Chapter 13 - THE MAN WITH NO KEYS
I met Julian two days later.
Not at Bellavue.
Not at my home.
At Margaret's office.
He looked older.
Only a month had passed.
But ambition had always made Julian seem younger than he was.
Without the tailored suits, assistants, drivers, and constant movement, he looked like an ordinary forty-three-year-old man.
For the first time, I saw him without the empire surrounding him.
He stood when I entered.
"Elena."
I sat across from him.
"What did you want?"
He looked at Margaret.
"Can we speak alone?"
"No."
His jaw tightened.
Then relaxed.
"Okay."
He placed something on the table.
His wedding ring.
"I don't need that."
"I know."
"Then why bring it?"
"I don't know."
That was the first honest thing he said.
We sat in silence.
Finally, Julian spoke.
"I hated your father."
I hadn't expected that.
"Why?"
"Because every time he looked at me, I felt like he knew."
"Knew what?"
"That I didn't belong."
My anger softened into something closer to understanding.
Not forgiveness.
Understanding.
"So you decided to prove you belonged by taking everything?"
"I thought if Bellavue became mine, nobody could ever look down on me again."
"My father didn't look down on you."
Julian laughed bitterly.
"He didn't have to."
"You were the one measuring yourself against him."
He looked away.
I continued.
"My family gave you opportunities because I believed in you."
"I know that now."
"You could have had everything beside me."
His eyes returned to mine.
"That's the part I can't live with."
I said nothing.
"You would've shared it."
"Yes."
"And I tried to steal what you were already willing to share."
"Yes."
His eyes filled with tears.
I had seen Julian angry.
Excited.
Proud.
Drunk.
Exhausted.
I had almost never seen him cry.
"I'm sorry."
I believed he meant it.
That didn't change anything.
"I'm sorry too."
Hope appeared on his face.
I immediately shook my head.
"Not for ending our marriage."
The hope disappeared.
"I'm sorry I spent years helping you become someone you thought you needed to be."
Julian looked down.
"I loved you."
"I know."
"You don't believe that."
"I do."
He looked surprised.
"I think you loved me as much as you were capable of loving someone while you were terrified of being powerless."
He wiped his face.
"Is there any chance?"
"No."
The answer came easily.
That surprised both of us.
Julian nodded.
"Fair."
He pushed the wedding ring toward me.
I pushed it back.
"Keep it."
"Why?"
"Because I'm not carrying another reminder of what you lost."
He stared at the ring.
Then he closed his hand around it.
As I stood, he asked one final question.
"Was any of it really mine?"
I stopped.
"Bellavue?"
He nodded.
I thought carefully.
"Your work was yours."
He looked at me.
"Your ideas were yours."
I continued.
"The teams you built."
"The deals you genuinely negotiated."
"The good decisions."
"The nights you stayed awake solving problems."
"Nobody can take those away from you."
His eyes filled again.
"But ownership?"
I shook my head.
"No."
He gave a broken laugh.
"So when I said it was my resort..."
"You were standing on land held by my grandmother's trust."
Julian covered his face and laughed.
For a second, I laughed too.
It was absurd.
Tragic.
Almost funny.
Then he lowered his hands.
"I really was an idiot."
"Sometimes."
I walked toward the door.
"Elena?"
I turned.
"I hope you make it better than I did."
I thought about Grandpa.
About Samuel.
About the thousands of employees depending on Bellavue.
"I will."
May you like
Then I left.
For the first time in nine years, I didn't look back.
