The Call Boy I Met in Paris – Episode 42
That evening, architectural plans covered Sophie’s dining table. Saving Swift Company left no room for celebration, and the Lake Enterprises contract required the Maple Plaza redesign to begin immediately.
Justin stood over the drawings with his sleeves rolled back. He corrected a load-bearing calculation, then sketched a cleaner transition between the public terrace and the central atrium.
Sophie studied the confident lines. “You are really talented.”
“You sound surprised.”
“I hired you for something very different.” The joke faded as she looked again at his work. His instincts were not those of an inexperienced assistant. “Why did you ever—”
She stopped. Asking why he had supposedly sold his company and become a call boy meant asking him to revisit whatever humiliation had driven him there.
Justin watched her retreat from the question. For once, he did not rescue either of them with a lie.
Sophie turned the plan toward him. “You want this section elevated?”
“By half a level. It keeps the sightline open and separates pedestrian traffic from deliveries.”
They bent over the same page. Their shoulders touched, and the earlier kiss returned to Sophie with distracting clarity.
A hard knock interrupted them. Before Sophie reached the hall, the door opened and her father entered without waiting to be invited.
His disapproving gaze moved from the scattered plans to Justin. “You have not been home lately. Where have you been?”
Sophie set down her pencil. “I thought you made it clear I was no daughter of yours.”
Her father’s expression tightened. “Do not be a brat. I came because you refuse to answer me.”
“You came because you expected me to fail.” Sophie stepped between him and the table, protecting both her work and the fragile peace of the apartment.
He noticed the Lake Enterprises seal on the folder but did not ask about it. His attention fixed instead on Justin, whom he still regarded as an embarrassment Sophie could be ordered to erase.
“I am telling you one last time,” he said. “If you want to save this company, divorce him.”
Justin remained silent beside her, but Sophie felt the sudden tension in him as her father waited for obedience.