“Don’t make it even worse than it already is by lying.”
“I’m not lying,” he insisted.
She desperately wanted to believe him. “Don’t you realize what you’ve done?”
“Maisy, please, you’re not making any sense. I swear I wasn’t involved.”
She ignored his denial. “You made it impossible for us to be together. Our relationship is forever changed by this. You might think it was the right thing to do, but later you might come to resent us or feel that we had taken advantage of you. I…believed you would keep your promise because you understood we were determined to deal with our own problems as a family and not have you intervene. Don’t you understand? This money will always stand between us like a sword, hanging over our heads.”
“You’re overreacting,” he insisted.
“Am I? Your relationship with my family is ruined. How do you think Sean is going to react when he hears about this? You’ve stripped him of his pride. You took matters into your own hands and betrayed us all. We will feel obligated to you for the rest of our lives. It feels great to have helped, but you made us feel small, and incapable of dealing with our own situation. You took that away from us.”
He went silent while she continued to rant.
“You’ve always had money,” she continued. “To you it’s the answer to everything. You’ve never had to do without. Never had to work through a problem, especially when all you needed to do was to write a check. You have no understanding of what it means to struggle, or the rewards of sacrifice, because money is all you’ve ever known.”
More silence.
“After my father died, we had to pull together, had to work together as a family. Sean had been living on his own withroommates. He was floundering, drifting from job to job, and from one empty relationship to another. He blew his paychecks on stupid stuff. With Dad gone, he had to settle down, find a career, and help support the family. Who knows how long he would have squandered his life if that hadn’t happened? You have no concept of the rewards of struggling, of pulling together and making the best of a bad situation.”
“I don’t understand what your brother has to do with you and me?”
That was his only comment other than to deny the truth after everything she’d said? “You wouldn’t, would you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Tears streaked down Maisy’s cheeks. “I shouldn’t be talking to you when I’m this upset and angry. Fool that I am, I trusted you to be a man of your word.”
“I didn’t do it,” he shouted.
“Please don’t lie. That only makes your duplicity worse.”
The silence that followed was as thick as a concrete wall.
“Maisy, listen to me. I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m doing my best to hold on to my anger. You’re being utterly ridiculous.”
“Perhaps I am, perhaps I’m overreacting, but I can’t help feeling betrayed.”
“And if I had done everything you claim, one would think you’d be grateful.” Chase was angry now, too.
That said it all. “In other words, you’d be happy if my entire family felt forever indebted to you—that we would be obliged to take into consideration all that we owed you?”
“Yes…no. You’re wrong.”
“I’m not, Chase,” she said, her voice hoarse with pain. “Don’tyou understand how this changes everything? Don’t you recognize that while your intentions might have been good, you have destroyed any chance we have of being together?”
“You’re being ridiculous. You couldn’t possibly mean we’re finished.”
“I do, Chase. I mean every word. Rather than let this relationship die a slow death, I’d prefer to make a clean break. I’m sorry…” Her voice cracked then. “It’s over. Please don’t contact me again. I know you meant well, I do…but it’s too much.”
Before he could argue, Maisy disconnected the call.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chase was furious. The last thing he needed was Maisy going off the deep end with these ridiculous accusations. He was stunned that she’d hung up on him. He gave her an hour to cool down and tried calling her again, only to discover she’d blocked him.
No one had ever blocked him. It simply wasn’t done.
