The Art of Marrying Your Enemy (The Richmond Brothers #2)

51. Aaron

51

AARON

T he office phone on Betty’s desk rang as Wolf was chewing me out for the third time that day about the window that I’d broken along with my cell.

“This is important,” I said, cutting him off.

“The fuck it—”

“Betty doesn’t know my cell is out of commission. She could need something.”

“You shouldn’t have sent that old woman to take down a crime syndicate.”

“She can handle it—hello?”

“You piece of shit,” Aurora said conversationally. “How did you fuck that up?”

“I thought you were going to tell your mom you’d rather slit your wrists than marry me.” I stared at the shattered window.

“You are so dramatic.” She laughed sadly. “I was hoping you would get your shit together and seal the deal, Mr. Billionaire CFO, so I didn’t tell them. Mea culpa .” It sounded like she was in a bar.

“Translation, you chickened out.” I paced around my office. “Now who doesn’t have any balls?”

“Still, you— don’t touch my —”

“Aaron! “

“Harvey?” I frowned.

“Bro, you’re killing me. I already told my mom Aurora would come for Christmas. Now she can’t because she has to lie to your mom. Make up with Daisy. Grovel. Do something. Please . You guys are cute together! We can do double yacht dates,” Harvey begged.

“I’ll tell my mom.” Aurora sounded resigned. “I have mandatory lunch with her and Emily on Mondays. It’s not going to be pretty but—”

“I’ll do it,” I said abruptly.

“Get back with Daisy? All right, man!” Harvey shouted into the phone.

“No, I think that’s a smoking crater.” I rubbed a hand over my face. “I’ll tell them I’m not marrying Aurora. I’ll take the heat.”

“Aaron…”

“Let me do this for you, Aurora. I need… I just need a win.”

Bill and Michelle’s Connecticut mansion sat nestled among manicured gardens. I could already smell the dish the chef was preparing.

Was I really going to do it? Burn it all to the ground?

I could just let Aurora and Harvey take the heat. Maybe my mom wouldn’t hate me, wouldn’t blame me. But it felt poetic to sacrifice myself, even for this one insignificant thing.

The hand that gripped the wine bottle was cramped. The flowers in my arm smelled rotten.

I didn’t know why I bothered. Tradition, I supposed.

When the door opened, instead of Michelle with her polite smile, there stood Natalie.

I almost dropped the bottle.

“Don’t lose that,” she warned. “I’m going to need it.”

“I thought—

“I, too, am faced with the existential question of ‘why am I here?’” My aunt took the wine from me. “But the reason, Aaron, is I came back for you.”

“Why?”

She gave me a pained smile. “I’m sorry I wasn’t a better aunt to you. And I’m sorry for what I said in the Hamptons. I wasn’t trying to hurt you. I was trying to hurt my parents, and I was really trying to hurt my sister. You got caught in the crossfire. You don’t have siblings, so you didn’t get it—well,” she amended, “actually, I guess you do.”

“Yeah, I get it,” I said. “Siblings can be shitty to each other. I’m not…” I shrugged. “A great sibling. I’ve said shit I didn’t actually mean just to hurt my brother.”

“I wish Emily and I could be closer, but I don’t know if we’re ever going to be able to get past our childhoods. Anyway.” Natalie patted the bottle. “It wasn’t about you. Not really. I was just so furious, and I was a raging bitch. I’m sorry, Aaron.”

“It’s funny,” I joked helplessly. “Everyone assumes I have my father’s temper. Seems it’s the Ragnor temper.”

Natalie huffed a laugh.

“Not just for last weekend but for your whole life. I’m sorry. I should have been better to you. There for you. You’re not a bad person, Aaron. I’d like a chance to actually be your aunt. If you’d let me.”

“Yeah. No hard feelings. It’s a shitty situation,” I said to make her feel better.

“Fucking freak show, really.” Natalie took the flowers, put her hand on my shoulder, and walked with me back into the impeccably staged home.

“If you ever get tired of the Friday night funeral, I might start hosting something at my house, if you’d want to come. Maybe Daisy too?” she coaxed.

“Sure, I’d like that. But Daisy isn’t coming,” I added quickly. “I think I fucked that up.”

“I don’t know. She seems a lot more forgiving than any of us.” My aunt glanced up at me. “Do you want to go horseback riding sometime soon? Or I don’t know, drinking—not for happy hour.”

