Chapter 32 - Mara
I haven’t slept this badly since I left California. The last bad night’s sleep I had was the night before moving back to Lang Creek. My whole body is aching as I lift myself up and get ready. I tiptoe to the kitchen and pour myself a strong cup of coffee before heading to the office.
The renovations are well underway, and even if Dominic stays on board with the job, we have a mountain of work to do in order to finish on time. I can’t think of Dominic right now, or Vincent, or anything. I just want to bury myself in work and feel something other than sadness.
I fire up my computer and start working. Soon, my bad night’s sleep is forgotten and I’m completely absorbed in my work.
I’m so focused that I don’t hear the door open behind me. It’s not until Vincent’s voice rings in my ears that my spine straightens and I spin around in my chair. He’s standing in the doorway with my mother, wearing a smug grin on his face as he watches me.
“Hard at work?” He asks. His eyebrow is raised in that arrogant smirk that I’ve always despised. I look from him to my mother and back at him.
“You’re still here?” I respond. “I don’t want to see you.”
“Mara,” my mother says, sashaying through the doorway towards me. “Don’t be like that.”
“I’m an adult, Mother. I’ll speak however I want to speak.”
Her eyebrows shoot up and she stops in her tracks. She looks taken aback by my words but recovers quickly.
“I raised you to be polite,” she chides.
“You raised me to be a doormat,” I spit. “Well, not anymore.”
“Mara!”
“Mrs McCoy,” Vincent interjects. “Please, allow me.” He takes a step in and closes the door. The room immediately feels stuffy. Vincent’s body is blocking the doorway, and my mother is looming just beside me. I try to keep my face still but my heart is hammering against my ribcage. I’m scared.
Vincent grabs a chair and turns it towards me. He sits down and crosses one ankle over his knee as he tents his fingers under his chin. He stares at me with those beady eyes, with one side of his mouth curled up in a smirk. How I was ever attracted to him??
“Mara,” he says. I suppress a shiver. Even the way he says my name disgusts me now. “I’ve been speaking to your mother over the past few weeks.”
My eyebrows shoot up and I glance at my mother. Weeks? She ignores me.
“We’ve come to an understanding.”
“About what?” I snap. Vincent leans back in his chair and almost snarls at me. My mother flutters around and finally leans against the wall beside the door.
“About our engagement,” Vincent finally replies.
I snort. “What engagement? That was called off a couple months ago, or have you forgotten about that?”
“Mara, please,” my mother says. I swing my eyes towards her and feel the anger bubbling up inside me. Is this real life? Are they really in here, telling me to reconsider my engagement with this man?
“Mara,” Vincent says. His voice is dark and his eyes are unreadable. A chill goes down my spine and I find myself waiting for him to speak again. “If you want your little boyfriend to have any chance of being successful, you’ll be reasonable.”
My blood runs cold and I stare at him, not understanding. “What are you talking about?”
“Your mother and I have agreed to renew our business relationship. But in order to get your father to agree, we need to be a happy couple.”
“My mother and you agreed?” I start, staring at him with my mouth wide open. “Am I not a person to you?” I ask, turning to my mother. “Do I not get a say in this?”
My blood is pumping and the outrage is boiling inside me. All the resentment and betrayal I felt when my engagement fell apart is coming back to me. Vincent leans back in his chair and smirks.
“If you don’t agree, I’ll use every connection I have to make sure that your lover’s little woodworking business gets run into the ground.”
I stare at him, opening and closing my mouth as I struggle to find words. Is he threatening me? Why is he doing this?
“What are you getting out of this?”
“Well, with this hotel approved by the Park, we’ll be able to expand the brand nation-wide. We don’t need another luxury hotel here, but we can have McCoy hotels in every National Park in the country.”
My heart sinks and tears start prickling my eyes.
“And if I refuse?”
“If you refuse,” Vincent replies slowly, “then your career as a designer will be over. The Clarkes will see everything they touch turn to dust.”
“You don’t have that kind of power,” I spit, eyes blazing as I stare at the man I used to love.
He grins and I see nothing but evil in his face. “Try me,” he says.
My chest is hollow. I look from him to my mother. She’s staring at me, and I see nothing in her eyes. She’s completely devoid of emotion, and for the first time I see her for who she truly is.
The loving, friendly woman that she portrays is all an act. She’s nothing but a vindictive, greedy leech on this town. I blink back tears and try to swallow as my throat tightens.
I think of Dominic, and the effort that he puts into every piece of furniture he makes. I think of his workshop, impeccably clean. I think of the way that he runs his fingers over a piece of wood with something almost like reverence.
He could lose it all. His brothers could lose it all. I try to blink back tears but I can’t. They’re pouring down my cheeks as I think of the man I love losing everything he cares about.
I can’t do that to him. I can’t be the reason that once again, the Clarke brothers lose everything.
I lift my eyes to Vincent and I swallow the disgust that rises in my throat. Without a word, I nod my head down once.
With that, my fate is sealed. I’ve traded my future for Dominic’s. The tears are pouring down my cheeks and my chest feels like it’s been smashed with a sledgehammer.
As much as it hurts, I know it’s the right decision.
I’m the reason he lost his father. I’m the reason he lost his father’s business. I can’t be the reason he loses his livelihood. I brush the hot tears away from my cheeks and try to sit up straighter.
Vincent puts his hands on his knees and stands up. He looks down at me with that arrogant smirk on his lips.
“Good decision,” he says. “You’d better pack now. We leave tomorrow.”
“What!” I say, snapping my head up towards him. My mother clears her throat.
“You and Vincent will go back to Silicon Valley. I’ll manage the rest of the renovations. Vincent and I have agreed to keep Dominic’s contract in place, as a show of good faith to you.”
My jaw is on the floor, and all I can do is look from one of them to the other. A show of good faith? Is she fucking kidding? She thinks she’s doing me a favor?
Based on the state of Dominic’s front yard, I’m not even sure he’ll want to keep working for my mother. I open my mouth to speak, but she and Vincent are already out the door. They leave the door open and all I can do is stare after them.
My head is reeling. I feel like I’m falling through space, and I don’t know which direction is up and which is down.
Pack your bags, Vincent said to me.
I finally turn to the window and look at the mountains that I grew up with. A tear falls down my cheek and I put my head in my hands.
I’ve lost everything now. Maybe it’s karma, for causing Mr. Clarke to lose his life. Maybe letting the Clarke brothers live in peace is my atonement, and I deserve all of this.
I was kidding myself when I thought I could make it up to them with this business deal. The best way to make it up to them is to leave forever and never come back.