I was surprised to see my father’s lawyer waiting for me so early in the morning. He looked haggard. I probably looked the same. I was only able to sleep last night after speaking to Josh on the phone.

Mr. Gatz and my father were good friends.

“Mr. Gatz, I’m sorry I can’t greet you good morning today. But we definitely both need coffee. Please, join me for breakfast.” I attempted at humor to lighten both our disposition. I needed all the positivity in the universe to survive today.

“Cressida…I need to tell you something.”

I noticed the grim seriousness in his eyes.

“Of course. Let’s take a seat, please.”

I walked over to a coffee table and sat on one of the chairs surrounding it. Mr. Gatz sat on the chair across me.

“I’m sorry about your father, Cressida.”

“Yeah, but nobody wanted this to happen. You did all you can to help my father, Mr. Gatz. I can’t thank you enough.”

“Cress…what did the doctor say? What are Armand’s chances of surviving this?”

“50-50.”

“I’m so sorry. Armand is a good man. I believe that, Cressida.”

“Thank you. That means so much to us. But we can only hope and pray for the best,” I said, fighting my tears.

“Cress…if Armand…if he doesn’t survive…forgive me for saying this, but it’s important. It concerns Madden Securities.”

I nodded. “I understand.”

“You’re your father’s heir. You must know the truth.”

“The truth?”

“About Joshua Landis.”

For some reason, my heart started to beat faster.

“I saw you two together. I know you care for him.”

“What is it, Mr. Gatz? Tell me.”

“You’ll not like it, Cress, but I must prepare you for it. I don’t want you blindsided.”

“Tell me, Mr. Gatz. I want to know.”

I ascended the front steps of Armand’s mansion. I didn’t go to work. I decided to take the day off and be with Cressida the whole day.

I instructed Wyatt to draw the new agreement. My lawyer didn’t offer any resistance this time. He just agreed to everything that I said on the phone. I would meet with him tomorrow.

The doctors would perform brain surgery on Armand today. Cressy needed me by her side. She was more important than making deals.

I paused mid-step when the front door opened.

Armand’s lawyer came out. What was his name? Gatz. Yeah. It was Wyatt who met with the man every time. I’d leave Wyatt to contact the man when the new documents were ready. Tomorrow, at the most.

I just nodded at him in greeting.

He didn’t respond. He just walked past me and down the steps to his car parked in the driveway.

Okay, the man was Armand’s friend, and was probably still pissed at me. Understandable.

I let myself into the mansion.

I saw my princess standing in the middle of the living room right away.

She was already dressed.

She looked sad. Very sad.

She was crying.

I rushed over to her.

“Princess,” I said gently, intending to take her in my arms

She slapped me in the face.

Hard.

I staggered backward, not from the slap but from the burning hatred in her eyes.

I knew then. She found out what I did. She found out before I could reverse it.

“How dare you come here, you snake!”

My throat felt constricted. “Princess…”

“Don’t call me that! Don’t ever, ever call me that!”

Her tears were falling freely down her cheeks, and I was powerless to stop them. I caused them. I caused all her grief. And God, how I’d prayed it wasn’t too late, that I could still do something to rectify my mistakes before she found out about it.

I wasn’t so lucky.

“I’m sorry,” was all I could say. And it wasn’t enough. It would never be enough.

She wiped her tears roughly with her hands, as if she hated crying in front of me. “No. Don’t be. This is all my fault. You never pretended to be anything than what you are. You were honest from the very beginning. You repeatedly told me so. ”

“Cressy…”

“But I didn’t listen to you. I listened to my gut feel. My gut feel was telling me you were not the man they all thought you were. My heart was telling me you were this misunderstood person, that deep down inside you were good. I was a fool.”

“I do care about you—“

“Yeah? That’s why you broke an already defenseless man? You knew he was desperate, and you dangled a tiny rope he could hold on to to survive.”

I bowed my head. It was the bald truth.

“I offered you a partnership but you wanted everything. I should have known you would want everything. So you coerced a man to choose between going to prison for a crime he didn’t commit, and signing over to you his entire life’s work so he could be with his family again. And my father chose to be with us.” She shook her head. “I knew in my heart, once he hit rock bottom, he would always choose his family over anything. That’s what a true Madden does.”

It was strange how something that used to be plain business to me became extremely personal. I knew the difference now as shame washed over me like used oil. Black, sticky and rancid. It stuck to my skin like the darkest sin, and I didn’t know if it would ever wash away.

“I don’t regret what I did to save my father. I gave you the best of me, Josh. I won’t ever regret that. I only regret that I believed with all my heart that there was a knight living inside you.”

“Cressy…”

“You won, Josh. I lost. Congratulations.”

“Cressy, no—”

“I don’t ever want to see you again.”

“Baby…”

“Please. Leave.”

She turned around and walked away from me.

Yes, I won the battle.

But it was a Pyrrhic victory.