When Liv used my full name, it was never a good thing. She was just as vindictive as my father, the mirror to him in some ways, especially after the last few years. As much as I knew she was right, it didn’t make it any easier.
With a sigh that cut through me, I deleted the chain.
“How do you get anything done?” she complained, grabbing the phone back and quickly deleting my missed calls before jumping into my recent calls. I thought I saw Tori’s number, but she deleted the list too fast for me to question it. She was back to Tori’s contact information and had it deleted before I could stop her.
The sight shredded me, and I brought my hand to my chest to stop it from cleaving in two. She shoved the phone at me. “Now socials. Unfollow and block.”
“Could you be any more cruel? I can’t do that to her, she’ll know.”
“And she’ll thank you for it later. You’re giving her a clean break. Allowing her to move on. If you’re following each other and spying on each other’s lives, you won’t be able to get over each other.”
As much as it hurt, I followed her direction, severing the last of our ties. “It’s not like that’s your real handle, anyway. Why don’t you just delete it?”
“It has been since I left school. Nobody knows my real name, and I prefer it that way. I’m not deleting my handles. It’s the only anonymity I have, and I’m keeping them.”
And it was my only remaining tie to Tori. A false name, one she would never find if she looked for me but one I didn’t want to give up because it was all she knew.
Liv fluffed her auburn curls before smoothing her blouse down. The model of affluence, my sister lived her life in designer labels and expensive tastes. I sometimes wondered if she did it to hide the loneliness. A way to flaunt the appearance of happiness when deep down she was dying, just like I was.
Tori had been a moment of light, leading me out from the shadow of my father for just that brief time, but it had been enough to remind me that there was more. A painful reminderthat would ensure I became the mirror to my sister the longer I went without it.
“Get out, Liv.”
“You’ll appreciate my help one day when you’re a billionaire and Daddy’s crawling away in shame as his empire crumbles around him.”
She sauntered out, leaving me alone with my phone and a void that now encompassed my entire being. I did the only thing I knew would numb the pain, the thing I’d done after every beating and after my mother died. I closed off that wound, carving it into its own space next to the others and hardening myself to it and any emotion that would rupture it again.
Chapter 17
Tori
Five years, eight months, twenty-two days later
Fall leaves swirled as the wind picked them up, and I searched the yard.
“He’s fine, Tor.”
I looked back at Cash, who sat at the table across from me. Taking a sip of my coffee, I looked back out, seeing Reid run as his cousin chased him. It seemed like just yesterday he was a tiny infant, kicking his legs and giggling as I made funny faces at him. Now he was a rambunctious soon to be five-year-old whose curiosity constantly got him into trouble.
“Are you certain about this?”
Tearing my eyes from where my son ran carefree through Cash’s yard, I said, “A hundred percent.”
“But moving to the city?”
“I haven’t gotten the job yet, Cash. It’s just an interview. Icinda Holdings is one of the largest companies in the country. The opportunity is too good not to try.”
I smoothed my finger down the handle of my mug, staring at the steam coming from it.
“It was, but they’ve gone downhill. Their stock is in the tank, and they’ve had to sell off most of their holdings. It’s a shell of the powerful company it once was. I’ve heard talk of a buyout.”
I’d read the same things, doing my research when talk of the CFO position opening surfaced. William Icinda’s son was stepping down from the role to take another position. As with any interview, I stuck to facts and refused to search images, knowing that drawing the wrong conclusions based on looks would leave me nervous. But I hadn’t been able to avoid the picture of the company’s owner, William Icinda, Senior. Cruel and cutthroat, he’d built his company by taking over other holdings in a hostile manner. His picture had given me chills, and I was glad I’d be interviewing with his son and not him. The son, William the Second, was reclusive and stayed out of the news. His sister, Olivia, the COO, was just as secretive, so it had been easy to avoid making any assumptions about them because it was the father who dominated the headlines.
“All the more reason for me to come in and clean it up.” And it would be work. Scandals at their resort properties, equipment breaking down, and inspection failings had led to the sell-off of all but one hotel in New York City. Their other holdings had also suffered problems, leading to manufacturing issues that led to liquidating them from the portfolio. All that remained were a handful of small real estate holdings and one hotel. It was almost like someone had dismantled the company piece by piece, and I wondered if that was only apparent to someone on the outside.
Cash ran his hands through his hair.
“You always did like a challenge,” he muttered. “But you’re in for an uphill battle.”
