by Emma Vikes
She scowled at me. “Patrick, if you don’t pursue this mission, you will have nothing. That can’t happen.”
When I was younger, often times I laid in bed wondering what had happened to my mother after Paula’s death. Grief killed the mother she used to be and gave life to the monster in front of me now. She had been obsessed with having something for me to inherit, and I couldn’t stop thinking that when she’d met Chris she must’ve thought that she’d finally found what she’d been looking for, a man with an empire her son was worthy of inheriting.
I couldn’t believe that she was willing to drag down Britney’s name just so Chris would give me the entire company if he disowned her, which was something a part of me actually believed he would do. In the years that I’d known Chris, he valued his family legacy so much that when one of his nephews came out as gay, he was so furious at him that he was the first one to disown Jeffrey as his nephew. It had caused a ruckus in the media which Chris had single-handedly managed to handle but not in the way I believed was right. If he believed what mom told him, if he knew that the real reason Britney came here was to elope with someone, he’s going to be pissed.
“We’ve talked about this. It’s either we continue with your plan or we go with mine and Christopher is coming here next week. You don’t have much time to decide, son.” I hated how her tone was so monotonous, like this wasn’t a pressing issue like feelings and family weren’t at stake.
I ran a hand through my hair. “I don’t want to do this anymore, mom and I don’t want you ruining Britney’s relationship with her father because you’re obsessed with me inheriting anything. I don’t even care about those fucking things, mom. I care about Britney. I’m in love with her.”
I knew that what I’d just told her would make her blow a gasket. I waited for the explosion but there came none. Mom looked at me with a tight expression on her face, the disappointment so clear in her eyes that it made me believe it had always been there. “I did not raise a son who would give up everything all for love.”
I couldn’t help but scoff. “It’s not like you didn’t do the same thing with dad.”
She smiled at me wryly. “And look how that played out. He left us in the dust when he couldn’t handle things. Love does not guarantee you anything in this life, Patrick. You’re too young to understand this.”
“And what, mom? Money does? Money guarantees me happiness in this life? I want to be with Britney, mom. I care about Britney because I am in love with her. I’ve wanted her for a long time and that’s what you didn’t see the first time. You thought she was the one in love with me and you weren’t wrong about that, but you don’t realize that I’ve wanted her for as long as she’s wanted me.”
Mom set her cup of tea on the table, the sound so gentle, which was the opposite of how my mother should be feeling given my confession. I could see the fire of anger swirling in her green eyes, the disappointment clear as day. If we weren’t in such a public place, she would’ve strangled me. But just as her anger came, it dissolved quickly, and I couldn’t help but wonder why. A slow, cruel smile began to take place on her face.
“I thought you wanted Stocks?”
I had wanted Stocks. I agreed to what she wanted me to do because I knew that was my chance to be with Britney without worrying what my mother would think. I’d thought what I felt for her was pure lust, I thought I’d only wanted her because I’d been fantasizing about her for too long. But the more I spent time with her, the more I got to know her on an intimate level, the more we shared and showed each other the sides of ourselves that the public never got to see, the more I fell for her. And I fell for her hard, which was why I knew that I had to stop this and I had to convince my mother that we shouldn’t go through with this.
Britney was brilliant and knew how to handle Stocks, even without the Master's degree. I’d seen her in action before and I knew why Chris took pride in his daughter’s brilliance. The only downside with Britney was who she chose to date.
“I do want Stocks, mom. Even before you and Chris got married, I’ve always aspired to have a business that is as amazing and as large as Stocks. The brilliance that Chris sowed into that company was ingenious, which is why the harvest is too much. I’ve never wanted anything more than to have a chance to be one of Stocks’ leaders. Being the CEO would be more than just a dream come true.”
“Then I guess fooling someone would be an easy task because you get what you want.”
I whipped my head to the side so quickly that I almost broke my neck in the process. Britney stood in front of me, the tears glistening in her hazel eyes. I glanced at mom and she looked satisfied with what was unfolding. She didn’t even say a word to Britney, just continued sipping her coffee as she watched our relationship unfold and unravel right in front of her eyes.
“So much for your speech saying that I deserve someone who’s willing to fight for me, to give me the world when you just wanted what was mine.” There was so much pain in Britney’s voice, and anyone could read the betrayal in her eyes. “You’re just like them, Patrick Cunningham. I thought you were different.”
Britney turned to mom, glaring. “I can’t believe you supported your son in this scheme. What kind of step-mother are you?”
Mom tilted her head and smiled at her cruelly. “The same kind that Cinderella had except in this story, you won’t be having your prince.”
Britney was shaking in anger and then she looked at me again, and I wanted to punch myself when I saw the pain shining in her hazel eyes. She shook her head and then left the café, almost bumping into a customer on her way out. I stood up, glaring at my mother. “This is all your fault. Now I’m never gonna do your bidding, mom. It’s too late for that.”
I rushed after Britney, calling out her name and asking her to stop. We were near the site when she did and she turned around to face me. Her cheeks were streaked with tears, and it ripped my heart apart to see her this hurt over this whole situation. “Brit, let me explain, please.”
