Page 123 of Crown of Thorns
“Forgiveness?” he echoes, voice like splintered stone. “You think you get to walk back into this house, into his life, after what you did? You wrote a report that dissected our lives. Our secrets. You exposed a centuries-old institution—and you think a few tears and an apology will fix that?”
“I didn’t mean to hurt him.”
Jean-Luc’s laugh is cold. “You didn’t mean to? You turned him into a liability. Do you know what kind of damage you caused? What it took to stabilize him once we got him out of there?”
My jaw tightens. “I know I ruined things. But I didn’t do it out of malice. I was trying to make sense of what I’d seen. I was terrified. And I was in love.”
Jean-Luc steps closer. “You’re saying love made you betray him?”
“No. Fear did. Love is the only reason I’m here now.”
He shakes his head. “You don’t get to use that word.” He gestures sharply. “You don’t know what it costs to protect someone like Louis. To keep him alive.” He exhales hard. “You came into our world and tore it apart.”
I force the words through the lump in my throat. “Then let me make it right. I’m not asking you to trust me today. I’m just asking for the chance to earn it. Every breath I take will be to earn his trust again.”
Jean-Luc’s eyes harden. “Why should I believe you won’t do it again? That next time things get difficult, you won’t fold?”
“I’ve already lost him once,” I say, voice cracking. “I won’t survive it again.”
He stares at me, silent for too long. My pulse pounds in my ears.
“So I’m here,” I add, quieter, “not as a professor. Not as a researcher. Just... as a man who knows he fucked up. And who will spend the rest of his life making up for it, if you let him.”
“Amour,” Natalie hushes, stepping into the office to join us, “let the professor talk.”
I shake my head. “To get caught up in Louis as badly as I did... I couldn’t face him, not when I didn’t even understand what I’d uncovered. But now I do. I understand what I almost destroyed. I’ve seen what life looks like without him, and I can’t go back to it. He’s in every breath I take, every quiet second. And I’ll spend the rest of my life proving I deserve to breathe beside him again.”
I glance down, voice rough. “Please let me see him.”
Natalie smiles. “He’s been miserable without you too.”
“Darling…”
She flutters her lashes at her husband. “What? You’ve talked to Louis. You know what he wants.”
Jean-Luc exhales, low and reluctant. He looks away, jaw working. For a moment, he just stands there, then drags a hand through his hair.
“I know,” he mutters finally. “I know he wants you. That doesn’t mean I trust you.”
He moves to the desk and hesitates. The grudge is still there, coiled in his shoulders. He exhales again, slower this time. The edge in his eyes dulls, just slightly. But his fingers rest on a folder, and after another breath, he pushes it across the desk toward me.
The air between us shifts, heavier now. Whatever’s in that file, it’s not just information—it’s history. Jean-Luc slides a folder across the desk toward me. I look down, reading the letters printed on the file. Georges Guinand. Granddad.
He grimaces. “Years ago, Georges accused Zachary of rape. The case was buried. But Zachary never forgot. He spent years making your life in Paris a nightmare—blacklisting you, orchestrating those beatings, the sudden failures, the threats. All of it.”
My breath catches. It wasn’t just bad luck. It was him. All along.
Jean-Luc exhales slowly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I guess I owe you an apology too, because I wasn’t aware.When he handed me your CV, I wanted you immediately. A poor kid who’d become one of the youngest professors of our country? It was exactly the sort of modernization Saint-Laurent needed. Someone who’d done multiple publications on group behaviour? You sounded like fate. Since you’d changed your name, I didn’t connect the dots. ”
He pauses. “As for Zachary...he’s been taken into custody. The Board has disavowed him. What happens next is yours to decide. You know how we deal with betrayal, Noah. Quietly, and in blood. I won’t tell you what to do. But I think you already know.”
My throat locks tight. I stare at the floor, pulse ringing in my ears.
“There’s one more thing,” Jean-Luc says. He opens a drawer and pulls out a sleek black folder, marked with a gold emblem. “If you want to stay in Louis’s life, you’ll sign this.”
He looks at me, expression hard. “Prove your love."
I blink at the folder. My hand shakes slightly as I reach for the pen resting beside it. “An NDA?”
