Gage and Sadie

Chapter 14: Gage

When I was younger, if I pestered him enough, my dad would take me into the office with him and I'd always end up in my grandfather's office. He was a quirky old bastard, gruff, calculating and ruthless. He also possessed an amazing sixth sense when it came to the business, and the company had prospered under his reign. 

"Who are they?" I pointed at a wall of men's pictures in his office. I'd asked for years, but he'd always told me the same thing: I was too young to know. Before he could answer this time, I made my case.

"I'm thirteen so I think I'm old enough to know now."

He grinned at me, and it was both a triumphant grin and a satisfied one. "Well, I guess you are then. That's my hoist by your own petard wall."

"I don't know what that means, Grandfather."

He'd laughed outright at my admission and had gotten up to come stand beside me as we both contemplated the men's faces.

"The phrase means that you've been hurt because of your own scheming." He stabbed a finger at the pictures. "Basically, every man on that wall set out to fuck me over, but I ended up finding out about their plans, so I used their schemes to fuck them over. In the end, their plans backfired on them, and I ruined every single one of those bastards so they'd never be in a position to try to hurt me, my family or my company ever again."

I'd repeated that phrase to myself over and over. It made no sense, but I understood the concept. Apparently, my grandfather owned the concept of hoist by your own petard because there were more than thirty pictures on that wall of his.

I'd grown up, inheriting my grandfather's business sense as well as his ruthlessness, and I never forgot that phrase. Although I'd never kept pictures of the men I'd ruined, I'd annihilated a few of my own who thought they could go after my company.

Sadie had also been a victim of my ruthlessness even though she hadn't been the one scheming. The deceit and plotting had all been on my part and stemmed from my willingness to do whatever was necessary to remain as CEO of the company. That had involved marrying her under false pretenses by taking advantage of her naivete and manipulating her feelings by making her believe I was her fairytale, her dream come true.

That had backfired on me, and Sadie had shown herself as the woman she really was, full of spirit and a ferocity that was both unexpected and refreshing. She was real, so very real, a multi-faceted bundle of contrasts, and when she'd stood up to me, I'd been lost in her depths, her fire.

Let me make myself perfectly clear: I don't want anything from you; I don't want to benefit from the marriage. I want nothing. And if you attempt to give me anything, I'll push for a divorce. I may not have any money, but there are plenty of high-profile lawyers who would love to take you on for the publicity. I told you, leave me alone for a couple of years and I'll leave you alone.

Following her tirade where she'd slapped me down and put me firmly in my place, I'd followed her every move as closely as I could without triggering her to file for divorce. And when she'd disappeared for a bit, I'd lost my mind until my detectives could find her.

Now, I lived in fear that my own petard would someday be hoisted. 

I'd spent close to a year working on getting Sadie to come back home to me, to forgive me and give our marriage another try. And the irony was, somewhere along the way, I'd fallen for my wife and fallen hard. I realized when I asked her to come home with me at the end of her fellowship that every word out of my mouth was true. Sadie had worked her way under my skin until I lived and breathed her, and I started to get twitchy if I was away from her too long. I'd never been in love before, never even knew what it was other than some poetic ideal that seemed like it was for other people, but I'd figured it out the more time I spent with Sadie.