Tangled Vows (Mistress Book 1)

by Stone, Anna

  “It’s too late,” Yvonne said flatly. “Nicholas, he posted photos of the contracts on social media for all to see.”

  Ruby’s heart sank. “Both the contracts?”

  “Yes, both the contracts. We’ve been exposed.”

  Ruby barely cared about the fact that everyone now knew the intimate details of their arrangement. What she cared about was how much this was clearly hurting Yvonne.

  Ruby approached her. Her back was still turned, but as Ruby drew closer, she saw Yvonne’s face reflected in the window, warped with despair.

  “Yvonne, everything is going to be okay.”

  Yvonne shook her head. “No, it’s not. There’s no way I can get my inheritance now. All that money, gone. How am I going to help Nita?” Her voice cracked. “And now everyone knows our marriage is a lie. Do you have any idea how humiliating this is? This farce of a relationship, exposed to the entire world.”

  Ruby felt a pang in her chest. Pushing it aside, she reached out and touched the other woman’s shoulder. “Yvonne-”

  Yvonne broke away and began pacing before the window. “This was all for nothing. All the lies, the pretending.” She threw her hands up. “Almost three months, wasted on this stupid charade. And now, it’s over.”

  The ache in Ruby’s chest turned into a stabbing too painful to ignore. “Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked quietly.

  “No.” Yvonne’s voice was devoid of emotion. “Just leave me be.”

  “I’m sorry, Yvonne. I’m so sorry.”

  Ruby turned and fled from the room, her eyes stinging with tears. She returned to her bedroom, shut the door, and collapsed onto the bed, Yvonne’s words echoing in her mind. Her chest felt hollow. Sure, Ruby had messed up. Sure, she’d ruined things for Yvonne. But did Yvonne truly believe that this was all for nothing, that these three months had been wasted?

  Ruby buried her face in her pillow, trying to smother the hurt inside her. She had no right to be upset. The whole point of their marriage was so that Yvonne could get her inheritance. That was all Yvonne had needed Ruby for. From the very beginning, Yvonne had made it clear that their arrangement was purely business.

  To Yvonne, Ruby was just a means to an end.

  Ruby sat up and yanked the wedding ring from her finger, tossing it to the floor. To think she’d opened up to Yvonne, sharing all her darkest secrets and desires. To think Ruby had trusted Yvonne. To think Ruby had started to believe that what they had was real.

  To think she’d started to wonder whether she was falling in love with Yvonne.

  Ruby should have known better. She’d been stupid to let her feelings get caught up in everything between them. Stupid to think their arrangement could have been more. Stupid to give her mind, and body, and everything else to this woman who only wanted her for money and pleasure.

  She’d been stupid to agree to this sham of a marriage in the first place.

  Ruby got up from the bed. She didn’t want to stay here. Yvonne herself had said that it was all over.

  Ruby went into her closet, grabbed her suitcase, and started to pack.

  Chapter 24

  Y vonne knocked on Ruby’s bedroom door. She needed to apologize for her behavior the night before. She was ashamed of how badly she’d reacted to the situation. Everything had been spiraling out of control, and she’d found herself out of her depth.

  It wasn’t a feeling she was accustomed to. She’d been terrified. The things she’d said to Ruby, the way she’d treated her, had been callous and unfair. Yvonne had been so consumed by the fact that her inheritance plot was falling apart that she hadn’t even considered how Ruby’s encounter with Nicholas had affected her.

  Yvonne knocked on the door again. “Ruby? Are you in there?”

  She waited but didn’t get a response. It was morning, so there was a chance Ruby was still asleep, but Yvonne needed to talk to her. She waited a few seconds more, then began knocking more insistently.

  Just when Yvonne was about to give up, the door swung open .

  Ruby stood before her, her face blank and her blue eyes cold. “What is it?”

  “You’re awake,” Yvonne said. Ruby was already fully dressed. She looked like she’d been awake for a while. “Can I come in?”

