Step Aside, I'm the King of Capital novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: The Long Night

"It's a nickname," Sullivan said.

He said it too fast, and he knew it.

Lavinia kept looking at me.

"He worked under me for a few months in London," Sullivan went on. "Junior analyst. Tristan, Tris. I called him that. It means nothing."

"The junior analyst with a grudge," Lavinia said slowly.

"Exactly."

"You told me he filed things."

"I told you he does back-office work," I said, "because that's what I told you. You never asked what I filed."

Her eyes narrowed.

For the first time since the ballroom, she looked at me and didn't see an ex.

She saw a question.

"Lavinia," Sullivan said. He took her elbow. "We're leaving."

She let him pull her out, but she looked back over her shoulder at the door.

Barnaby sat alone at the head of the table with his mother's gavel and an empty chair on his left.

Emerson stood at the window with her back to the room.

"We won," she said, quietly. "By one old man."

"By one old man and a great deal of your grandmother."

"Then why do I feel like I'm falling?"

I crossed the room and took her hand.

"Come home," I said.

That night she didn't cook, and I didn't pretend I could.

We ate cold pad thai on the sofa with the lamps off and the river lit orange by the streetlights.

Ottilie had phoned at nine and said Sullivan was nowhere to be found and the Singapore board was asleep.

Emerson set down her carton.

"I want to say something," she said, "and I want you to let me finish."

"All right."

"Clause four said nobody owes anybody anything in bed. That was for my sake. I didn't want to be someone who needed a man."

"You're not."

"Shut up." She turned and sat on her heels, facing me. "I'm saying I don't need you. I want you. Every night since the funeral I've wanted you, and it isn't grief. It isn't gratitude. It's you, with your terrible glasses and your terrible sweater."

← Chapter 11 · All chapters · Chapter 13 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend