As if Dad would ever look twice at this bitch.
Aubrey nudges the stack of documents closer to me. The glass table gives a faint scrape as the papers slide across it, the sound sharp in the quiet room.
“You’re the key, Sutton dear.”
She folds her hands neatly in front of her, posture perfectly composed as she looks down at me like this is nothing more than a routine business meeting.
“You’ll marry Leon,” she continues, as if outlining a simple transaction. “He’ll be named CEO of Holloway, and then everything your family has built…” Her lips press togetherbriefly. “…everything your mother has taken for granted, will finally belong to someone who deserves it.”
The words sit in the air like poison.
“Are you insane?” I whisper.
My mind spins as I stare at her. All of this is because she’s jealous of my mother? It’s absurd. Totally unhinged. Yet the calm certainty in her posture tells me she believes every word she’s saying.
“You tried to destroy my company because you’re jealous of my mom?” I demand, my voice rising. “That’s your grand plan?”
Aubrey sighs, like I’m exhausting her.
“You’re oversimplifying things, Sutton.”
“Then explain it!” I snap. “Because right now you sound completely delusional.”
Leon lets out a bark of laughter.
“You really don’t know, do you?” he cackles. “Your family’s perfect little empire almost collapsed several years ago.”
A cold chill creeps down my spine. Why’s he bringing that up?
“What?”
“All those financial problems,” he continues, gesturing wildly with the knife. “The contracts Holloway was losing and the deals that kept mysteriously falling through.”
My pulse begins to pound. Mom and Dad were so stressed and afraid they’d lose everything…it was a living hell.
“That was you?” I whisper.
Leon grins.
“Now you’re getting it.”
The room shrinks in around me.
“You started sabotaging us years ago?” I whisper, my voice hollow.
Aubrey doesn’t deny it. In fact, she looks almost proud.
“It was necessary,” she answers coolly. “A strategic weakening of your family’s position.”
My parents had been under enormous pressure back then and decided to leave New York for a while. Just a short break in Colorado to breathe and regroup.
To figure out how to save the company.
Memories slam into me like blows to the chest. The cabin and the long days when Dad was still glued to his laptop, trying to fix everything.
Colson wanting to go outside and play in the snow and the two of us sneaking out…
My vision blurs as the realization sweeps over me.
