Page 93 of Salty, Spiced, and a Little Bit Nice

I stopped in front of the door, trying to be as silent as I could.

There was a long pause before Alec finally replied.

“I screwed up.” His voice was so quiet, I had to press an earto the door to catch what he was saying. “I lost us the Goodwin deal. Ellie’s parents are going to sue me, so chances are I’m going to lose her, along with this business, too. I’m sorry, Rob. I let you down.”

There was the sound of a chair scraping against the floor, and Rob’s voice came back. “We’ve got an hour before the meeting with the lawyer. Let’s unpack everything. First things first. Why are her parents suing you? What did you do?”

“I called Eric. Told him what happened over the weekend.”

So Mom had been telling the truth.

“But why?” Rob sounded puzzled. “He’s going to tell their parents—”

“He already did. They have the right to know. She’s not safe here with me, because I can’t look after her. And my priority right now is salvaging the Goodwin deal. This is the best for everyone.”

Rob said something I couldn’t catch, followed by, “She won’t like it. You’re going to lose her, man. I thought you said you lo—”

I pushed the door open, storming in as the two men jumped.

“Ellie.” Alec’s eyes widened, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. “What are you doing here?”

I stopped in front of his desk and glared at him. “Guess who just dropped by?” At his blank look, I tossed him the crumpled agreement. “Explain that.”

His face hardened at seeing the papers. He glanced at Rob. “Give us a few minutes?”

Without being asked twice, Rob sprang up, gave me a nervous smile as he passed, and skittered out of the room. The second he closed the door behind him, the anger I’d been trying to suppress bubbled to the surface, and I went on the attack.

“What the hell, Alec? Why didn’t you tell me about the money?”

“I didn’t have a choice.” His tone was flat.

“That’s a load of crap. We always have a choice. You chose to take the money.”

His hollow laugh echoed in the room. “You don’t understand. I really didn’t have a choice. Things were terrible when my dad got caught embezzling the money. His employer had powerful, well-connected lawyers, so the court ruled that my family needed to repay the money he’d stolen, plus interest and compensation, and the costs of the lawsuits. There was no way in hell we could pay them back. My mother had to mortgage the house up to the hilt, worked three jobs, seven days a week, and even then, it still wasn’t enough.” He took a deep breath and looked away. “We never told anyone. Somehow, your parents found out.

“Your mother called a few days after you had the severe hypo. Blamed me for what happened and told me I was a danger to you. How she didn’t want someone like me, whose father was a criminal, hanging around you and Eric anymore. Said it’d look bad for your family’s reputation. She knew about the lawsuits, about our financial difficulties, and bluntly offered me the money. No interests, no repayments needed, it was ours, for free. If I stayed away from you.”

My heartbeat was pounding in my ears.

“I couldn’t say no. The hard truth was, that money from your parents saved my family. We paid off the debt, and it gave us our lives back. Your parents were happy because you were safe, far away from me. It was a win-win for everyone.” He finally looked back at me. “Me leaving home was a tiny price to pay.”

Rage charged through me, and I had to grip the edges of his table to steady myself. To give my hands something to hold on to, because I was tempted to snatch one of the thick folders on his desk and whack him on the head with it.

“What aboutme?” I shouted. “It wasn’t a win for me. Everyone thought they knew what was best for me, but no one, not one person, has ever asked me whatIwant. Not you, not my family.”

He was quiet.

“Does Eric know about this?” I hissed. “Naomi?”

“No. They knew your parents blamed me for the incident. And that I’d left home to find work, to support my family financially. They didn’t know about the agreement and the money.”

He covered his face with his hands and stayed quiet for a minute.

“The contract was very specific. The reason you weren’t invited to Sienna’s wedding? It’s because of this agreement. I couldn’t be within fifty miles of where you were. That was why I had to leave, because it was the easiest. I kept in touch with Eric, so he’d tell me how you were doing. Sent me pictures of you, him, and Naomi every now and then. I saved every single one of them, because they kept me connected to you.

“When Eric called that day, asking for my help, I knew I shouldn’t have said yes, that I should have stayed away. But Eric can be very persuasive, and he knows I couldn’t say no when it comes to you. And I thought, we’re on the other side of the country from your parents. They won’t find out.” Alec blew out a long breath. “These past few weeks have probably been one of the best times of my life. I knew it wouldn’t last, that once the repairs at your store were done, I’d need to get out of your life. But I can’t, Ellie. I don’t know how to quit you. And then when you had that hypo on the weekend… I couldn’t handle it.”

“But you did! You did everything right and helped me through it!”

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