Page 95 of Gray Area

Chapter 59

VIVIAN

After I had left Declan last night and gone back to my shared room, I realized I had locked myself out. So there I was, in my pajamas at the front desk, requesting another key.

“No, I don’t know the birthdate of the man who booked it,” I answer the overnight desk clerk. I just want some sleep, but if that girl pops her gum at me one more time she is going to regret it.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can’t—”

“Vivian?” I turn and find myself looking at Axel. I smile at him and he stalks over to the desk. “You okay?” he asks.

“I locked myself out,” I admit, “and I am having trouble with the security questions.”

Axel turns his stare to the gum girl. “Give her the key,” he tells her.

She just nods and processes the key in two seconds, all while looking at Axel. He is a looker, Axel is, with his long hair and longer beard. But his gaze could turn you to stone.

“Thank you,” I say sarcastically to the clerk. And then I turn and smile at Axel. “Thank you,” I say genuinely, and tap his arm lightly.

“May I walk you up?” he asks.

His request surprises me. “Of course.” Axel was never a big talker, and he always seemed to prefer short encounters with people. So the fact that he wants to spend more time with me is startling.

Axel calls for the elevator, and we enter it together once the doors open.

“Floor?”

“10.”

He nods and punches it in. And then silence envelops us.

“So how have you been?” I ask, trying to fill the silence.

He nods. “Fair. Being a billionaire doesn’t suck,” he admits.

I laugh at him. “I’m sure. And your dad?” I ask, because I have been desperate to know since seeing the Falco brothers again.

“Good. He’s enjoying his old age, and travels a lot.”

I smile, relief to hear this good news washing over me. “Good.” Again silence takes over, and then we arrive at my floor. “Thanks for the escort, Axel,” I say as I start to exit.

“You know he did it all legit.”

I turn back to him. “Who?”

“Declan,” he says, looking into my eyes. “He threatened our family, that fucker we were after. He’d stolen from my father and then threatened us. Declan took it all personal, we all did, but especially him, especially after he threatened you. Not by name, but he mentioned your black hair. Declan wanted to kill him. But he didn’t, because he wanted to do right by you, even without you there.

“So instead of just taking him out, he dismantled the guy, piece by piece. He exposed him, all his sins, and as his companies failed, Declan bought all the stocks up, cheap. And then he rebuilt them. Slade knows the stock, but Declan made the moves. He expanded us to security to keep my interests, bought into social media brands for Slade. He did it all legally, taking everything apart, until the guy had nothing left. No company, no money, and no more respect.”

“Why did he do that?” I ask.

“He says that he’d taken what he loved away, so he was going to take away the thing that fucker loved the most.”

“And what was that?”

“Money,” Axel says. “So Declan lost you, and he was a mess. It would have been easy for him to just kill that man. He could do it, but he saw the big picture. He saw he could crumble this guy’s life like he had crumbled his. And he figured out how to do it legally. Slade and I, it was the last thing we wanted. We wanted vengeance; we wanted immediate. But Declan, he wanted you. And he knew if he took the road we wanted, that he could never be with you. He could never have a chance.

“And the other guy, when we exposed him and took his wealth and he had to face his crimes like a man, he killed himself. Cause that’s the easy way out, you know? When they took all the money away, and he had to take responsibility for what he’d done, he ate a bullet. He left his family to shoulder the weight of his mistakes. Cause he wasn’t a man. A man does what’s right when the person it will matter most to can’t see him do it. A real man does the right thing for the person he loves.”

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