The Other Side of Greed by Lily Zante

Chapter Thirty-Six

KYRA

Lies. He is lying to me. That’s all I can think of as I quickly get dressed. His scent hangs in the air long after he’s gone, and I fall back onto the rumpled bed, breathing it all in.

I am a naïve fool. Too trusting and wanting to believe the good in everyone. But the thoughts I had about Brad from the start now come back and haunt me because what he says and what he does don’t align.

He never suggests that we go back to his place. It’s odd that a grown man chooses to make out in a storeroom or inside a car. We only ended up in my bed because I initiated the move.

Emma is more than a friend he is concerned about. He told me she was getting better. How is it that she holds so much sway over him unless she is someone important to him? Like a lover.

What is he hiding? A wife? A girlfriend? I should have learned my lesson from my ex. My damaged heart can’t go through this again. This man is a walking mystery. All I know is his name, and not much else.

He has called and texted, probably while he’s in the waiting room waiting to see his darling Emma, but I’ve declined his calls and I’ve read the texts which don’t say much except that he will explain.

I’ve given him plenty of opportunities to explain. I need to trust my initial gut instinct which warned me not to trust this man.

* * *

BRANDON

Imessed up, again. She hates me, and she has every reason to hate me.

This is nothing less than I deserve. Kyra will know something isn’t quite right. I’ve been forced to show my hand, and I will. I’ll put things right. Kyra and I, we can still be together. She’ll hate me at first, but hopefully, over time, she’ll learn to hate me less.

I reach the hospital in no time, and as I walk into Emma’s hospital room, she’s not lying in bed, but walking around on crutches.

The sight of her, still bruised and injured, stops me, but there is hope. She is moving. She’s up and about.

She stops and looks up at me, her lips spreading into a slow, careful smile. It instantly erases my worries. Her parents acknowledge me, her dad thanks me for coming.

“Hey, stranger.” I walk over and kiss her gently on the cheek. “So good to see you again. Are you in pain?”

“I’m always in pain.” She winces as she slowly makes her way over to the armchair. I help her to sit, hovering around, ready to take her crutches or aid her in any way, but I seem to be getting more in her way than not.

“Can I get you something?” I’m ready to go get her whatever she needs, food, drink, a nurse, painkillers. Watching someone who used to be such a powerhouse, now reduced to a tenth of the person she used to be, breaks my heart.

“I’ll be okay once I sit down and take a breath.”

“I’m … I’m … sorry.” The words strangle my throat. I’ve been keeping it all inside, my part in this awful accident and the blame I carry.

“Sorry for what?” She eases back into her seat.

I did this to her. “It’s my fault … the accident. You being in that car.”

“How is it your fault?” Her defiance eases my anguish.

“Because you were only there to fetch something for me from the office—”

Her face turns white. “I don’t remember. I don’t remember going there. I don’t remember if I went to the office—” She’s getting agitated at not being able to recall it. I take her hand and press it gently between mine.

“Don’t. Don’t force it.”

“Was it something important? It must have been if you asked me to—”

“Hey, Emma. It’s not important.” Nothing is important anymore. What is all this wheeling and dealing for, when people’s lives can change in the flash of a moment?

She opens her mouth, but I shake my head.

“Don’t.” I attempt a smile, which is difficult, because now that she is sitting up, I can see she has lost so much weight. This woman who was once dressed in sharp suits and high heels, who ran my life for me, organized my days, questioned my motives and plans, told me off without holding back, admonishing me when I was doing something that wasn’t right, this woman is now a ghostlike wraith.

“You wanted to see me.” I suddenly remember there was a reason for me being here. I’m prepared to pay anything, give her anything she needs, to ease herself back to normal. I need her. And now, more than ever, with my life beginning to fall apart, it seems I really could do with a spoonful of her no-nonsense medicine.

“It wasn’t too important. I didn’t need for you to rush over to me.”

“Hey.” My eyes are soft as I look at her. “It’s not a problem. I wasn’t doing anything. I just want to see how you are.”

“I can’t come back.”

“Can’t come back?” I echo, my heart sinking because I think I know what’s coming.

“To work for you.”

