, carrying a platter of croissants and three cups of coffee.

“I thought you all might need a snack,” she said as she placed the platter on the table. I reached for a cup of coffee and a croissant. “Thank you, Sandy, that was very thoughtful of you.”

David ignored her and pressed on. “Look, I will offer you fifteen percent and no more.”

“Twenty and you have a deal,” Christopher stated firmly. He turned to look up at Sandy, who was standing with her arms folded, glaring at him. “What?”

“We talked about this, Christopher, you can’t freelance for the rest of your life, and eventually someone will come along and be better than you. Take the job,” she said, clenching her fists at her sides.

“Sandy, this is my business and my life, you need to stick your nose out of it,” Christopher mumbled as he looked away from her. David grinned and sat back comfortably, enjoying the argument between the siblings.

“I’ll raise your salary to three hundred and throw in five weeks of paid vacation, that’s my final offer.”