  Ruby stepped aside for Yvonne to enter the room. Ruby took a seat on the edge of her bed, while Yvonne perched on a nearby armchair, taking a moment to gather her thoughts.

  “So?” Ruby said. “What do you want?”

  Yvonne’s stomach tightened. Clearly, she’d hurt Ruby more than she’d realized. “I want to talk about last night. I need to apologize for how I behaved.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “No, it’s not. I should never have said what I did. I never meant to…” Why did Ruby’s room look so bare? Yvonne looked around it.

  Sitting in the corner were two fully packed suitcases.

  Her heart lurched. “Ruby. You’re leaving?”

  Ruby gave her a dismissive shrug. “It’s over. You said so yourself last night.”

  “I didn’t mean-” Yvonne shook her head. “I didn’t mean you should leave .”

  “What’s the point in staying?”

  “Ruby-”

  “What, Yvonne? What is it that you want? Do you even know yourself?” Ruby’s voice rose. “It’s been like this with you from the start. You say you want one thing, but you behave in the complete opposite way. You push me away, then you tell me I’m precious. You play these games with me while saying they mean nothing. Then yesterday, you said that these three months were a waste, that they were all for nothing? What am I supposed to think? How am I supposed to feel?” She shook her head. “I’m so tired of this. Do you ever mean anything you say? Do you ever stop to think about who you hurt just by being the way you are? Or are you just too stuck in your own head to even care?”

  Yvonne flinched. “I-”

  “Just tell me what you want, Yvonne! For once, just tell me.”

  “I don’t know!” Yvonne stopped and took a deep breath. “I don’t know what I want. I just… I don’t want to give up on this yet.”

  “This? What do you mean by ‘this?’ Do you mean us, or your plan to get your inheritance?”

  Yvonne hesitated, just for a moment. But it was long enough.

  Ruby scoffed. “That’s what I thought. You know what, that’s fine with me. If you still want to try to salvage this stupid inheritance plot, I’ll stick around. It’s almost three months already, I might as well get something out of it.”

  “Ruby-”

  “Tell me what I need to do, Yvonne. That’s all you ever do, isn’t it? That’s all you want from me, right? You want someone you can tell what to do? What to say? Someone who will crawl for your entertainment? Someone you can own ?”

  Something tore inside Yvonne’s chest. “Ruby-”

  “Just tell me how we can salvage this so I still get my money.”

  “Fine.” Yvonne gritted her jaw. “I don’t have any ideas yet, but I’m working on it. If there’s even a small chance we can convince Bill that we’re really married, I want to take it. All I need is for you to come to the meeting with me.” She paused. “And even if I don’t get the inheritance money, I’ll still give you your money. Two and a half million. You held up your end of the bargain after all.”

  “Fine. I’ll come to the meeting. I’ll stay until then. At least that way, these three months wouldn’t be a complete waste,” she muttered.

  “Ruby, please.”

  Ruby crossed her arms. “Are we done? I’d like to be alone.”

  Yvonne remained seated. She couldn’t leave things between them like this. She couldn’t let this rift between them grow any bigger.

  But the pain in Ruby’s eyes as she looked at Yvonne was too much to bear.

  “Yes,” Yvonne said. “We’re done.”

  She rose from her chair, took one last look at the suitcases in the corner, and left the room.

  “So,” Nita said. “To
what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

  Yvonne blew on her tea. “Do I need an excuse to come see you?”

  “No, but you usually have one.”

  “I just wanted to check on you. See how you’re doing.”

  “I’m doing fine,” Nita said. “That check you gave us really helped. It’s given us some room to breathe.”

  “Soon, you’ll be able to breathe easy for good. I’m going to get you that money, just like I promised you.”

  “Yvonne, you don’t have to do that. ”

  Yvonne crossed her arms. “We’re not having this argument again. The money is coming. I need a little more time, that’s all.”

  Yvonne had no idea how she was going to find the money if she didn’t get her inheritance. She also needed to find the money she’d promised Ruby. She could sell off some assets, but she’d lose millions. It would take her years to rebuild.