“Such a scam.”

Natalie grinned at me.

The smile left my face when I entered the living room. Natalie’s husband and kids weren’t there.

“Aaron!” Michelle said brightly. “If you were a girl, they’d call us the Gilmore Girls. We’re having Friday night dinner.”

“Mom, that is such a weird thing to say.” Natalie was brusque.

“Natalie, can you—”

Bill made a silent gesture to his wife, who clamped her mouth shut.

“So, how’s the wedding planning going?” Bill asked me.

“I actually wanted to talk about that,” I began slowly.

“Becca and I are meeting on Saturday. We’re interviewing wedding planners.” Emily stood in the doorway.

“Aaron, good man for giving up your Saturday for that.”

“Aaron isn’t coming. Aaron’s the groom. The groom just shows up and shuts up,” Emily snapped at me. There was no love in her eyes.

“Dinner’s almost ready. Let’s all sit down,” Michelle said brightly. “Natalie, I’m so sad the grandkids can’t make it. You know how much I love my grandbabies.”

“You have Aaron,” my aunt said pointedly.

“Yes.” Michelle pulled out her chair. “Aaron is here.”

“Aaron, I need you to put money in an account for the wedding expenditures,” Emily ordered me as the chef paraded in with the first course. “This is my dream wedding. I want everything perfect.”

Sitting in the stuffy dining room, it was just like always.

Like nothing happened.

Except that it had.

It was sitting there in the middle of the table, almost visible. Everyone could see it out of the corner of their eye, but no one wanted to be the first to acknowledge it, didn’t want to admit they saw it , hunched on the table between the elaborate flower displays while the chef brought out food I would choke down. We made small talk and didn’t acknowledge it even after Natalie had almost let it out of its cage.

“We’ve been having so much fun planning the wedding, Aaron,” Michelle said as I passed Bill the platter of grilled octopus skewers and seared scallops.

“You should serve these at the wedding,” Bill said, scooping several onto his plate.

“They’re very good,” Michelle agreed.

I stared at it , into cruel green eyes just like my own, pried the glue off my mouth, and stated, “I’m not marrying Aurora.”

“Of course you are,” my mother huffed. “That’s what I always wanted.”

“I know, Mom. I know in the cellar that’s what you always told me.”

It was smirking.

Michelle and Bill were horrified.

“Aaron, not at the table.”

“In the cellar,” I repeated, my voice rising, “Emily would lie there after my father beat and abused her in front of me, and she would tell me all about her dream wedding.”

“Aaron, stop that this instant,” Michelle yelled at me while it howled.

“I was never able to protect her. He would beat me when I tried. The only thing I could do was take care of her after, listen as she would tell me about the flower arrangements, the colors, the cake, the food, so much food. I could almost taste the food—lobster bisque, tiny little things called a quiche, shrimp, all the food she missed. And a cake. She wanted a cake as tall as she was. The ceremony would be at St. Michael’s with a reception to follow at the Belmont Hotel. The rehearsal dinner would be at the Silver Sable restaurant. She’d tell me this as I’d clean the blood off of her and pray that my father hadn’t injured her too badly, that he wouldn’t come back and hurt her again.”

Natalie’s fork clattered to her china plate.

“My father would listen as she’d tell me about the wedding, and he’d taunt her, remind her that it would have to be me in the wedding, that the only child she’d ever be able to have was his. That he’d make sure of it. That’s why he hurt her so badly, I think, because of the wedding.”

Bill was crying quietly, but I couldn’t stop.

“I know I promised you, Emily,” I said to her ashen face, “that I’d do it, that I’d marry Becca’s daughter, but I can’t. I won’t. I already informed Aurora.”

My words sat low like a storm.

Then it broke.

My mother tore into me.

“You broke Aurora’s heart. You traitor!” she screamed. “You did something to her, didn’t you? You scared her. You’re just like your father.” She threw her plate at me, and it crashed against the wall.

“I sacrificed everything for you, everything. And this is how you repay me? I bring you to this nice house allow you around my parents, Stuart fucking Richmond’s demon spawn, but you’re just like him,” my mother screamed, throwing her wineglass at me. “You’re selfish and evil. You take and take and take. You ruin people’s lives. You ruined this family.”

