Liesl was seated across from Isaias at a small table on the patio of his back garden. It was not even seven in the morning and there was a cool chill in the air. They were drinking hot coffee and sharing breakfast, each in their own thoughts.
A text message popped up on her phone from Merlin and she rolled her eyes and quickly deleted it. It seemed he had a new angle he wanted to play. She wasn’t interested and she wasn’t going to respond. It hurt too much to contemplate. She set her phone back down and dug back into her fruit bowl.
Her phone rang and she noted it was her ex-mother-in-law. She sighed and answered it, guilt compelling her to do so. “Hi Torrie. What’s going on?” She felt more than heard Isaias’ impatience at her for answering the call.
“Hello darling. I wanted to check in on you.”
“I’m doing great.”
“I miss you Liesl,” the woman said sadly. “You and I used to go shopping and for lunch a couple of times every month and I haven’t seen you since all of this happened other than the fiasco at your show. I wish I could see you.”
Liesl stared at the berries floating in her yoghurt. “Torrie. I can’t.”
“You’ve been my daughter for eight years. I hate this.” Her voice was quiet. She sniffed, “it’s not fair. Please have lunch with me.”
“Torrie, you knew.” Liesl said quietly. “You knew he cheated with my sister. You all did. Fred told me you all knew for two weeks before he asked me for a divorce, and you didn’t give me any warning as to what was coming. You had me at your home the night before and pretended everything was fine.”
“Liesl, there was a possibility the baby wasn’t his. Trent told me if I said anything and it turned out it was a false alarm, I’d have ruined your marriage for nothing.”
“For nothing? For nothing, Torrie? He slept with her multiple times. I deserved to know.”
“But if there was no baby, you wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“You should have told me the truth.”
“Trent said the risk to the stocks and the company were too great. He had known for a long time because Merlin had confided in him about Sandy’s behavior.”
“How long did Trent know?”
“Six months,” Torrie said quietly. “After the third time, Merlin went to Trent to ask him how to manage Sandy. She had shown up at his workplace and threatened to tell you they were sleeping together. Merlin was distressed. Trent and the board discussed it, and they advised Merlin to give her what she wants to ensure you never found out and got hurt.”
She was going to vomit. The entire board had known.
“When did you find out?”
“The day Sandy said she was pregnant. I was there at the company when she strolled into Merlin’s office and dropped the pregnancy test on his desk. Stupid whore.”
Liesl blinked at the uncharacteristic language. “You should have told me. If you loved me at all, Torrie, you should have told me.”
“I’m sorry, Liesl. I had to protect the company because Trent said the stocks would have plummeted if news got out about Merlin’s indiscretion. In fact, they did. They’re only starting to come back now. Ours is a family run company touting strong family values and this mess has caused such upheaval.”
“Fuck the stocks!” Liesl snapped furiously. “My life and my happiness mean more than your stupid company. You have the nerve to call me and tell me you love me and miss me in one breath and in the next tell me the company is more important?”
“It was a mistake, Liesl.”
“Those words appear to be the McGrath motto lately,” she shot back sarcastically. “Torrie, I’m sorry but I’m still far too angry with all of you to do this.”
“Can’t you find it in your heart to forgive me?”
“Not today,” she said honestly. “I need time, Torrie.”
“Please, Liesl. I know you don’t understand but Trent took this company over from his father.”
“I don’t care about the company. You made it more important than me.” She was reeling the board members had known of the affair.
“Liesl, without McGrath Industries, Merlin can’t afford to give you the life you deserve.”
She snorted derisively, “Torrie, I wouldn’t have cared if we were flat broke, living in a shoe box and wearing thrift store chic. I don’t need the world, Torrie. I need to be loved and respected. None of you can offer me this.”
“And you think this fellow you’re seeing will respect you?” Torrie asked quietly. “I saw the video. It didn’t seem very respectful to me. God Liesl, his hands were up your skirt. They had a board meeting with Merlin to discuss you cavorting with the enemy. It’s disgusting he would treat you so crassly.”
“You’re out of line, Torrie. You don’t get to comment on my relationship with Isaias when your own son screwed my sister in her wedding dress and then screwed me in my maid of honor dress the same day.” The silence on the other end of the line made her shake her head while she pushed some blueberries around her bowl.
“I’m sorry Liesl. I didn’t know.” Torrie said quietly. “I didn’t know this part.”
“Yeah, well he did. He didn’t even shower in between,” she recalled the day with disgust. “You want to talk respect, Torrie, tell me where the respect was in this.”
“I understand why you’re upset, Liesl. I do. I wish this had never happened.”
“You and me both.” She paused and then shook her head, “no, actually, I’m not sorry it happened. Going through all of this, has shown me how strong I am and how capable I am of standing on my own two feet. My life is on the upswing, Torrie. It’s not stagnant, boring and in limbo. I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time.”
“You can’t mean this Liesl. You loved Merlin so much.”
“Yes. I did and in devoting my entire heart and life to him, I gave up a huge part of who I am.” She sighed, “Torrie, I have to go. I need to get ready for my shift at the gallery.”
“Don’t forget me, Liesl,” Torrie whispered suddenly. “I know you’re hurting but I hope someday you can come back to me, and we can be close again.”
“Torrie, you betrayed me. I don’t know if I can ever get past it. You kept Merlin’s dirty secret for no reason other than to keep your husband’s stocks from tanking. I can’t forgive you, Torrie. I can’t forgive any of you.” She took a deep breath, ended the call, and dropped her fist to the table angrily.
She was gripping her spoon furiously and she jumped when Isaias spoke, aware she had completely forgotten he’d been sitting there silently while she was on the call.
“Are you okay?”
She shook her head, “it’s been months. I wish they’d fuck off.”
He chuckled at her words. “I bet.”
She looked up and met his concerned gaze, sadly, “I can’t believe Trent knew for six months and told Merlin to keep Sandy satisfied in order for me to not find out. All because he wanted to keep his company from facing the scandal.” She felt the fury raging in her chest, “I hate him. I hate him more than Merlin at this point.”
He reached out and gently pulled the spoon from her hand and then squeezed her fingers between his. “Hey. It’s okay. Take a breath, Liesl.”
She nodded and then spoke quietly, “you said your security was going to drive me to work this morning. Do you think they would take me to my storage locker?”
He appeared confused, “sure. Can I ask why?”
“You’re still going to take them down, right?”
“Yes. I’ve been working behind the scenes but it’s my goal to have taken over McGrath Industries by year end.”
She licked her teeth, “I’m not very familiar with the inner workings of corporate espionage but one of the files I had included multiple folders Merlin had on the board of directors.”
“Excuse me?”
“When I went through the files, there was a folder with information he and his father probably used to keep his board in line. I thought it was smarmy, but I don’t know much about how shady companies need to be. It’s dawning on me, Trent and the board were so worried about his son’s infidelities affecting his bottom line, I wonder what would happen if his board of directors all had their secrets spilled.”
More pls