  Yvonne suppressed a sigh. Right now, money wasn’t even her biggest problem. She also had to deal with the fallout of her brother exposing her and Ruby. She’d lied to the world, and now everything had come tumbling down in a humiliating way. Yvonne didn’t care what most people thought of her, but she’d lied to her friends, and now they were angry with her, rightfully so. She felt awful about it. She’d been lying to herself when she’d said she didn’t care about deceiving her friends.

  You act like you’re this awful, cold-hearted person when you’re not.

  Ruby had been right. Yvonne pretended she didn’t have a heart, but she obviously did, otherwise she wouldn’t feel the way she did right now. She’d hurt Ruby badly, and not just last night. Yvonne had been heartless toward her from the start. She’d shut Ruby out, she’d pushed her away time and time again, just like she’d done to everyone else.

  But Ruby wasn’t like everyone else. She didn’t walk away from Yvonne at the bar that night. She didn’t walk away every time Yvonne turned her back on her. Ruby kept trying to break down Yvonne’s walls, and all because she saw something in Yvonne that made her not want to give up on her .

  But Yvonne didn’t deserve her.

  “Now, what’s going on with you?” Nita asked. “How’s that wife of yours? You still need to bring her around so I can meet her.”

  Yvonne’s stomach knotted. “That’s… not going to happen.”

  “Why not? Did something happen between the two of you?”

  “We-” Yvonne’s hands began to tremble. All of a sudden, everything she was feeling became too much. She gripped her teacup tighter. “I messed up, Nita. I messed everything up.”

  “I’m sure that’s not true. Whatever you did, I’m sure Ruby will forgive you for it.”

  “It wasn’t just one thing. This entire time, I treated her badly, I took her for granted. And now, I’ve really hurt her.” Yvonne shook her head. “She didn’t deserve any of it.”

  “Oh, Xiăo táo.” Nita reached across the table and put her hand on Yvonne’s. “You really care about her, don’t you?”

  “More than I’ve ever cared about anyone.”

  “Then you have to fight for her.”

  “No,” Yvonne said quietly. “It’s too complicated. This arrangement of ours, this farce of a marriage, I should have never let things get this far. I should have never let the lines get so blurred.”

  The room fell silent. Nita folded her arms on the table before her, her eyes wandering off into the distance.

  “There’s something I’ve never told you,” she said. “It’s about Mark and me. You see, our marriage was an arrangement of sorts too. ”

  Yvonne stared at her. “Really?” That explained why Nita had been so quick to accept Yvonne and Ruby’s marriage.

  “It’s true. We barely knew each other when we got married, and we certainly weren’t in love. You never thought it was odd that I got married out of the blue? I suppose you were too young to notice.”

  Yvonne vaguely remembered Nita getting married when she was around ten years old. Her father had forbidden her from going to the wedding, as it wouldn’t have been ‘appropriate’ due to Nita’s status as the help.

  Nita leaned back in her chair. “The story isn’t the least bit exciting. I was in my late twenties and single as could be. It had my parents worried. They were very traditional. They were concerned that I wouldn’t be able to find someone to marry at such an ‘old’ age. Eventually, they decided to take matters into their own hands and find me a husband, all under the guise of matchmaking.”

  “And you let them? That doesn’t sound like the Nita I know.”

  “Of course I didn’t. I resisted every step of the way. My parents presented me with an endless stream of potential husbands. To my parents’ dismay, I turned them all down in the rudest way possible. That was, until Mark.”

  Nita’s eyes grew distant. “He was the son of a family friend. My parents invited him and his parents over for dinner without telling me. I was furious until I saw him. He was one of the most handsome people I’d ever seen. But he soon proved to be arrogant and frustrating.”

  Hadn’t Yvonne felt that way too, when she’d first laid eyes on Ruby? That intense physical attraction, followed immediately by irritation ?

  “After dinner, our parents sent the two of us out for a walk, alone. We ended up wandering the neighborhood for what seemed like hours, venting to each other about how crazy our parents were when it came to marriage. His were even worse than mine. And on that walk, he proposed that we marry each other just to get them off our backs. Against all my better judgment, I agreed. A couple of months later, we were married.