Britney scoffed and shook her head. “You said it yourself Patrick, Stocks was your dream come true. I should’ve known that this whole thing was suspicious because it only started right after dad’s announcement. I was so fucking stupid to believe that any of it was real.”
“Let me explain.”
“There’s nothing to explain anymore, Pat! I heard you loud and clear. You want Stocks for yourself.” She pulled out something from her bag and threw it at me. I caught it easily and was surprised to see my phone. “You left your phone at the apartment and your mother came by earlier, looking for you. I should’ve read between the lines because she didn’t seem at all surprised to see me at the apartment, even her questions weren’t that probing.”
She hastily wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. “Thank god for my curiosity because I opened one of your mother’s texts. She was asking if you’ve talked to me about Stocks and she said that you two should just go forth with whatever fucking plan you have. Fooling me, I guess that’s what it was.”
I ran a hand through my hair in exasperation. “Brit, if only you could just give me one moment to speak, please. That’s all I’m asking.” I could hear the desperation in my own voice. “I don’t want to lose you like this.”
Britney looked at me and then shook her head. “Why?”
“Because I do love you.”
“Then why did you do this in the first place?”
“Because I wanted Stocks. I meant what you heard. Stocks has been my dream for a long time, Britney.”
Slap!!!
I deserved that. But Britney deserved the truth too. I couldn’t just tell her that I wasn’t in favor of what my mom was asking me to do. A part of the truth was that I was as power-hungry as my mother, but a part of it was that I wanted to be with her too. “That’s all I need to hear.”
“Britney, wait, just, let me explain everything.”
“And then what, Patrick? I’ll believe you? How many guys have come and gon
e in my life, dating me because I’m Christopher Baldwin’s daughter? Telling me they love me because of what I was going to inherit from my father and not because I’m someone worthy of being loved.”
At that moment, I realized that I didn’t just hurt her because I wanted Stocks and I was fooling her into falling in love with me. I had done the same thing that every other boy she had dated had done, and although she didn’t fall in love with them the same way she’d fallen for me, my actions seemed to prove to her that she wasn’t someone worthy of the right kind of love, because she was simply someone you wanted to be with because of her last name.
“You’re more than just a Baldwin, Britney.”
She looked at me and scoffed. “I don’t think so, Patrick. For you, I wasn’t.”
Chapter 12
Britney
BETRAYAL COULD TRULY be so painful.
I honestly couldn’t believe that Patrick could do this to me, that the reason behind the relationship was because he wanted Stocks all for himself. I should’ve thought about the whole thing more before I dove into it. I was so stupid to believe that he wanted me. Maybe he did, for the sex, but that was it. He didn’t want a relationship with me. He just needed to have a relationship with me so that I would hand Stocks over to him without any question. Because sometimes we ended up doing stupid things in the name of love.
“Alex swears he’ll castrate him when he sees him,” Lauren said, running her hand through my hair. It’s been two days since I found out about this whole thing and I immediately called her after I booked myself a hotel room. She flew here 12 hours later, leaving her work behind without giving her boss much notice. This was the kind of friendship that was real and not bought by money.
I scoffed and then stared up at the ceiling. “Did you honestly foresee this happening, Lauren?”
She shook her head. “No, Brit. Patrick’s always been driven to do his own thing. I always imagined him building his own empire out from scratch, not inheriting it from Christopher. He’s always been so dynamic and passionate that it’s hard to believe he was willing to steal someone else’s birthright just to be powerful.”
“Me too,” I whispered, trying my best not cry. I didn’t want to shed another tear for Patrick Cunningham. He once told me that Morgan didn’t deserve any of my tears, well Patrick sure as hell didn’t either.
“But Britney...”
I sat up and looked at my best friend. I knew she had some information about Patrick. Alex hadn’t come with her here but he’d still talked to Patrick and I knew he was angry with his best friend but I was sure he’d heard more of Patrick’s side. “I don’t like the sound of that, Lauren.”
“No, it’s just that, you didn’t really listen to the rest of his explanation, Britney. I mean I hate what he initially did to you, fooling you to fall in love with him, but I think he actually is in love with you.”
“I thought Alex swore he would castrate Patrick when he saw him?”
Lauren gave me a pointed look and sighed. “This isn’t about what Alex swore, Britney. This is about the entire story of why Patrick did this in the first place.”
“Are we honestly having this conversation, Lauren? Are you honestly gonna claim that there’s a lot more to Patrick’s story?”
Lauren reached for my hands and took them in hers. “Brit, all I’m saying is that when Alex told me why Patrick did what he had done and how he tried to stop it when he realized that what he felt for you was more than just the desire of having you, Britney.”
I scoffed and turned away, shaking my head. I couldn’t believe that Lauren was saying those stupid things. “Laur, you don’t get it, okay? I’ve dated guys who wanted me because of what my last name brought them because they thought that maybe I could get them in with Christopher Baldwin. I endured that thinking that maybe one of them would fall in love with me along the way and then maybe I would fall for them too, and then forget Patrick Cunningham while I was at it.”
