Chapter 513 Failed
Elliot’s POV
I was halfway through reviewing the quarterly numbers when the door opened without a knock.
Jude walked into my office like the floor owed him something. His shirt was open at the collar, and there was blood on his chin and a fresh cut at the corner of his mouth. He stopped in front of my desk and stood there with his hands at his sides.
“Boss,” he said. “Your plan failed.”
I set my tablet down, leaving the numbers on the screen, and studied him for a long moment before leaning back in my chair.
“Failed how?” I asked. “Gail has been desperate for love since Anthony left her. That was the entire point. She was supposed to be easy.”
Jude wiped the blood from his chin with the back of his hand, only managing to smear it further. “I came running out of her house. You didn’t even tell me she was a Windsor.”
I almost laughed at his excuse. “You were supposed to make her leave the Windsor estate, get her own place, and then take everything she owns. You were supposed to fǔck a desperate woman until she signed the papers. Now you’re standing in my office telling me you couldn’t even finish the job.”
“You should have told me to be more careful with her and her friend,” Jude argued, his voice tight. “I didn’t even ask her last name. When she said she was having friends over, I agreed because I didn’t know the friend was Katia and her brother Julian.”
I studied the cut at the corner of his mouth. “Let me guess. Julian beat you again, just like before.”
Jude lowered his eyes to the floor without answering.
I stood, pushing my chair backward so hard that it rolled into the credenza. I walked around the desk until I was close enough to see the bruise already forming beneath his eye. He smelled of spilled wine and fear.
“You had one job,” I reminded him. “Get close. Make her trust you. Get her out of that house and away from the rest of them. Then get the shares. She has enough of them to matter. You were supposed to be the man who finally saw her. The man who stayed. Instead, you walked into a room with the two people who already know your face and let them throw you out like trash.”
“I didn’t know,” Jude repeated. “She never said Windsor. She said Gail. She said her family was complicated. She said her brother was protective. I thought that meant some mid-level guy with a temper, not Julian Windsor.”
“You thought,” I repeated. “That is the problem. You thought you could walk into a woman’s house, smile, and walk out with her signature because she was lonely. You have done this before. You lived in Katia’s house. You signed papers with her name. You stood in front of cameras and called yourself her husband. And you still did not recognize the risk when a Windsor invited you to dinner.”
Jude clenched his jaw, and I noticed the blood had already dried at the corner of his mouth. “She was happy. She cooked. She introduced me like I belonged there. I had the papers in the car. I was going to bring them in after they left. Then Julian grabbed me, and she looked at me like I had already taken something from her.”
“Because you had,” I snapped. “You took her time. You took the weeks she spent believing you were different. And you still managed to leave without a single signature.”
I walked toward the window and looked down at the city, which was brightly lit beneath me. Somewhere out there, Gail was sitting in her new house with blood on her floor and Katia’s hand resting on her shoulder. Julian was probably already on the phone with Marcus. The opportunity I had spent months creating had just disappeared.
“Tell me exactly what happened,” I ordered without turning around. “Every word. Every look. I want to know how badly you fǔcked this.”
Jude began explaining everything. He told me about the drive to Gail’s house and how she had opened the door with a smile. He mentioned Aiden and the baby, along with the way Julian had watched him from the moment he walked inside. He described the moment Katia called him by his real name and how Julian had grabbed his shirt. He told me about the slap, the blood, and the expression on Gail’s face when Julian revealed the truth about him. Finally, he explained how he had managed to escape.
I listened without interrupting until he finished. Then I turned to face him.
“You are done with her,” I told him firmly. “Do not call her. Do not text her. Do not drive past the house. If she reaches out, you ignore it. If Julian comes looking, you disappear for a while. I will handle the rest.”
“What about the shares?” Jude asked.
“The shares are still there,” I reminded him. “Gail is still there. She is still lonely, and she is still angry at the people who just tore her evening apart. That anger can be useful if I decide to use it. But you will not be the one who uses it. You had your chance, and you ran.”
Jude shifted his weight nervously. “I can fix it. Give me another week. I’ll get her alone. I’ll explain. She liked me. She wanted to believe me.”
“She wanted to believe Callum Davies,” I corrected him. “Callum Davies is dead. You killed him the second you let them see your face. If you go back now, she will call Julian before you finish the first sentence. And this time, he will not stop at a slap.”
I returned to my desk and picked up the tablet. The quarterly numbers were still moving across the screen, but I set it down again and looked directly at him.
“Get out,” I ordered. “Clean your face. Stay away from every Windsor property in this city. If I hear you went near her again, I will make sure Julian finds you before I do.”
Jude remained standing in front of me for another moment before giving a single nod and leaving my office. The door closed behind him, and I returned to the window, watching the street below until the elevator light reached the ground floor.
Gail was still in that house, hurting after discovering the truth about the man she had trusted. She still owned shares that could change things if they ended up in the right hands. Jude had failed the easiest part of my plan, but that did not mean the plan itself was over. It only meant I would have to handle the next part myself.