Chapter Nine
1088 Words
James’s silence stretched so long that Andrew could hear the ticking of the office clock. A faint hum from the city outside seeped through the window, but inside the room, the air was thick,dense with years of buried truth finally clawing its way to the surface.
James exhaled shakily, rubbing the back of his neck.
“I didn’t intend to cause a divorce,” he began.
Andrew raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t intend?”
James’s jaw tightened. “I… only wanted a little misunderstanding. Something small. Just enough to delay something your wife was about to put in your mind.”
Andrew’s voice cooled. “And what might that have been?”
James hesitated, as though debating whether to continue. But the look in Andrew’s eyes firm, expectant, left him no choice.
“She came to me,” James said finally. “Your wife. Grace. She came talking nonsense about a plan to support some charity home.”
Andrew stilled.
A quiet memory surfaced.
The visit to Little Angels Home.
James continued, oblivious to the shift in Andrew’s expression. “She was planning to bring the idea to you once you got back. And knowing you, Mr Perfect Husband. You would’ve approved it without blinking.”
Andrew lowered his gaze, struggling to steady his breath. When he finally looked back up, his voice was tight with control.
“What exactly was her plan?”
James scoffed. “She wanted fifteen percent of Howard Luxe’s annual profits to go to that charity home. Fifteen percent, Andrew. A whole chunk of our liquidity thrown into a bottomless pit. And you” he pointed accusingly “you would have said yes. Absolutely yes. To that nonsense.”
Andrew stared at him, utterly stunned.
“So that’s it?” he asked slowly. “That’s all it took for you to destroy my marriage? My wife? My life?”
Andrew slammed his hand on the edge of the desk, making James jump. “That’s it, James?!”
But James wasn’t done.
Something inside him snapped.
“You think it was just about that?” James shouted back, rising from his chair. “Father left me nothing!”
Andrew laughed bitterly. “He left you the house. He left you the cars. He even left you his goddamn watch his favourite watch! Because he knew you loved flashy things.”
James flinched, but Andrew didn’t stop.
“But let’s face it, James,” Andrew said, voice lowering, sharpening. “You are not cut out to run a business. Not a boutique shop, not a bakery, and definitely not a multi-billion-dollar hotel empire. You have terrible judgment. You make reckless decisions and you never think beyond your ego.”
James’s face flushed beet-red.
Andrew stepped closer. “Grace had an idea, an idea you didn’t like. And instead of talking to her, you orchestrated an entire chain of events. Tell me, James. How does a disagreement about charity turn into divorce papers?”
James threw his hands up, pacing. “The divorce was entirely Grace. I planted a phone in your office! I sent some messages to it, hoping she would stumble on them and confront you. Just a little argument, Andrew! A tiny fight! Something to shake things up before she filled your head with idiotic charity dreams!”
He shook his head aggressively, almost laughing at the memory.
“I even left the phone unlocked! Who leaves a secret cheating phone unlocked? How naïve could she have been to believe it? And next thing I know she’s filing for divorce. I didn’t expect that. Even I could never have seen that coming.”
Andrew’s jaw clenched so hard it ached.
James continued, voice rising in frustration. “So yes! I made sure the divorce happened. Because if she stayed, she would’ve turned this company upside down. You give away fifteen percent today, and what happens tomorrow? She convinces you to make her CEO? She turns Howard Luxe into a charity home? Into a, into a shelter?”
He shook his head, disgust written across his face.
“That woman had too much influence over you, Andrew. Too much.”
Andrew felt something break inside him. A sharp, cold anger that pulsed through his veins like electricity.
Years.
Years of grief.
Years of self-blame.
Years of believing Grace left him because he wasn’t enough.
All because his brother wanted to stop a charity project.
He stepped closer until he was mere inches from James.
“You took everything from me,” Andrew whispered, trembling with fury. “My peace. My certainty. My marriage.”
James swallowed.
Andrew’s voice rose, each word striking like a whip. “And you dare stand there and justify it? Because she cared about people? Because she saw suffering and wanted to help?”
James’s mouth opened, but no sound came out.
Andrew continued, voice low and lethal. “Grace wasn’t trying to ruin the company. She was trying to give hope to children who have nothing. Children who have nobody. You think fifteen percent would destroy the hotel? You think kindness makes us weak?”
He shook his head, disgusted.
James stepped back. “Andrew, listen”
“No.” Andrew cut him off sharply. “You listen.”
His voice dropped to a deadly calm.
“Grace wanted fifteen percent. When I find her, when I stand in front of her again and tell her the truth, watch me raise it to thirty.”
James’s eyes widened. “Andrew, you can’t”
“I already have,” Andrew said. “In my heart. And soon, in the books.”
He grabbed his coat from the back of the chair.
James scrambled around the desk as though trying to block the door. “You can’t ruin the company over a woman!”
Andrew stepped around him effortlessly.
“I’m not ruining anything,” he said coldly. “I’m restoring what you broke.”
James’s voice cracked. “Andrew, please don’t go. Not like this.”
Andrew paused at the door, turning just enough to meet his brother’s desperate eyes.
“I’m going after my wife,” he said. “And when I find her… everything you tried to destroy will rise again.”
He opened the door.
“And James?” His voice softened to something deadly. “Pray she forgives you. Because I never will.”
The door clicked shut behind him, leaving James alone with the weight of everything he had confessed and everything he had lost.
- Writer