My infatuation with Patrick Cunningham wasn’t just a teenage crush. It ran far deeper than that. It was unrequited, pining after, love from far away even when we were so near. I had always thought that we were never going to be an item, that I would only have him as my brother and, for a while, I’d convinced myself to be okay with that. At least I had him in some way. But the universe had never erased my feelings for Patrick and the more I saw him in my life, the more I liked him.
And then this whole thing happened and I honestly thought that the universe had finally granted my wish, only for the truth to come out and my whole world to crumble down, just like my heart.
“He was the first guy that I really liked, Lauren, and not in the way that I just wanted to have sex with him. I liked him because of who he was and how he was. I just...I thought he was different. He made me believe he was different. But he is Lara Cunningham’s son, and he’s just as cunning as his mother.”
The ring of my phone cut through our conversation and I looked at Lauren, thinking that it was Patrick calling me. “You didn’t tell him where I am, right?”
Lauren shook her head. “I might want the two of you to fix things, Brit, but I will only arrange it when I know you’re ready to face him.”
I didn’t doubt this for a second because even though Alex and Patrick were best friends, and even if Lauren knew Patrick as well as I did, her loyalty was to me. I picked up my phone from the table and realized it was my dad calling. I then remembered that he’d told me that he was going to Massachusetts for a state visit. Maybe he was calling me about that dinner that he was planning for us. This was the kind of distraction that I needed right now. But I could only hope that Lara hadn’t talked to him first because god knows what kind of lie that evil woman could have come up with.
Never had I any inclination that Lara would turn out this way, that all of the times she’d tried to bond with me she’d had a hidden agenda. She must’ve been trying to gauge any weak spots, trying to see where she could poke and prod and drag me down. She must’ve noticed the way I’d looked at Patrick, had observed that I was in love with her son.
“Hi dad,” I greeted, trying my best to make sure that my voice didn’t sound so heartbroken.
“Britney.” Dad’s voice was sharp and curt and I suddenly sat up straighter, knowing this voice. I’d heard this voice enough in my childhood to know that this was the tone my father used whenever he was going to scold me. I could feel my muscles anticipating the scolding. “Your mother called.”
“From the dead?” I replied sarcastically, hating how he regarded Lara as my mother. She may have been present in the majority of my life, unlike my biological mother, but she would never be my mom. I didn’t want a mother as traitorous as her.
On the other end of the line, I could imagine dad rolling his eyes. “You know what I mean, Britney. You had me fooled for a second thinking that you went to Harvard early so you could finish early and do your job as co-CEO of Stocks because you couldn’t wait to get your hands dirty. But of course, I should’ve known. You go through the motions of life with your heart and not with your mind, I should’ve known better.”
“What the hell are you talking about, dad?” What sick story did Lara tell him? Why was he sprouting out nonsense? “Did Lara tell you that? You honestly believe her more than me? You honestly think that little of me, dad?”
“Eloping with some guy you just met? Who is no one in our society? Who doesn’t have any prestigious family background? You’re shaming our name with what you’ve done, Britney. You’re already making rounds in the media, it’s fucking disgusting.”
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I looked up at Lauren. She stared back at me blankly, unaware of the conversation I was having with my father. I put him on speaker and then lowered my phone on the couch so that Lauren could listen in. “What do you mean making rounds in the media, dad?”
“There have been photographs of you circulating with a guy. You play it off like he’s your classmate but Lara suggested otherwi
se. There are intimate photos of the two of you too. We’re going to do damage control once I get there, Britney.”
He hung up on me after that and Lauren and I stared at each other in confusion. “What the hell was he talking about?”
Lauren shook her head, just as confused as I was. “Do you think that Lara might’ve changed the story and had Chris believe the lie she’s made?”
I narrowed my eyes and gripped my phone tightly, the insides of my stomach churning with the possibility. “That’s likely the case.”
Chapter 13
Patrick
I’D BEEN TRYING TO call Britney for the past few days ever since she’d found out, but she’d either changed her number or blocked mine so I couldn’t call her. I’d tried to reach Lauren’s phone too but she’d never answered my calls either. Alex had reprimanded me because of my actions but was willing to hear my side of the story still. He told me that he would tell Lauren about my side of the story but he didn’t guarantee that Lauren could get Britney to talk to me since, according to Lauren, Britney was in a bad state because of what I’d done.
And I’ve never hated myself more than I did now.
I should’ve told Britney the truth because maybe if it had come from me, maybe if she hadn’t have found out like she had, maybe things could’ve been different. But who was I kidding?
She had been fooled by so many guys I wasn’t any different from them. We all wanted the same thing from her, a chance to have our shot with whatever inheritance she would receive from the renowned Christopher Baldwin. But I’d fallen in love with her and, in the end, it wasn’t whatever company her father or she could offer me - all I wanted was her.
And she didn’t know that.
My phone rang and I answered the call, surprised that it was from Lauren. “Patrick?”
“Lauren, thank god you finally called me back. How’s Britney? Where is she? Can I talk to her?” My voice sounded so frantic but I needed to talk to Britney, I desperately needed to.
