Well, I paid the price.
Despite the Los Angeles sun, I’m chilled to the bone and can’t quit shaking. None of the banks wanted to lend me a penny. Nothing could be used as collateral. The family is broke.
When I realized I was out of options, Bryce was the only one I couldthink of to turn to. Not that he’d help me out of kindness, but he made that promise. Although I have lied to him and treated him badly, I always knew he was honorable, the type to keep a promise no matter what.
Guess I was wrong.
I raise my shaking hands and claw at the top button of my blouse, needing more air.The collar’s so restricting…Bryce thought I was offering him my body—as if!—but I couldn’t breathe in his office. Panic clenched around my throat, and his presence loomed over me, his hatred suffocating.
I squint at the sun, and fill my lungs—but it doesn’t do much to make me feel better. My knees are still weak, and they ache from having hit the floor in Bryce’s office as my legs gave out.
How humiliating.
What stunned and pained me was that he thought I was offering sex.I’d never.I know he doesn’t want me—not after how badly our relationship imploded—and the idea never occurred to me. He must think the worst of me now. The sheer disgust in his eyes and voice told me more eloquently than the venomous words he used.
Guess the memory of the old betrayal hasn’t gone hazy with time. When I let him catch me in bed with Jude, he looked at me with so much disbelief, pain and anger. I said things I can never take back. He called me the names I deserved, then punched the hell out of Jude.
Even as I shoved him away from Jude, acid burned in my gut. Bryce clenched and unclenched his hands, and I wished he’d hit me, too, so the guilt wouldn’t cut so deeply. But he merely backed away.
“You just betrayed the one person who would’ve never turned his back on you.” He tilted his chin at Jude, who was watching the scene with a bloody smirk. “I hope he’s worth it.”
He wasn’t. He never was. But Bryce would never know the full truth. And even if he did, what would that change? Some things can’t be unseen. Wounds might heal, but they always leave scars.
I should’ve known better than to think he would help, no matter how desperate I was. I didn’t mean to collapse like that in his office, but my legs turned to noodles as fear cleaved through me. The photos that arrived on my phone flash through my mind. Aaron’s “loan collectors” took pictures of Sherry doing her Buddhist meditation and napping. Although I doubt they were actually in the room with her, they had to get past security at the mansion gates to get the shots they sent.
Your mom’s pretty for a woman her age. Think she can pay it off on her back?
Another wave of nausea sweeps through me.What kind of sick people say things like that?What’s most terrifying is that I’m sure they’ll follow through if I can’t find a way to get the money. It won’t just be Sherry in trouble, but me and Aaron, too.
If Bryce won’t help, who can I turn to? Aaron said he’d ask around, but who’s going to lend money to a gambling addict? You might as well set your money on fire. Not only does he not have a job, the family business is going under. He says it won’t be liquidated and he’ll remain an executive, but I don’t trust anything he says.
Actually, I can’t take anythinganybodysays at face value anymore. Bryce not only refused me, he outright mocked me. Of all the people I know, I thought he would be the last one to lie.
If I told him who hit his dog at Harvard, would he have helped? He wanted to know to get justice for Gardy. But would he have believed me? I only found out much later, but there’s no proof I can give Bryce that Jude is the one who ran over the poor golden retriever. Without bothering to check the thousands of videos and photos individually to make sure they were the ones I wanted gone, I wiped Jude’s phone, laptop and cloud clean, making sure he wouldn’t be able to retrieve anything, not even his contact list.
That was the only way I could think of to escape from the man who’d become my nightmare.
–Aaron: I got something.
Sudden exhaustion weighs on me. Dread, really. When Aaron says he’s got something, it means he’s found an easy way out, not a smart way out.
Please. Don’t let Aaron have gotten involved with another loan shark. It’ll only make things worse.
–Aaron: All you have to do is say yes.
–Me: Me? What am I saying yes to?
–Aaron: Come home, and I’ll tell you.
Given how much he hates to acknowledge me as his sister, my gut warns me to ignore him. I so want to, but life often involves doing things we’d rather not do.
I suck in more air, then slowly make my way to the rental, take some antihistamine pills and start driving. He won’t leave me alone until I hear what he has to say. My day’s already a complete mess, so who cares if Aaron dumps more shit on it? Can’t be worse than what I went through in Bryce’s office.
Although the family fortune has declined, the mansion is the same, at least outwardly. Dark ivy covers the stone walls. There aren’t any pools or ponds on the grounds to avoid triggering Sherry.
Wisteria blooms all over. Sherry plants more of it every year because it was Finley’s favorite, and I don’t dare mention that I’m allergic. Zachary was the only one who noticed, but he told me to take antihistamine and suck it up.
In front of the door are Aaron’s new Maserati—the sight of it makes my molars grind—and a black Maybach I’ve never seen before. The latter better not be another of Aaron’s new splurges or I might just stab him and plead temporary insanity.
