I crossed my arms over my chest, forcing myself to enter the kitchen and lessen the distance between us.
“You’re asking me what is going on, you lying son of a bitch?” The insult was out of my lips before I could even think about it twice, but I was so mad I didn’t even care that I was doing something completely out of character.
He recoiled, confusion and anger filling his eyes. “What the hell, Claire? Why are you acting like this?”
My tears threatened to spill out again, but I bit my lip to prevent them from coming out. I wasn’t going to let him see me cry. I was stronger than this.
“You lied to me. You lied to me all this time. And I gave you another chance, foolishly believing your words.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down.” He raised his hands in the air, taking another step toward me. “I don’t understand a word you’re saying. I lied to you? About what? When?”
He feigned innocence, which only made my hackles rise. If I hadn’t been deceived by him once, I could actually believe him. His face and attitude were that convincing.
“You told me you were going to save Pathways! You told me you were going to buy it and everything was going to be alright! But that was all a lie. You never planned to buy our building and save it.”
He clenched his hands, visibly shaking. “That’s bullshit! Where did you get that from? I never lied to you about that. Never.” He shook his head, clearly confounded by my accusation. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m really going to buy that building. In fact, I’m having a meeting with my accountants today about the purchase and—”
“Real Estate Silver’s contractors are currently at my clinic. They are going to tear it down today. So stop pretending.”
His eyes widened. “What? No! They can’t do that.”
I looked away, tears prickling my eyes as pain spread through my chest. I wouldn’t cry. I wouldn’t. “Don’t play innocent, Jared. You knew about this. I trusted you, but you knew about this all along and—”
“I didn’t know about this!” He grabbed me by my arms and made me look at him. “Listen to me, Claire. You have to believe me. I understand that your trust in me is fragile—”
I snorted, painfully aware of the heat his hands emanated, seeping into me. “My trust in you is non-existent.”
His face fell, his eyes glistening as if my words had cut him to the quick. “You have to believe me,” he repeated. He brushed his fingers against my cheek, but I pulled away, refusing to let him touch me no matter how much I wanted it. He didn’t let go of me, keeping me in place.
“I was at the meeting with the board several days ago and we discussed my plan to buy Pathways’ building. I didn’t lie to you about that. We were negotiating about this for hours, and I made sure to present them all the reasons why I should obtain that building. I even talked with my father, who’s the majority shareholder of Real Estate Silver, to appeal to them. I was certain we convinced them to let me obtain the clinic, and I was already preparing the funds for the purchase.”
We observed each other silently as I mulled over his words, at sixes and sevens because I had no clue how to feel about this. My heart wanted me to believe him and give him yet another chance, but my reason told me I was stupid for even considering letting this slide.
But what if there was even a slight chance he was telling the truth? What if he actually hadn’t known about this and hadn’t lied to me about saving my clinic?
“Then what are they doing in my clinic?” I pulled away from him, needing to put several steps between us so I could think more clearly. His nearness was definitely clouding my better judgment.
He grabbed his head, exasperated. “I don’t know! As I told you, I was certain I managed to convince the board to let me purchase that building instead of Real Estate Silver, so I don’t know what the fuck is going on now.”
He began pacing left and right. “We’ve been working under tight deadlines, and they have been pressuring me these last few weeks to accelerate the process and obtain the building before some other buyer emerges. The location was too good to miss this opportunity. So this is the only way I can explain why they would do it straight off.”
His pleading eyes locked on mine. “Believe me.” Tentatively, he stepped next to me and took my hands. I had difficulty swallowing, feeling like I was walking a thin line. Only one wrong step could lead me to an abyss of failure, but what if he was telling the truth?
I closed my eyes, basking in his touch. His fingers were tracing my wrists, caressing me slowly, and it felt too good. “I don’t know, Jared. I don’t know if I can trust you.” I met his gaze. “I have trust issues. My mother had cheated on my father, and my first love decided it was a good idea to cheat on me with my very best friend. Then you came and hid the truth from me. So now, I feel like I would be a complete fool to put my trust in you again.”
He moved his hands around my waist, pulling me against him, but I had no strength in me to push myself away from him. My body was betraying me.
“Claire, I understand why you can’t trust me that easily, and I don’t want to pressure you to believe me. But I don’t want you hurting. I don’t want you to think I’m some bastard who just wants to play with your feelings.” He cupped my cheek. “I told you that I care about you. And that is real. I care about you.” He lowered his head, only a few inches separating our lips. “I love you,” he said it so silently that I could have easily missed it.
“What?”
“I love you, and I want to make you happy. That’s not a lie. So I’m going to fix this. I’m not going to let them take that building. I’m going to save it. For you.”
My pulse went haywire, my world changing color with the feeling of overwhelming joy. I could see it in his eyes—the truth. I could feel it in his gentle touch, in the way he kept me against him, the heat radiating from him in waves.
And with no more doubts, I pressed my lips against his and gave in to my desire, our bodies coming together like two separated pieces of one whole. Like I’d come home.
