by M. Malone
"I'm so sorry, honey." Daphne's sorrow comes over the line and blends with mine. She hates giving bad news and this is probably even worse for her since she knows how I feel about Finn.
"This just can't be real. Are you sure?"
"Tara said the new company's name is the same one on our paperwork when we did the deal with Finn. Unless this is all a really big coincidence."
"Or he's been playing me this whole time."
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
RISSA
Daphne, Tara and I have closeted ourselves in my office. I've looked at the contract we've signed a dozen times, hoping that the letters on the page will rearrange somehow and form something else. But there's no denying that the name matches the new owner of Mercers.
The owners were super helpful when I called back and very apologetic about everything. I'm sure they know how important their contract is to our business so I could tell they felt bad about the effect this will have on us. But it's not their fault that I trusted the wrong man.
That's no one's fault but my own.
"Maybe it isn't what it looks like?" Daphne suggests. She's been hovering over me ever since I got here. I think she feels some sense of responsibility since she had to break the news to me. But it doesn't matter who told me or how I found out. All that matters is the bottom line.
Finn Marshall now owns me in truth.
"Or maybe it's exactly what it looks like." My head falls forward into my hands. Not only am I humiliated because I've been so stupid and so blind but also completely sick that I have let my two best friends down. They've done nothing but support me and now because of Finn's vendetta against me, they are going to be caught up in the crossfire.
"He warned me. He told me in the very beginning that he wanted revenge and that was his sole purpose in seeking me out."
"He actually said that?" Daphne asks, horrified.
Tara squeezes her arm. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. There may be another explanation. Maybe he was already in the process of buying Mercers before you guys reconnected?"
It's possible but in my heart I know it isn't true. My mom always told me not to trust pretty words from a man. To just take them at face value and I've never been good at that. If I had heeded that advice, then I would have run away the first time I saw Finn standing in the middle of his apartment looking so haunted.
"He would have told me about it if that were the case. It came up in conversation way too many times. No, this was deliberate. I know it was."
Finally Tara speaks what we're all thinking. "But if he's doing this for revenge, then that means we just lost two major contracts. And we can't meet payroll without at least one of them."
I nod, miserable. If I hadn't already done the paperwork to push a couple of our part-timers into full-time status it wouldn't be so bad. But we now have more salaries along with the resultant benefits and taxes to pay. Along with our next rent payment, we're screwed.
Totally and completely screwed.
"How could he even know that was one of our major clients in time to pull this off?" Tara wonders.
"Oh god." The humiliations just keep on coming. I bang my forehead against the desk. "The presentation. When his lawyer asked for the quote, he also asked for references. You know, other clients so they can check up on you. That presentation gave him everything he needed to figure out our weak spots. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't try to buy all of our other clients. That's how he does things. All or nothing."
"This is pretty sick. There has to be something we can do." Tara paces the floor and then blows out a breath. "Maybe we should go and talk to him. All three of us. We can threaten to sue or go to the media! How would he like that? I'm sure the local news would cover that story. Billionaire asshole bankrupts three local women for funzies."
I snort out a laugh. Even in the midst of a crisis Tara can always make me laugh. Then my smile fades. "I'll go talk to him. He's mad at me so it follows that I'm the one he wants to hurt the most. Maybe if I tell him what he's really done, he'll stop this. There's plenty of other ways he can hurt just me without taking away the employment of a bunch of women who need their jobs.”
"Do you really think that'll work?" Daphne looks hopeful. I don't want to crush her optimism but I'm afraid to give her anything to hold on to.
"No, I really don't think that'll work. But I'm hoping that underneath the part of him that obviously still hates me, that there's still a piece of the boy I loved. That guy was always a good person." I stand up and grab my handbag.
"Let's just hope he’s still in there somewhere.”
* * * * *
Even though I have a key, I ring the bell. Finn opens the door after a few minutes.
"Rissa? What are you doing out here? Did you lose your key?"
He opens the door wider and steps back so I can enter. After a moment of hesitation, I come in. With the exception of that day when he was hallucinating, he's never scared me. I'm just afraid of what he makes me feel.
"I already know Finn, so you can drop the act. Your plan succeeded. Congratulations."
He looks so thoroughly confused that for a moment a small ray of hope peeks through that maybe this is all a mistake.
"What plan?"
"Your revenge. Your plan to buy all my clients so that I'll be wholly and completely dependent on you."
Suddenly he looks wary. "What are you talking about?"
"Mercers. They were just bought out. By your company."
He looks shocked and then I see it. Recognition. He knew this was happening.
His eyes close briefly. "Rissa wait. I can explain."
Those words should be banned from the male vocabulary because that's the first thing men say when they've done something wrong. Andy always had an explanation too after he'd hurt me and I'm done with listening to people rationalizing away my pain.
"There's nothing that needs explanation. I'm stupid for trusting. You were honest from the very beginning. You told me that this was your way of working me out of your system and that you wanted to hurt me the way I hurt you. Well, I just thought you should know that your plan worked brilliantly."