“I know.” I stood up.

“Don’t threaten me. You know I hate when you do that,” Emily sobbed. “Sit down. I’m your mother. You have to obey me. Sit down.”

“I’m really, really sorry,” I said, moving slowly around the table while it watched me, intrigued. “I’m sorry that I didn’t protect you. I’m sorry I didn’t save you. I’m sorry Stuart—I’m sorry my father hurt you and stole your youth and ruined your life. I’m sorry I ruined your life. I’m sorry, Bill and Michelle. You were kinder to me than I deserved, better people than I would be in your situation, I’m sorry Emily brought me here. I’m sorry you were forced to deal with me. Natalie, I’m sorry that because of my father, all the oxygen is sucked out of your life. None of you deserved this. And if I could make him pay for it, I would, but I can’t because my father does not care about anything as much as you care about each other. There is nothing I can do that would hurt him.”

Michelle dabbed her mouth.

“We aren’t talking about it, Aaron. It’s fine. Just sit down. Emily, I will fetch you another plate.”

“It’s not fine, Michelle,” I said quietly. “None of this is fine.”

Emily sobbed, her shoulders shaking.

I needed to make them all understand.

“It’s horrible. It’s awful. I hate looking in the mirror because all I see is his face. I catch myself mimicking things that he would do, expressions he’d make, things he’d say. The older I get, the worse it is. I hate that because I exist, he basically ‘won.’ I wish you had drowned me, Emily,” I addressed my mom, “just to spare you the pain of having to deal with me. It’s cruel, having to raise the son of the man who locked you in a cellar for a decade. If it would make your lives just like they were, make it like it never happened, I’d swim out in the ocean until I couldn’t anymore.”

It was like I could almost reach out and touch it . Feel its scaly hands on my neck.

“But it wouldn’t fix anything. It doesn’t help anything. It doesn’t change the past. You don’t know how much I wish it could, would do anything if it could. Shit, I gave up Daisy for you, because I love you and I’d do anything for you, Mom, or at least I would have. But I can’t anymore. I can’t sit here and pretend it never happened, pretend you don’t all hate me, pretend you don’t blame me.”

I shrugged helplessly.

“I’m done.”

“You’re not coming to dinner anymore?” Michelle was shocked.

“No.” I shook my head. “Not just dinner. I’m not going to be in your lives anymore. I can’t. I’m sorry. I’ll always make sure you’re financially well taken care of, all of you.” I looked at each one of them.

“Aaron, this is histrionic. You’re the CFO of a major corporation. Men in your position don’t act like this, don’t bring up these kinds of topics at the dinner table.” Michelle was appalled as she pretended like she couldn’t see it crowing victory in front of her.

“You can’t leave me. You have to stay,” Emily wailed. “I gave up everything for you.”

“I know, Mom, and I’m sorry. I wish you hadn’t because I am not worth it.”

“You’re right. You’re not. You’re a horrible son.” Bill’s face had turned red. “You will not walk out of here. You will not do this to us, to your mother.”

Emily threw herself at me as I took a step toward the door. “I love you. You’re my son, my only son. We can fix this. I’ll call Becca, tell her you made a mistake.”

I gently pried her off.

“Mom, I can’t be your crutch and your punching bag anymore. That’s all I’ve been my whole life. It’s unbearable.” My voice caught. This was it. No turning back. “I can’t spend the next forty-odd years this way. I won’t survive.”

“You owe me!” Emily screamed, doubling over. “You owe me.”

“I know. And I can’t repay the debt. I’m sorry. I’m so deeply sorry.”

My heart broke as my mother collapsed in her father’s arms.

“Come on, Aaron.” Natalie grabbed my arm.

I stumbled, still staring at my mother, who I would have given up anything for, did give up everything for, as I wondered if it was going to step off the table and land the killing blow.

But the table held only flowers.

Natalie tugged me outside and into the warm summer evening.

“You want to come back home with me? Thomas is with his friends. His aunt has the kids.”

“I have to get some work done,” I told her dully.

She rubbed slow circles on my back. “Maybe another time?”

“Maybe.”

The Van de Berg office was empty. Plywood covered the broken window.

My new phone was sitting in its box on my desk.

Daisy wasn’t going to call me, so what did it matter?

I sat in my new, nonsticky chair, feeling empty.

I wanted to go home.