  “We moved in together and basically became roommates, playing the happy couple for our parents. But slowly, the two of us grew closer. Slowly, we went from roommates to something more.” Nita smiled. “And here we are, three kids and almost twenty-five years later, still together.”

  “I had no idea,” Yvonne said. “The two of you seem like such a normal married couple.”

  “That’s because we are. Why do you think I’ve stuck with Mark through everything he’s put the family through with this business of his, all the mistakes he’s made? It’s because I love him. Yvonne, sometimes fate throws people together. But embracing that fate, embracing love? That’s a choice only you can make.”

  Yvonne shook her head. “What’s between Ruby and me, it isn’t fate, or love. It’s just money, and sex, and emotions.”

  “Do you truly believe that, or are you just telling yourself that because it makes this easier?”

  Yvonne didn’t answer her.

  Nita tilted her head, studying Yvonne. “Why did you marry Ruby in the first place?”

  Yvonne frowned. Did she even know the answer herself? While she’d ostensibly gotten married to solve a problem, was that truly the only reason she’d married Ruby? Had there been a part of her that had simply married Ruby because she’d felt that pull, that attraction to her, from the moment their eyes had met in that bar?

  Would Yvonne have gone through with the marriage if she hadn’t felt anything toward Ruby at all?

  She sighed. “It doesn’t matter. Everything between us is too messy, too complicated. It was never going to work.”

  There was no point in fighting it. Ruby’s bags were packed. She already had one foot out the door.

  It was over.

  Chapter 25

  Y vonne parked her car out the front of Bill Marsden’s law offices. She’d come straight from work. Ruby hadn’t arrived yet, but she’d promised to show.

  Not that it mattered at this point. Yvonne had spent the entire week trying to think of a way to convince Bill to give her the money, but she hadn’t come up with anything. She didn’t know if the news that her marriage to Ruby was a sham had reached Bill himself, but even if it hadn’t, Yvonne didn’t have a witness to vouch for them. The meeting was pointless.

  She got out of the car. As she spotted Ruby heading in her direction, she felt a tightness in her chest. Over the course of the past week and a half, the tw
o of them had barely spoken to, or even seen each other, despite still living together. The gulf that had formed between them was insurmountable.

  Yvonne approached her. “Ready to go in?”

  Ruby nodded.

  “Ruby, I- ”

  “Let’s just do this.”

  Yvonne headed into the office, Ruby behind her. After speaking to Bill’s secretary, they took a seat in the waiting room. They were early, so they sat in silence while they waited. Ruby wouldn’t even look at Yvonne.

  After a few minutes, the door to the waiting room swung open. In walked Madison, dressed casually and looking hurried.

  She spotted Yvonne. “Good, you’re here.”

  Yvonne frowned. “What are you doing here?” Madison was due to leave for her honeymoon later in the evening. “Shouldn’t you be at the airport? Is there a problem?”

  “No, everything is fine. We rescheduled our flight for tomorrow morning.”

  “Why? What’s going on?”

  “I’m here to be your witness.”

  Yvonne blinked. “What are you talking about?” She lowered her voice. “I’m not going to ask you to lie for me.”

  “I don’t intend to.”

  “I don’t understand-”

  The door to Bill’s office opened. An older man wearing a pair of reading glasses stepped out into the waiting room.

  “Yvonne, are you ready?” Bill said.

  Yvonne looked at Madison, who nodded. She looked at Ruby, who would barely meet her eye. Yvonne wasn’t ready at all.

  But there was no point in delaying the inevitable.

  “We’re ready,” Yvonne said.

  She stood up and followed Bill into his office, Ruby and Madison behind her.

  “Hello, Yvonne. ”

  A chill went down Yvonne’s spine. She turned to see Nicholas leaning casually against the wall, a dark look on his face.

  “Nicholas,” Yvonne hissed. “What the hell are you doing here? Didn’t I tell you to stay away from me and Ruby?”