Page 48 of Is This Real or Just Pretend?

Alex kept her grueling schedule for the next several days.

Every morning she arrived promptly at eight and worked straight through until five.

If it were up to her, she would have stayed even later but Father insisted she could no longer stay in the office alone, so she left with him.

But once at home, she took a tray in her room and worked for a few more hours.

Then, when she could barely keep her eyes open, she collapsed and slept like the dead until it was time to wake up and do it all over again.

She barely saw her family, aside from her father during the carriage ride home each evening, as he was usually too busy entertaining clients during the workday.

He knew that things between her and Lucien were over but had the good grace not to press her on it.

A board meeting was scheduled for the end of the month and Alex was meant to announce their new partnership with the Ericsons and, she hoped, garner enough support to ensure her future as the head of the company even without Lucien by her side.

But now the thought failed to ignite even the slightest spark of excitement in her.

She simply didn’t care anymore. It just felt like another task in an endless list. Alex probably would have continued on with her schedule indefinitely until there was one meeting she absolutely could not cancel.

She slipped away from the office during the lunch hour to meet Marguerite in the mews of Park House and give her the box of cervical caps she had been storing.

“There is one packet missing,” Alex admitted once the box was safely loaded into Marguerite’s carriage, then pointedly avoided her friend’s curious gaze.

“Well, I cannot blame you for that,” she said with a throaty chuckle. “I hope you made good use of it.”

“Marguerite!” Alex was far too shocked by the comment to maintain her composure.

But the woman merely shrugged in her ever-so-French fashion. “Life is not all about business, Alexandra. You need to indulge in a little bad behavior. And what a man to indulge with,” she added with a little sigh.

If the situation had been different, Alex would have loved to gossip about Lucien with Marguerite. But the thought of everything they had indulged in only made her feel, well, sad. The emotion must have shown on her face because after a moment Marguerite’s brow furrowed with worry.

“What is it, my dear?”

Alex had to clear her throat before she could get the words out. “Mr. Taylor and I have parted ways.”

“Oh. Oh, I am very sorry to hear that,” she said as she grasped Alex’s hand.

She shook her head furiously as her nose and eyes began to prickle. “It’s fine. Really. I’m fine.” She would not shed any more tears over Lucien. And especially not here. Marguerite’s horse was staring at her and the air smelled of cabbage.

“But it would be understandable if you weren’t,” she said kindly.

Alex bit the inside of her cheek and inhaled deeply until the feeling passed. “I will be,” she said with something approximating her usual tone. “When is the meeting?”

“Tonight at seven in Whitechapel. Can you come?”

Alex usually assisted Marguerite in distributing the caps, and it was during these meetings that they learned of potential women-owned businesses to invest in, but she didn’t have the will today.

She had already deviated enough from her schedule and needed to get back to the office.

It was the only thing keeping her from falling completely into despair.

“I can’t this time. I’m sorry. But do let me know how it goes. ”

“Yes, certainly. And we will meet soon, yes? At the salon next week?”

“Perhaps.” But it was likely she would miss that too. She certainly didn’t want to cross paths with Benjamin again. “I should get back to the office.”

“Of course,” Marguerite said. “Do take care of yourself. You are looking quite pale.”

Alex managed a brittle smile. “I will.” Then she retreated into the house. Time to get back to work.

Alex returned to Atkinson Enterprises to find the office in a state of absolute chaos.

Workers rushed around like headless chickens, bumping into one another and dropping sheafs of papers while her father roared at someone in the conference room.

Alex kept her head down and continued on to her office, but Potts had abandoned his post. Rather than trying to flag someone down, Alex decided to wait for the chaos to come to her and returned to her desk.

Consequently, she did not have to wait very long.

Within a quarter of an hour, her father stormed into her office with Potts scurrying behind.

“Alexandra, where the hell have you been?”

“I had lunch with Madame LaSalle,” she replied coolly. “Has something happened?”

Her father let out an incredulous laugh. “Happened? The company is under attack!”

“What do you mean?” she replied, trying to stay calm in the face of his near hysteria.

“The board. They’re calling a meeting tomorrow to challenge me . That blasted upstart Chisten—”

“Chisolm, sir,” Potts cut in.

Alex’s stomach tightened. No. It couldn’t be.

“Whatever his name is, I don’t care,” her father railed.

“Apparently Tompkins is an old family friend and he convinced him to retire and give him the seat. But Chisolm’s been sneaking around for weeks now talking to the other board members about mismanagement and failed dividends and all kinds of rot. ”

“Well, it isn’t true,” Alex said simply. “Nothing has been mismanaged. And profits are up as usual. He has no case.”

Her father paused and gave her a look that caused Alex’s blood to run cold. “Leave us, Potts.”

When they were alone, he collapsed into the chair across from her. “That isn’t the worst of it. He’s called your role in the company into question and spooked the other members.”

“What role?” Alex shot back as a sudden rush of anger flooded her veins.