I wanted my brother.

Grayson’s dogs barked, announcing my arrival at his penthouse.

I leaned against the door, cursing myself for even coming here.

My brother opened the door as I tried to call the elevator.

“Aaron?” Shock. Surprise.

Grayson and I never spent time alone together. Not that he hadn’t tried.

I’d always wanted the buffer of the rest of our siblings.

“What’s wrong, Aaron?”

I didn’t want that from him, didn’t want the brotherly affection. I wanted a fight.

“Stop trying to take care of me,” I shot at him. “When are you going to realize I’ll never trust you, I’ll never forgive you? You’re just like Dad. You always were just like…” I trailed off. My heart wasn’t in it.

My arm ached, and I rubbed it before I could stop myself.

Grayson noticed.

I tried to ignore the pain in his eyes.

“Aaron.” My older brother opened the door wider.

“Is Lexi there?” I asked, averting my own eyes. “I came to talk to her.”

“She’s out. Frozen on Ice is in town.”

“Oh. Well, I’ll leave, then.”

“Aaron, I’m sorry I hurt you.”

“No, you’re not. If you hadn’t, we’d all be… probably not still down there. Spencer eats a lot.”

His mouth quirked. “I miss you, Aaron. I know you may never trust me, but I’d like to at least try.”

“Why are you just rolling over?” I exploded. “Fight me.”

“I’m not going to, because I don’t want to lose you, Aaron. You’re my little brother. You’ll always be my little brother. There is nothing you can do to make me hate you. I’ll always love you.”

“I’m tired. I’m tired of failing. I can’t protect anyone. I couldn’t protect anyone from our father. I couldn’t save anyone.”

Grayson reached for me.

“It’s not your job to protect us. I’m the oldest. That’s my job, Aaron, and I’m sorry that I hurt you to do it. I’ll never forgive myself.”

“I forgive you,” I said duly.

He gave me a sad smile.

“I regret it. I wish I’d been able to do it sooner. I should have done it sooner. I’m the one who failed, not you, Aaron. I’m your older brother. I protect you .” He pulled me in for a hug. I let him for a moment before tearing away.

“Come in,” he coaxed. “I think I know how to work the coffee machine.”

“I can’t.” I turned away from him. “I told my mom I didn’t want to see her anymore,” I said to the elevator door. “I have to—I don’t know. Bet you’re gloating right now.”

Grayson didn’t say anything, just grabbed me by the collar of my suit jacket and tugged me inside.

“Back,” he said to the dalmatians, who were determined to cover my suit in white fur. He led me through his penthouse, which was flanked by big windows and filled with art and plants.

The city stretched out far below us, like we were high up in a glass castle floating in the clouds.

“This sucks,” I gasped out.

“I’ll make sure you’re okay, Aaron.” My brother prodded me upstairs.

I wanted to run, leave everything. That was why originally I’d pursued the billion-dollar figure so hard. I was going to buy a plane and fly around and around the world, chasing the sunrise.

Grayson tugged off my jacket.

“Just lie down.”

“She hates me.” I didn’t know if I was talking about my mom or Daisy.

“I know—I know it’s hard. But guess what? You’re my little brother, and I’m old enough now that I don’t have to tolerate people hurting you anymore. I’ll fix everything. Just stay here, Aaron. It will be okay,” Grayson said, his voice low and soothing.

I gave in then, leaned into the feelings instead of running.

I lay next to my older brother on the bed while he petted my hair. It was like being back in the cellar, curled up like ferrets in the damp and the dark while he told me stories about the food we were going to eat one day.

I was disoriented when I woke up in the dark.

“Where am I?” I mumbled.

“Watch out, Aaron.”

Something hissed at me. Grayson switched on a light.

A giant iguana spread its scaly dorsal fin and uttered another long, angry hiss.

I pulled myself off the bed, the sleep and the angry reptile giving me enough of a boost.

“Aaron, you shouldn’t be alone.” Grayson darted after me. “Don’t run away.”

“Aaron, you’re leaving?” Lexi cried when I raced down the stairs, Grayson sprinting behind me. “I’m making hush puppies and fried coconut shrimp. Everything is better with fried shrimp!” she yelled as she and the dogs stampeded in my direction.

I grabbed my jacket and slammed the door behind me.

It was too much to watch him have what I wanted.