“I’m so sorry for everything, Claire,” he muttered into my lips, pressing his forehead against mine. “I’m sorry for making you lose your trust in me. If I hadn’t been such a jerk in the beginning, maybe things could have been different. But now it’s time for me to fix it.”
My lips were still tingling and swollen when he pulled away to call his assistant. I observed his face frowning as they hashed out this issue, relying on the hope that everything was going to be alright. It had to be.
“And my father? Is he there too?” He listened to his assistant intently, focused on one spot on the floor. “Okay. Then maybe he and I can do something to pull this off. Okay, Ramon. See you soon,” he said and ended the call.
“What is happening?”
He ran his fingers through his hair and tugged at it.
“It appears that several members of the board aren’t happy with me leaving the business, which is why they aren’t quite willing to drop the project and hand it to me.”
“That is absurd!”
“Tell me about it. I have to go there and talk with them again. I can’t let them demolish that building.”
“But what are you going to say to them?” I was becoming fidgety, getting more worried by second. “Do you have a plan?”
His grim face brought leaden sensation to my stomach. This wasn’t good at all. “I don’t know. I don’t know what to do to convince the board, but I promise you I won’t give up on your building or you.” He kissed my hand before he leaned in and kissed my forehead. “Everything is going to be alright. I won’t let them to this. I’m going to find a way.”
Despite the hopelessness of the situation, a flicker of warmth rushed through my chest. Jared was real. He hadn’t stabbed me in the back. He was trying to make things right.
“I trust you,” I said at last. “Now I know you aren’t at fault here and you’re going to do all you can to help me with this. Which means
a lot to me. Thank you.”
His lips grazed my cheek before they slid over mine, eliciting a tiny moan from me. “No, thank you. Thank you for believing me and for letting me do this for you. You mean a lot to me, so I can’t just stand aside and do nothing as your world falls apart.”
I was about to tell him he meant a lot to me too, but my phone rang again, reminding me of the urgency of the situation, and I fished it out of my pocket. Marissa. “I have to go. Alison and Marissa are probably doing all they can to move our things out of that building before they start tearing it down, so I can’t lose any more time here.”
“I know. Go.”
I drew away from him, on my way out of the kitchen, but then I stopped and faced him. “And I love you too, Jared.”
The last thing I saw before I left the kitchen in a hurry was his eyes widening, and a small smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. He was the one who was giving me the strength to push through this, and I held onto the tiny threads of hope that he might be able to do something and get us out of this predicament.
After all, my glass had always been half full, so I wouldn’t let despair get the best of me.
12
That was easier said than done. The more time I spent rushing through our clinic and packing our things into boxes, the more despair dug its claws into me. Everyone was tensed and in a rush, so it was hard to think clearly and detach myself from dread and sorrow.
Marissa, Alison and I had spent the whole day moving our things out of the place, in a complete rush because the construction workers were already here with their machines and tools. The contractors barely left us a few hours to pick our things up and leave, and I was livid. I was still processing the fact that we were kicked out of the place just like that—without any prior notice.
I wasn’t sure that was legal. Was that legal?
Anyway, this didn’t seem to bother the Real Estate Silver representatives, who just dismissed me with a scornful laugh when I mentioned they shouldn’t be doing this and we would sue them. Things slightly escalated when Bobby appeared and Alison had fallen out with him. She’d used a wide spectrum of expletives, pissed off because he hadn’t notified us we were going to get kicked out today.
Luckily, I managed to console her, mentioning that we were just losing precious time on arguing when we had more important things to do.
However, no matter how important it was to tame my anger and stay concentrated on getting our entire inventory out, it was difficult to do, so I kept repeating the mantra I used when I needed to calm down.
It’s going to be alright. Today sucks, but tomorrow will be way better. Everything will be solved. Don’t worry about it.
I fiercely hoped Jared would manage to make a deal with the board and get us out of this situation because if he couldn’t... My head hurt just thinking about it.
Daniel, Marissa’s husband, lent us a hand during this crisis, which was much appreciated. He had hired several people to help us with moving out and rented a few storage units for us to keep our things while we decided on our next move.
It was too bad that we had no clue what our next step could be. Marissa had done her best to find a good enough location with low rent, but we were out of time, and the only available locations in better city areas at the moment were overpriced.
I’d spent the last hour calling my clients and canceling their appointments, declining to think about the money we were going to lose until we managed to find a solution. If we managed to find a solution...
No, don’t think like that. It’s going to be alright. It had to be.
Alison and I got inside the building to pick up a few boxes from her office, when Marissa dashed toward us, wearing a dismal expression on her face.
“They are about to start the demolition process,” she notified us, and the hands of panic grasped me again.
“But they gave us a couple more hours—” I started, but Marissa shook her head.
“They said they are running out of time and need to start the process right away. They are moving people out of the building, and they ordered us to get outside ASAP.”
