Trish likes me, but she knows who pays her salary. “Mr. Pierce?” She raises a brow in my brother’s direction.
Hudson concedes. “It’s fine, Patricia. You may go.”
I sink into the chair in front of him. “I guess it’s too much to expect coffee,” I say, causing Trish to halt on her way out of the room.
“He doesn’t need anything,” Hudson says, shooing her away. “If you want coffee, go bother your own secretary.”
“Huh. What an idea. I’ll try that sometime.” Usually, I stop and grab coffee from Trish on my way down to my office, but that’s not something he needs to know. “Anyway, the reason I’m here—”
“You’ve had second thoughts about Genevieve,” he says, cutting me off. “Alayna told me.”
“Really?” Man, that woman’s fast. “What exactly did she say?”
“That you want to give her another chance.”
“And you’ll support that?” My heart thumps in my chest. This can’t be that easy, can it?
“No. My position stands, same as before.”
I throw my head back. “Come on, H. How can you be so stubborn about this?” Ten seconds into my proposal, and I’m already off script. Well, I’ve always been better at improvising. Might as well go with it. “Don’t you believe that a person can change?”
“It’s possible, yes—”
I clap my hands together. “Exactly! Then why can’t you believe that Genevieve could change?”
“You believe she’s changed? Then she admitted she was working for Celia in the first place?”
“No, she didn’t. But if she had been working for Celia, isn’t it possible that she could change her mind?”
“Celia doesn’t let people out of her schemes.” He sounds like he’s speaking from experience.
“Maybe she doesn’t. I don’t know about that. But I do know how I feel about Genny. And I’m pretty sure she feels the same, no matter who she might have been working for.”
“Pretty sure is not knowing,” he says, straightening a pile of papers that doesn’t need straightening.
I sigh. “You’re right. It’s not. But I love her. And I don’t believe you can truly love a person without trust. So I’m choosing to trust her.”
Something I’ve said catches his attention, and Hudson looks up at me.
I sit forward, taking advantage of his focus. “Okay, I know that you have reason to be skeptical where Celia is concerned, but from what I understand, you were once caught up in the same games she’s in and look at you now. You aren’t very forthcoming with your past, but let me guess that who you are today has every bit to do with being loved by Laynie. And I know she trusts you, heart and soul.”
“I’d be nothing without Alayna,” he says somberly. “And that’s why I can’t risk her for a woman you still know almost nothing about.”
“I know enough. I’ve done my research. And you haven’t even heard me out. I’m not asking for you to bring Genevieve into the family. I’m asking—”
Trish’s voice cuts over the intercom. “Mr. Pierce, I’m sorry to interrupt, but you have a visitor that insists on seeing you right away.”
“Tell him to make an appointment,” Hudson responds.
But Trish continues. “It’s not a him. It’s Celia Werner-Fasbender.”
18
I stand up to block Hudson on his way to open the office door.
“I’m staying for this.” Like hell am I missing a showdown between Celia and Hudson, and not just because of the entertainment value.
“This doesn’t concern you.”
He tries to take a step around me, but I put my hand on his shoulder. “It concerns me very much, thank you. You owe me this.”
Hudson maintains eye contact for three full seconds before he shrugs me off. “We’ll see,” he mutters, and before I can talk to him any more about it, he’s opening the door and stepping out into the lobby.
I hang back but stay close enough to see the perfectly coifed, blonde, blue-eyed woman waiting for him. She must be in her thirties now and is visibly pregnant, but she’s as stunning and beautiful as I remember. Anyone with looks like hers is dangerous, no matter what her agenda is.
“Celia Werner.” Hudson keeps his hands to himself, not offering any form of touch as a greeting. “I didn’t expect I’d ever see you step foot in my offices again.” It sounds like a threat and I’m pretty sure that’s the way he means it.
Celia’s lip curls up slightly. “Don’t get your panties all twisted. This visit is harmless. And it’s Werner-Fasbender now, which I’m sure you already know.”
“Yes, I’d heard.”
Silently, the two study each other. The animosity surrounding them is thick and noxious like pesticide, and I briefly consider ducking out of this reunion.
But only briefly. My curiosity wins out, and I stay.
It’s Celia who breaks the standoff. “Are you going to keep me in your lobby all morning, or are you going to invite me in? I’ll say what I have to say wherever. I just think you might prefer the privacy.”
Hudson’s eye twitches. “Very well. Come on in.” He spins to lead her in then spots me. “Celia, I’m sure you remember my brother, Chandler.”
“Of course I remember Chandler. My,” she scans the length of my body, “you sure grew up.”