Chapter 34

Why did he do it? Why had he come back? For his parents and for her, yes. And because the life he had known in New York was over, yes, that, too. And because he liked the work, liked managing others for the first time in his life, liked the immediate satisfaction of the well-trimmed hedge and the seamless lawn.

He knew, too, he was the only thing that stood between Paris, Belle, and the staff on the one hand and Se?or on the other, knew that he could endure the abuse somehow, that he was stronger than the rest. And perhaps that was why he had really come back—to show Se?or that he was this tough cuss, that he could not only take it but could dish it out.

“Remember,” his mother used to say to him, “each of us has a destiny to fulfill in this world, Jade, a reason we were born. But yours is a special one that sets you apart from mediocre men like Se?or. Your very presence in this world is a reproach to him.”