“For all they know I sit here twiddling my thumbs all day. I don’t have any power.

I’m not even on the board.” Which, frankly, had long been a point of contention.

But her father had always maintained it was better for the company to minimize her public-facing role as much as possible.

“Chisolm maintains otherwise. Says you are actually running the company and that I am just a figurehead.”

“But you aren’t,” Alex insisted, though that was splitting hairs.

“The rest of it is not too far off the mark, though,” he said, then gave her that look again. “Alex, do you know him?”

She pressed her lips together and wished very much that she could melt into the floor. “He was my tutor at Oxford,” she said reluctantly. “I… I may have told him about my original idea for investing in businesses.”

“Oh, for God’s sake,” her father cursed. Then he let out a hysterical laugh. “He knows everything, then.”

“And what if he does? It’s his word against yours.”

“That may be all it takes. Then they can boot me from the board and put Chisolm in my place. And I’d wager that’s exactly what he is after. What happened, did you jilt him?” He had meant it as a joke, but Alex immediately looked away and her father cursed again. “What the hell , Alexandra.”

“It was a long time ago,” she insisted. “And he’s been in America for years now. I never expected him to do something like this. He was supposed to invest in Lucien’s company.”

Her father scoffed. “Well, that didn’t work so I guess he chose option B.”

“What do you mean?”

“Lucien isn’t opening the supper club,” he snapped. “He’s been in Surrey with his father. Did you really not know?”

Alex shook her head. She had buried herself in work specifically to shut out any word about Lucien. But if that was the case, then Benjamin’s motives made a little more sense. “He needs money. Chisolm, I mean. We agreed that he would be the lone investor in the supper club.”

Her father narrowed his eyes. “Did he threaten you?”

Alex had never heard her father growl before. “Yes,” she murmured.

“For God’s sake, why didn’t you tell me?”

Alex looked up at him and blinked. His face looked pained.

“It never occurred to me,” she answered honestly.

“I took care of it myself.” Like she always did with everything.

And that had never bothered him before. But Alex kept that to herself.

Her father pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

It was the first time he had ever looked haggard .

Alex felt a deep pang of regret. “I’m sorry. What can we do?”

“The meeting is tomorrow at nine. I’ve already sent word to Lucien. He should be there in time.”

Alex balked. “Whatever for?”

“Because the world still thinks you are courting,” he said exasperatedly. “And tomorrow we will tell the board that you are engaged, which hopefully will instill a little bit of confidence in our leadership.”

“You can’t,” Alex said, now feeling like a headless chicken herself.

Lucien here? Tomorrow?

“It is the only way, my dear,” her father replied sadly.

She sat back in her chair, stunned. Why on earth would Lucien ever agree to do this?

“Come along,” he prompted. “We need a plan of attack. The very future of this company depends on it.”

That was at least something she could fight for.

After finding Alex pacing in her room that night, her mother insisted on giving her a sleeping draught, which she reluctantly accepted, if only because it was nearly midnight and her thoughts were still awhirl.

“I am sorry about all this,” her mother said as she poured out the dose after first making Alex get under the covers. “I know your father meant well by insisting on hiding your true role in the company, but it has not done either of you any favors.”

Alex dutifully accepted the glass and swallowed the pungent liquid with a wince. “I didn’t realize you disapproved.”

“I told him he shouldn’t feel so beholden to catering to the base impulses of the board,” her mother explained.

“Let the ones who disapprove of you leave and good riddance. You’ve proven yourself over again and again.

And they would have seen that if your father had only let them.

But instead he downplayed your accomplishments and your role into something more palatable for the masses.

” Then she hesitated. “I’ve often wondered why you went along with it. ”

“I didn’t know there was an alternative,” Alex said, more petulantly than she wished.

Her mother tilted her head. “I’ve never known you not to approach a problem without examining it from every possible angle.

You give no quarter in any other area of your life, which is one of your great strengths.

” Then she pressed a hand to her cheek. “But you have always treated your father with kid gloves. Even as a girl.”

Alex swallowed thickly and glanced down. “I just… I wanted to help him. As much as I could.”

My brilliant girl.

And she liked feeling special, especially in a world that treated her with such contempt.

“He can take this, Alexandra,” her mother insisted. “And if he fails tomorrow, he has only himself to blame.”

Alex let out a humorless laugh. “Even if it is at the hands of the man I jilted?”

“Men have done much worse,” she said with a wry smile. “The point is, your father will be fine. You will be fine.”

“Well, I certainly won’t work for that man if he does take over the company.”

“No,” her mother agreed. “But it might not be such a bad thing for you to leave, either.”

“No other firm will have me.”

“Then strike out on your own. My goodness, you have spent years now drafting fail-proof business plans for other people. I imagine you are quite able to do it for yourself.” Alex bit her lip as she considered this.

“But we don’t need to talk about all that now,” her mother continued. “First you need to rest.”

The draught had already started to take effect and Alex’s eyelids grew heavy. She had barely managed good night before she drifted off to sleep.