What am I doing?The question replayed in my head repeatedly as I followed Tori through the airport. I was in too deep, and there was no way to remove myself. She was a part of me now. The weight of the ring box in my coat pocket made me even more aware of that.
A storm was building, and I was behind it, churning it up and preparing for it to swallow me whole and destroy the only thing I cared about more than revenge and my sister: Tori. While the truth continued to drag at my heels, it wasn’t slowing me down from the train wreck that waited in the distance.
I continued to tell myself I would find a way to make this work. To take my father down and keep the woman I loved more than life itself. But within the storm lurked the truth, that the trust fund my father established for me was contingent on two things: that I didn’t marry before I was thirty-two and that I held the CFO position in his company by that age. And the plan my sister and I had set in motion twelve years ago was contingent on me assuming the CFO position my father had promised was mine once I earned my dues and nothing else came before it, including love.
But within six months, I had derailed that plan, and it was threatening to implode by my hand.
Tori had stopped pressing for answers, and I had none to give her. Liv chastised me every day, so I had started ignoring her calls. There was no way I could tell her I was spending Christmas weekend with Tori’s family, or that I planned to propose to her. I’d already decided I would give the money up for Tori. She was worth so much more. It was giving up on revenge and my sister that had me fighting my heart’s pull.
“There she is.” Distinct blue eyes and thick black hair made it impossible to think the man greeting Tori could be anyone but her brother. The similarities were uncanny, and if I didn’t know he was six years older, I would have thought them twins.
“Cash!” She dropped her bag and ran into his arms.
Gathering the bag, I watched as he picked her up and swung her around. Giving her a kiss on the head, he put her back on her feet. The display of affection was in striking contrast to the strained and distant contact that occurred when my family was in the same room. Without my mother, my father’s restraint had infected me and Liv. Hugs were not a thing in my family.
“And this must be the infamous Gabe.” He extended his hand to me and with some bag shuffling I took it.
“You would be correct. Nice to meet you, Cash. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“All good, I hope.”
“Eh, most.”
She elbowed me as he popped the bags in the trunk of his SUV. “All good,” she said.
“Better be, sis. Otherwise, I’ll have to put you in a headlock and give you a noogie.”
The banter continued with me fielding questions in between until we pulled down a tree-lined lane that led to a massive house sitting along a frozen lake. Snow made the scenepicturesque, and I suddenly missed being up north. It had been too many years away, with infrequent visits back home composed of awkward conversation and icy stares. My father was nothing like Tori’s family, and as her mother folded me into her arms like she’d known me all her life and her father pulled me in for a hug, I suddenly saw how broken my family was. I’d always known, but seeing how perfect we could have been if my father hadn’t destroyed us opened my eyes to how wrong it had all been. Reminding me of why Liv and I had been plotting against him all these years.
I tucked the ring box in the side of my suitcase when Tori was taking her heavy coat off and her parents were fussing over her. I put my coat on the hook next to hers, kicked my boots off, and followed her into the house. It was inviting and cozy, even though it was spacious. Every bit of space was filled with pictures of Tori and Cash as kids, family vacations, and graduations. Cinnamon candles left the air with a sweet holiday scent. Decorations covered everything, from the fireplace mantel to the stair railing. This wasn’t just a house; it was love and safety, a place of acceptance and support.
It was everything I had found in my mother, the shield from the storm that was my father, until she had found her way out and left us alone with him. There was so much joy that it spread, and the worries of takeovers and business faded to the back of my mind.
The feeling continued through the late Christmas Eve dinner, scheduled to accommodate our late flight. While Tori and Cash helped their mother clear the table, her father gestured for me to follow him. I didn’t know what to expect. The only fatherly talks I had ever experienced were stern and had often ended with pain. Even now they remained cold, business transactions.
“Sit,” he said, gesturing to the couch in the main room. He took a seat in the recliner, his sharp blue eyes sizing me up. “So, Gabe, this is serious.”
I sat up straighter, expecting the criticism my father would have given me. “Yes, sir, it is.”
He rubbed his beard, then let out a belly laugh. “Relax, I’m not going to do anything. Victoria is happy. I can hear it in her voice when she calls us. She’s shining, and I think we both know you’re the cause.”
“I like to think so,” I admitted. “The only thing I care about is keeping her smiling.”
“Good. So what’s next?”
This was my chance, and the voice in my head that should have been telling me this was the first step in sealing my fate remained quiet. “Well, with your permission, I’d like to ask her to marry me.”
His mouth gaped before he closed it and leaned forward in his seat. “I was thinking maybe a Christmas movie, but that’s a plan, too.”
Strain leaving my shoulders, I rubbed my temple, feeling like an idiot but glad I’d said it.
“You want to marry our Tori?”
I dropped my hand and held his gaze. “Very much so.”
“Then ask her. You don’t need my permission, but I appreciate you asking. Proper upbringing is a plus.”
I sat back, thinking of how my father had drilled proper into me from my earliest days.