My shoulders sag. “Not now, of course not, but in time you’ll be fine. There’s no rush. You can come back whenever you feel ready to.”

“I can’t, Brandon. I don’t want to.”

I stare back in disbelief. How can this be a life-defining moment for her? “Is it money?” I pay her handsomely, way above the market rate, because what she does for me is priceless. “You’re due a raise and a bonus.” I flash her a hopeful smile, and I’m stupid enough to think that this might get her to change her mind.

“It’s not the money. I’ve been thinking a lot about things while I’ve been here, and I don’t want to come back. The corporate world isn’t for me anymore.”

“Travel? Is that what you want to do? Because I’ll hold your place for you. Maybe you just need some time off.” She sinks further into the seat, rings of tiredness frame her eyes. “Don’t say anything,” I tell her. “Don’t make a decision yet.” She’ll change her mind. She’ll get out of here and be a hundred percent back to normal, and she’ll want to come back.

“My doctor said he doesn’t know how bad my partial amnesia will be. It might be long-term but it’s difficult to predict right now.”

“That’s fine. That’s okay,” I say, gently. “We’ll deal with that. We don’t need to talk about it now. We can discuss it later.” Anything she needs, I’ll agree to.

“I wanted to tell you now, Brandon, so that you can start looking for someone to replace me.”

“I can’t replace you, Emma.” My voice turns hoarse. “You’re irreplaceable, don’t you know that? I have a temporary PA and she is useless.” I get up and pace the room, my insides tying into knots as I recall all the stupid mistakes of this week that the new temp has made. “She’s not you.”

Emma smiles. “Don’t be so harsh on her. There is a lot to juggle in that role.”

I want her to come back but I can’t force her to do something she doesn’t want. I can’t continue to be that selfish bastard I have always been.

“What’s going on over at Redhill?”

She wants to know about Kyra. Where do I start? My plan has changed, and I have fallen in love with the type of woman I would never even give a second glance to.

I place a hand at the back of my neck. “It’s okay.”

“Just okay?”

“Yeah.”

“What are you not telling me, Brandon?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re not looking me in the eye.”

I glance at her. This is why I need this woman to still be my PA. She knows, just by looking at me, and she hasn’t even seen me in a while, but she can tell there is something.

This is why she cannot be replaced. I shrug, because it seems better not to open my mouth and say something that she can latch onto and derive the entire truth from. “I’ve got it under control,” I say quietly.

“Got what under control?”

I can’t lift my face and look at her, because she will know.

“Brandon?”

“I’m going to tell her.”

“Oh, Brandon. Did you do something to hurt that poor girl?”

I lift my head. It’s written all over my face, and the cloud of disappointment on Emma’s face is reflected back at me. “Tell me you didn’t ...tell me you didn’t try to seduce her.”

I shake my head. Technically, we didn’t.

I’m not a playboy. I don’t seduce women, but she knows of my orchestrated plan to woo Jessica, and it’s not such a gigantic leap of the imagination to think I’d do something underhanded with Kyra. After all, I’m the man who gets anything he wants. I stare at her, wondering how she knows that anything passed between us. “How do you know?”

“There’s something different about you. Something softer. You’re not talking about business or making money.”

“That’s because I’m here to see how you are.”

She gives me a knowing look.

“She thinks you and I ...” I move my hand between us. “She thinks you’re my girlfriend or something.”

“Does she now?” Emma’s eyes fill with amusement. “If you need to prove it to her, bring her here.”

I laugh at the absurdity of her words. “No. It’s nothing like that. We’re barely ... nothing’s ... happened.” My voice trails off. I’m lying to myself and with such spectacular ease that it takes me a moment to recover from the shock of it.

“Speaking of girlfriends, how is Jessica?”

“Let’s not talk about Jessica.”

“Oh.” Her forehead creases as if she’s discovered a secret. “It’s serious, then? You and Kyra Lewis?”

“No. There’s nothing going on. You’d be the first to know if there was.”

I stare at the floor, lying easily again, but also because I’m not sure where anything stands with Kyra. Nothing can happen within this soup of deceit in which my morals float.

I’ve become aware of how much a life can change in just one second. Moments shape us. It was a moment that shaped Emma’s path forward, just as it has shaped mine.