“No, it can’t be,” I said in an almost whining voice. My mind went over the remaining inventory in the offices—several tables, chairs, and cabinets, the boxes with old documents, and various office supplies. We’d taken out the most important things, but still...
This wasn’t right. This absolutely wasn’t right.
“I’m going to kill Bobby the next time I see him,” Alison muttered, her eyes flashing with anger. “If we’d only known about this earlier. I can’t believe something like this is happening to us.”
Marissa shrugged her shoulders. “Daniel is trying to negotiate a new rental price for the building near the bay. He’s currently in a meeting with them, so if he manages to get us a good deal, we can move there right away.”
“But what are the odds he’ll succeed?” Alison asked her. “We talked to them, and they were pretty determined not to rent that building for anything less than what they’re asking for. It would be a miracle if he actually manages to convince them.”
“Have a little faith, will ya?” I told her.
“I’m just realistic. Your optimism can’t pull us out of this now, Claire.”
“Maybe, but Jared can. Wait. I’m going to call him and see if he managed to solve this.”
I scurried out of the building with my phone pressed to my ear, silently telling Jared to pick up his phone. I hadn’t found any messages or missed calls from him, and I didn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing.
It was ringing and ringing, but Jared didn’t answer my call, so I called him once, twice, a few times, until I saw Alison and Marissa coming out of the building, shaking their heads at me.
“It’s too late,” Alison told me. “They’re starting. Damn it. This is one of those days when I wish I hadn’t quit smoking.”
I was left speechless, for what could I say as I watched them move to destroy the building that was like a second home to Alison, Marissa, and me all these years. We’d started here, and I remembered it like it was yesterday. We had been fresh out of college, full of dreams and enthusiasm. We had believed the world was ours, sure that our business would bloom and we would cater to many clients.
We’d gotten so used to this place that we had never thought we’d be left without it one day. And now it was going to be destroyed in a blink of an eye—years and years of memories erased and left in a pile of debris.
Who knew if we were going to pull out of this and get back on our feet?
Standing between Alison and Marissa, I hugged them around their shoulders and watched the workers as they shouted orders at each other. My chest felt heavy, disappointment and a great sense of loss engulfing my heart.
“Wait!” I heard Jared yell, and I whipped my head in his direction, my heart picking up its pace.
He looked unreal as he ran toward the workers, carrying a stack of papers in one hand, his face glowing with triumph.
He’d done it. He’d managed to save our clinic.
“Stop everything!” he yelled from the top of his lungs, making sure everyone around him heard him. The contractors from Real Estate Silver hurried toward him, their scowls showing exactly what they thought about Jared’s arrival. “You can’t demolish this building! So stop right now!”
“What are you doing, Holmes?” one of them asked him. “You’re out of this, so you can’t interfere.”
“Yeah, Holmes. You have no say in this,” the other said, glaring at Jared.
“Actually, I can. I’m the new owner of this building.”
“What?” the first one said.
“The new owner?” a few people repeated in hushed whispers, while Alison, Marissa, and I looked at each other in relief and joy. He’d bought it. He’d actually bought the building and saved our clinic.
“That is not possible,” the third contractor joined them, his mouth curled inwardly. “Real Estate Silver had mad
e the purchase, not you.”
“Actually, they haven’t signed any papers. So there was no purchase.” He sneered at them. “Since when did you become so sloppy? Were you so desperate that you were ready to demolish it without even acquiring all the necessary papers?”
What? So they were going to tear the building down before they even bought it? Were they nuts?
“We’ve made a deal with the owner,” the first contractor defended them.
“Which wasn’t documented anywhere. That’s not how the things are done, Meyers, and I thought you knew it. This is a rookie mistake. It’s something that can send you to jail and give Real Estate Silver a bad reputation, and that’s all because you and”—he pointed at all of them—“The rest of you are all goddamn greedy.”
They were fuming, and if looks could kill, Jared would already be lying dead on the ground.
“So where is the proof that you bought the building?”
With a punishing smirk, Jared flipped through the papers he was holding and turned one paper at them. “Take a closer look. Here is your proof. A signed contract of the purchase. This building is now mine.”
Meyers’s eyes had doubled, and he snatched the paper away from Jared to study it closely. “Impossible. Where did you find this amount of money?”
“The price is almost double from what we were ready to pay,” the second guy muttered.
Wow, wow, wow.
Double? Jared’s and my eyes met, and my chest expanded with love and gratitude. He’d actually given such a large amount of money to help us. He’d done this for me.
“I can’t believe this,” the third contractor said. “Are you hoodwinking us?”
Jared looked at him as if he was the dumbest person he’d ever met. “We aren’t in a gag show, Gonzales. This is real. As real as it can get. So you and your workers better leave this place before I involve the police.”
Meyers threw him a dirty look, his hands clenched on his sides. “You’re going to regret this. You shouldn’t have left Real Estate Silver.”
Jared got in his face, hovering above him by a few inches, and the difference in their power was evident, which made Meyers shrink.
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