“Okay. I’ll explain, then. First, again, I’m sorry we blindsided you on Thursday. I told your father I didn’t like keeping you out of the loop on these plans, but he was insistent he wanted to surprise you. He’s been thinking of closing Emerald for a while but made his final decision in the hospital that morning when Shelina and Zayan were here.”

Kamila’s fists balled. “So, my sister and brother-in-law knew, but no one had the courtesy to actually tell the person who Dad lives with. The person who works at Emerald.”

“That was a mistake. Like I said, he was so excited to surprise you. He thought you’d be ecstatic. You’d been telling him to reduce his hours for so long.”

“Reduce his hours. Not close the office where I work. Did you think I’d be happy about this?”

He looked at her. Deep into her eyes, and Kamila saw his mask chink away. He was very upset about hurting her. He did care—that was true.

“I didn’t know what you’d think. I…I knew you were dedicated at Emerald, but…maybe I didn’t think it was what you truly wanted with your life? You teased me for being in finance all the time, and you showed no interest in working at HNS.”

“Because I was happy at Emerald. You thought I was just playing there? Working my butt off just to kill time?”

“I knew you worked hard. I admired you for what you did there. But…your father said you only studied accounting because of him. And you only worked at Emerald for him, too. You do so much for your father—I didn’t see that it was something you were doing for yourself, too.” He exhaled, looking down. “I should have asked you. I shouldn’t have assumed.”

“You’ve always assumed with me,” she said. “Everyone has. You assumed I didn’t love being an accountant as much as you and your HNS crew because I don’t work ridiculously long hours or wear a suit to work. You think I redesigned Emerald just because I wanted to post it on Instagram—it never occurred to you I wanted to make the space more welcoming to the type of clientele I wanted to attract. You think because I’m excited to bring in hairstylists, tattoo artists, and dog trainers I must not care as much as if I were trying to get more…respectable clients. You think because I care so much about my hair, my clothes, my parties, and my dog, that I can’t possibly have serious thoughts about building my future in this head at the same time.”

He shook his head. “Kamila, that’s not true. I’ve told you so many times that I think people should stop underestimating you.”