Declan
I was no closer to figuring out what I was doing, or where things had gone wrong. Instead of confronting the situation, I’d been avoiding it, and her, while I tried to sort out my thoughts. I’d found a seedy little bar several miles away from the row of expensive houses where Lia lived, but all a few nights on the stool until closing time had given me was a raging morning-after headache from too much beer.
My head was still pounding, though I hadn’t been drinking tonight. Instead, I called my mom, my stomach queasy as I waited for her to pick up.
“Declan?” She sounded on the verge of tears, and relief was plain in her tone. “My darling, I thought you had turned your back on me too. You didn’t call or email. I thought he’d won you over.”
I bit back a sigh of impatience, reminding myself that pushing her at all could lead her to the same state that had left her bleeding on the bathroom floor before. “I’ve been busy figuring stuff out.”
“Like revenge?” She sounded neutral, but perhaps there was a note of excitement underneath.
“Yeah.” Moving closer to the railing where I leaned so I could get more privacy from a group passing by, I pressed the phone tighter to my ear. “It’s not as easy as I thought.”
“Oh?”
I winced at the biting tone. “It’s complicated.”
“What, you like the son of a bitch? Has he promised you money or something? Maybe he’s going to support you while you play at musician?”
Her words wounded me, but I tried to hide it, knowing she had never taken my music seriously and considered it a waste of time. “Look, Mom, I don’t even know him. We barely spoke at all. I’ve been at his house all week while they’re on their honeymoon. The only person around besides me, and a fleet of servants, is his daughter.”
“Ah.”
I wasn’t sure I liked that little noise of satisfaction. It sounded ominous. “The thing is, she’s really important to Tom, but to hurt him, I’d have to hurt her.”
“What’s the problem?” She sounded so cold when she asked me that blunt question.
“She’s a nice person.” Nice didn’t really cover it. Lia was hot, but she was also spunky and intelligent. I actually liked her and thought she was the kind of person I could hang out with under other circumstances—like if I didn’t want to fuck her or use her for revenge.
“I’m a nice person.” My mother’s voice broke on the last word, and she sobbed for a moment. “I didn’t deserve what happened to me, but I had no choice. Tom Ambrose needs to pay for destroying our family, Declan.”
“But does Lia? She hasn’t done anything to us.”
Mom sighed. “I see how it is. That girl means more to you than I do. If she’s worth breaking your promise and letting Ambrose walk away scot free, well I can’t change your mind.” She sobbed again. “Why couldn’t you have been a few minutes later? All my pain would be over, and I wouldn’t have my heart broken again by you going back on your word.”
Sweat beaded my brow, and I struggled to find the right words. “Mom, don’t talk like that. You know you don’t want to die.”
“What do I have to live for?” She sounded on the verge of hysterics now. “I’ve lost the love of my life to a man, and now I’m losing you too. Mike took everything from me, just like I knew he would.”
“Mom, you haven’t lost me. I just don’t want to be like Ambrose and hurt someone…”
She didn’t let me finish before cutting in with more vitriol. “Don’t bother doing anything to his brat. I’ll just solve everyone’s problem. I do love you, Declan, and I don’t want you to blame yourself. I just have no choice. I see no other way to end my suffering.”
“No, Mom, wait. Please, I’m begging you not to.” My shoulders sagged, and a heavy weight seemed to fill my chest. “I’ll do it,” I said softly.
“Do what?” she asked, voice still thick with tears.
“I’ll use Lia to get back at Tom Ambrose. I’ll destroy his life like he ruined yours. Do you promise not to harm yourself if I do this?”
She hesitated for a long moment before exhaling slowly into the phone. “I suppose, Declan, but if you don’t keep your promise this time, what do I have to live for?”
A second later, the line was dead, and I stared down at it with concern. I almost called Aunt Celia to go check on Mom, but I hesitated. She would be embarrassed and angry if I revealed she was so depressed as to be verging on suicide. I wasn’t sure I actually believed she would try to kill herself again once she calmed down, but that she was in an emotional state where it seemed a viable option still worried me.
In the end, I slipped my phone back into my pocket and decided I would just call her more frequently. She and Celia didn’t get along well despite being sisters, so bringing Celia into it might just stir up more drama and hurt feelings for my mother, pushing her closer to a desperate act.
Nausea churned in my stomach as I walked a short way down the pier, back to the electronics store I had passed earlier. It took several moments to convince myself to walk inside, but in the end, I managed to after reminding myself that Mom was counting on this. There was a good chance revenge against Tom Ambrose would be enough closure for her to move on and find a new life that wasn’t centered around my dad or her sadness at his betrayal.
It didn’t take long to buy the supplies I needed, and then I was headed back toward the Ambrose place. I forced myself to move quickly, setting up the equipment in the main bedroom of the guesthouse. There was an invisible clock ticking down the minutes, reminding me of everything that was at stake. My path was clear, even if it sucked.
Resolved, I went to find Lia. It was time to implement the next stage of the plan. It was time to take my sweet stepsister to bed and set in motion the plans to humiliate Tom Ambrose and destroy him emotionally.