The taste of menthol invades my senses as I walk back through the ballroom toward Clifton, Zane’s words reverberating in my head with every step I take. I knew I’d have to face Zane when I decided to come back home, but nothing could’ve prepared me for what just happened. I didn’t think that seeing him would hurt this much, nor did I expect to feel anything but hatred for him. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Cliff’s hand wraps around mine the moment I’m within reach, and he pulls me against his chest, his arm wrapping around my waist possessively. “Where’d you go?” he asks, his tone tense.
His pained expression makes my heart wrench, and I stare into his eyes helplessly. “Powder room,” I lie, my voice trembling.
His jaw locks as he lifts his gaze, and I don’t have to follow his line of vision to know he must’ve just spotted Zane re-entering the ballroom. Cliff leans in and cups my face gently. “Is that why your lipstick is smeared?” He looks at me pleadingly, and my eyes widen a fraction when he gently swipes his thumb just below my bottom lip. “Tell me, Celeste, why do I smell mint on you?”
Every excuse dissolves on the tip of my tongue when he looks at me like that. “Cliff,” I whisper.
“Do you know how I found out about the two of you all those years ago?” His thumb brushes over my lip now, like he’s hoping to wipe away every trace of Zane. “That same damn candy you’re sucking on right now. I’d offered you one at a conference we attended, and you declined, only to escape to the bathroom with Zane and come back crunching one between your teeth.” He pulls his hand away and looks down. “I was still holding the tin.”
My eyes widen as I think back to the way Zane pulled me into a utility closet, both of us so desperate for each other that we couldn’t even wait a few hours to get back to our room. I’d been so happy, so incredibly oblivious. I’ve gone over it a thousand times in my mind, unsure how I could’ve missed the signs. Was I blinded by the happiness I thought we’d found together, or was I simply ignoring every red flag because facing the truth was too hard? Even then, I knew that what we had was too good to be true, that it couldn’t last. The end just didn’t come in the way I’d expected.
“What is it going to take for you to look at me the way you still look at him? Did you think I wouldn’t notice the way you reacted when he walked into the room?”
“I’m sorry,” I tell him, my voice soft. “But you know exactly what this is and what it isn’t, Cliff. Our engagement is just business, and that won’t change. I’m grateful for your support and cherish our friendship, but I can’t… there’s nothing left of me to give to you.”
Cliff shakes his head and smiles. “Then I’ll just have to rob Zane Windsor of everything that no longer belongs to him.”
I wish it was that simple. The parts of me Cliff wants died alongside Lily. He sighs and takes a step away from me, a faux smile making its way onto his face as his gaze settles somewhere over my shoulder, and I turn to find my grandfather standing behind me.
“Forgive me, Clifton,” he says. “I’ll have to steal away my granddaughter.”
Grandpa offers me his hand, and I take it with a forced smile. The years I’ve been away haven’t been kind to him. The wrinkles on his face are deeper now, the look in his eyes entirely foreign. I’ve never seen him look so defeated, so tired, and it’s all because of me.
Grandpa pulls me toward the small dance floor at the edge of the dining area, where a live band is playing, but the music is lost on me. “You don’t have to do this, sweetheart. We both lost so many years already. I don’t know how many I have left, Celeste, but I don’t want to spend them knowing I’m the reason my granddaughter married the wrong man.”
“I’m not doing this for you,” I reassure him, my voice soft, emotionless. “This marriage is meant to benefit Harrison Developments, and ultimately, me as your successor. I’m the reason the company is this close to bankruptcy, so it’s only right that I fix it. He’s a good man, Grandpa. I think we’ll be happy together.”
“You never did explain how you went from looking at Zane Windsor like he hung the moon, to him systematically attacking our company until there wasn’t much left of it.”
My eyes snap to my grandfather’s, shock rendering me speechless for a moment. “I didn’t think you knew. Did Mom and Dad tell you?”
We’d been days away from asking for my grandfather’s blessing when Lily died, and all our plans fell to dust. He’d been so antagonistic to Zane that even Anne Windsor’s behavior toward me paled in comparison, but I never considered that he behaved the way he did because he knew. He just pretended not to, ignored the problem until it solved itself.
“You didn’t think I’d notice that Zane Windsor and all of his siblings suddenly started to treat me incredibly kindly? The man was trying to win me over, and he used every trick in the book. I never liked him, but I liked him even less when I realized he was after my only granddaughter. I’ve only ever seen tenaciousness like that in his rotten grandmother.”
I just stare at him for a moment, unsure what to say. “Celeste,” he says, sounding weary. “Don’t do what Anne and I did, and let resentment cloud your judgment. Whatever happened between you two can surely be left in the past, can it not? The company can survive, so long as Zane stops attacking us. We’ll rebuild without the Emersons.”
I shake my head. “It’s not that simple. He won’t stop, and neither will I.”
“He’s the reason you left?”
I look away, my mind drifting back to how I found him standing in front of my house in the rain, mere hours after I’d put him in jail. “Run,” he’d warned. “Get the fuck out of my sight and don’t come back. Leave, and I’ll spare your family. Stay, and it’s your brother you’ll put behind bars next. The choice is yours.” I’d forgotten who he was, what he’s capable of, and I found out the hard way.
“He’s the reason I left,” I admit. “But he’s also the reason I came back.”
Zane underestimated me, like he’s always done. I stayed away to protect my family, and he took my absence as an opportunity to dismantle Harrison Developments, slowly leading us to the edge of bankruptcy. There’s something brutal about the way he takes his time, bringing us down one well-orchestrated hit after the other. Each time, he allows us an opportunity to get up and recover, only to knock us to the ground harder than ever before. One more hit and the company is done.
He told me he wouldn’t touch my family if I left quietly, but attacking Harrison Developments is no different — in the end, that still hurts my family, and he knows it. I should’ve expected this from him, should’ve known he wouldn’t keep his word.
After all, that wasn’t the first vow he broke.