I can feel the tears coming but I refuse to cry in front of him. That's what he wants. He wanted to break me down. To make me pay. It hurts so much to think back over the last few weeks, to find out that all those moments that I thought we were reconnecting were really just part of some grand master plan to ruin me. I've had more fun with him than I've had with anyone. Ever. How can I ever trust anybody again if this isn't real? How can I trust anything I feel?
"Rissa, listen to me. In the beginning I did want to hurt you. I told my lawyer to keep his eyes open for the opportunity to buy any of the companies listed as your clients. I admit that."
I gape at him. "You say that like it's not a big deal. Like it's not the worst violation ever."
"That's not what I meant. I know that it was wrong. And as soon as we started talking again, things started to change. All the ways I wanted to hurt you, I wanted to help you. Being around you reminded me of how I used to be. Carefree. Happy."
"Well, being around you has reminded me that I'm just as naive as ever. Because once again I've let myself get involved with someone who has an ulterior motive. Someone who wants to control me."
"I don't want to control you. My plan was to buy out all your clients just so you'd see me. I wanted you to know that I could crush you. The way you crushed me all those years ago. But I gave it up just as soon as I got to know you again. I told my lawyer to stop looking for deals. I didn't realize that he'd already finalized this one. He has power of attorney to complete deals for this company without my signature. I didn't even know he'd done it until today. I thought that I had time to fix it. I was going to tell you."
I laugh so hard it actually hurts my stomach. Finn just stands watching me like he's afraid to come any closer. Which shows he really is a smart one because if he gets too close right now I might just scratch his eyes out.
/> "That's your defense? You've been accused of lying, manipulating and just being downright diabolical and your defense is my lawyer did it?"
Finn sighs. "I was going to tell you. I just thought I had more time to figure things out. I'll fix this and then things can go back to the way they were."
How could I not have seen this in him before now, that he will spin, cajole and manipulate any situation regardless of how wrong it may be? Has he really been like this all along and I just couldn't see it? Or did I do this to him?
Maybe this is my penance for my past sins. To reconnect with the man I love only to find that he's been destroyed and twisted by what I did to him.
"All that time you were telling me you loved me and all the while you were scheming behind my back to bankrupt my business. But it's not just my business, Finn. It's Tara's and Daphne's and the women who work for us. They're all hurt too and it isn't fair because they have nothing to do with our history."
I hold up my hand when he moves closer. All the things that he'll say to convince me are probably already poised on his lips for a perfect delivery. Finn has always been a master at that and I'm sure with enough time he could wear me down and convince me that I'm overreacting. But I don't want to let him sway me this time.
"Things can't go back to the way they were."
I sit down on the arm of the couch, suddenly exhausted and depressed. The second wind I'd gotten when I found out about his treachery is deserting me now leaving me with the same lingering lethargy I had when I first woke up.
Briefly, I wish that I could rewind and go back to this morning. I would roll over, put the pillow over my head and ignore the world. We never truly enjoy our last moments of calm.
"Please just let me try to fix this, Rissa. I'll sell the company to someone else with the contingency that they have to use your company's services. Or I'll keep it and then you'll know for sure that you have the contract as long as you want it."
He sounds so sincere, one shade close to begging and for a moment, I almost give in. But where does it end if I do that? Will he buy all my other clients? Will he buy the grocery store where I shop or the salon where I get my hair done? Where will his sphere of control end? It'll be just like before when I lived with Andrew, scared to tell anyone how he treated me because I was wholly dependent on him for survival.
Never again.
"No matter what spin you try to put on this, it comes down to the same thing. You just want to control me just like Andrew did. And I'm over that."
* * * * *
Driving home, I have to pull over three times because I'm crying so hard. I don't want to have an accident or endanger anyone else but I really just want to get home. I need my bed and my mom and to block out everything to do with manipulative men.
But then again I really don't want my mom to see me like this. So I decide instead to return to my house. Andrew's house, I correct myself. I have to stop thinking of it as my home. It never really was.
I pull up in the driveway and my eyes are immediately drawn to the white sign taped to the door. I get out, not bothering to lock up my car, and march across the lawn. My neighbor on the left side is outside weeding. When she sees me on the warpath toward the front door, she jumps up and runs inside her house.
That's right. Go call and tell him I'm here.
I snatch the paper off the door and scan the document quickly. It's some kind of notice that says I have three days to vacate the property for failure to pay rent.
That bastard.
Andrew is pissed so this is how he decides to punish me. By throwing me out with very little warning. It shouldn't even come as a surprise to me since this is exactly the kind of thing he does. Underhanded. Juvenile. Manipulative.
My taste in men is consistent at least.
I pull out my phone. "Tara. I'm so sorry to do this but can you come to my house? Andy has put some kind of eviction notice on the door and I'll need help getting my stuff out."
She promises to bring Daphne with her before she hangs up. Briefly, I realize that even though promoting three people is probably what's going to bankrupt us, at least it means that the girls and I have more time to deal with all this crap.
I ball up the paper and open the door with my key. It smells slightly musty after being closed up for the past few weeks. I flip the deadbolt and then go upstairs to the master bedroom. The majority of the furniture was stuff that Andrew bought for us so I don't want any of that. I throw most of my clothes in my suitcase and then zip it closed. I already packed most of my essentials when I moved into my mom's house so the only things left are my out of season clothes and some of my books.
I pack my favorite paperbacks into a duffel bag and then wrestle both the duffel and the suitcase down the stairs. I hear a car in the driveway and look out the window. Andy steps out of his white SUV. When he sees me in the window, he waves with a little smirk on his face.
I rush over to the front door and pull it open. I quickly flip the lock on the glass storm door and then close the front door again. He has a key to the main door but I'm willing to bet he doesn't have one for the storm door. I'm not even sure if I have it.
A muffled curse from the other side of the door proves me right. "Rissa! Open the damn door."
"Go away Andrew or I'm calling the police!"
"You can't lock me out, this is my house!"
I hear him fumbling with the latch again and then I hear a muffled thud.
"Son of a bitch!"
I look out of the peephole but I can't see anything. Then I hear Tara's voice.
"Hello, 911. Yes, Andrew Carrington is harassing my friend at her home. Yes, right now. You know I'm not sure if he's armed or not. It's probably better to assume he is. Maybe you should send a SWAT team and tell the local news to come too."
I run to the window just in time to see Andy jump behind the wheel of his SUV and reverse out of the driveway. Tara runs behind him and then throws something at the back of the car. It connects with the back bumper and Andrew swerves slightly.
Good one, Tara.
I run back to the front door and pull it open. Daphne looks terrified and launches herself into my arms. "Rissa! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, thanks to you guys. I'm so glad you're here." I hug her back, then start laughing when I see the muddy rock on the front step.
"Did you throw that at him?" I ask Tara when she approaches.
She sniffs. "Damn right I did. And I'm bummed that my aim is so bad. I thought for sure I'd nail him in the face with that one."
"Did you actually call the cops?" Daphne looks impressed.
Tara makes a face. "No, I actually didn't have time to dial anything. I just wanted to scare him off. He's such an asshole." She looks down at her phone and then hits a few keys.
"Who are you calling now?" Daphne asks.
"No one." Tara pockets her phone but she won't meet my eyes.
She looks behind me to the suitcase and duffel I dropped in the middle of the entryway. "Come on let's box up your stuff and get it over to your Mom's house before that jerk comes back. I don't feel like going to jail today."
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
FINN
As evening descends, I sit staring at my phone. I've been on calls all morning, trying to figure out what I should do.
How could I have screwed this up so badly?
Patrick Stevens had several suggestions and I've considered everything from selling the company to outright gifting it to Marissa.
But in the end, I know it actually won't make any difference. Even if I could convince the Mercers to buy it back, the damage is already done. Rissa has seen just how far I'll go when I want something and how ruthless I can be when I consider someone an enemy.
It wasn't about the company it was about the reason why I'd purchased it in the first place.
My plan didn't seem to have any downsides in the beginning. My image of Rissa was of a beautiful materialistic liar, a girl who left me when I needed her the
most. But after just a few days with her, I knew even then that I was wrong.
Worse, I wasn't the only one who'd felt betrayed. The things that I'd done and said had contributed to our relationship falling apart just as much as her decision to choose someone else. Maybe if I hadn't been deployed part of the time I could have seen the cracks in our relationship before it was too late. But I was so caught up in my jealousy and anger that all I could see was that she'd left me. And I'd felt completely justified in devising my plan to punish her.
I would have never thought we'd end up as friends again and definitely not lovers.
All at once, I become aware of the time. I've been sitting in this room all day. I've missed my usual visit with my mother. If I leave now, I can get over there before it gets too late. She goes to bed earlier now and sleeps longer.
I pull out my phone to call Jonah and then put it away. I grab the keys I keep on the kitchen counter and ride the elevator down to the parking level. Then I climb up into the old Ford pickup that I've had for ages.
When I get to my mom's house, Tank's motorcycle is in the drive and lights are on all over the house. Part of me wants to turn around and go back home but I park in the drive next to my brother's bike and get out. It's time I stopped hiding from the people who love me and let them help me.
I open the door with my key. Emma looks up from the couch. "Finn! You actually came this time?"
My face must show that I have no idea what she's talking about because she gets up. "Tank told me he's invited you to dinner with us a few times but you're always too busy."
Her eyes are kind and I could easily take the out that she's given me. But I'm tired of allowing other people to make excuses for my bad behavior.
"My brother was trying to keep me from looking like a selfish jerk. I'm not too busy, I've just been too wrapped up in my own shit to care about being a real part of this family. I'm sorry for that. I'm going to try to do better."
