Chapter 20
Roxy
The regret hit me before I got home. But I filed it as an emotional meltdown. I’m allowed one after a day like this.
Curled in my bed, I stare at the wall as if the off-white paint is the most riveting artwork.
Maybe I acted too hastily. But I’d had it with all the men moving me around. I needed to remove myself from that chessboard.
To regain control.
And now what?
First, I need to sleep for days, and then I can assess the damage and pick the best way forward.
Tee turns eighteen in three months. Father won’t have a legal claim to her anymore. Perhaps we can just disappear together.
The idea gives me a jolt of excitement. The room spins as I sit up on my pitiful mattress, making me collapse back onto my pillow.
With the Merged credentials, I can find another job. I reckon Cal or Corm would even help me. Maybe I can move to California. And Tee would join me after her birthday.
Father would charge me with kidnapping if I tried to pull her out of there before that. A bullshit charge that he has enough resources to make stick. And he would.
I close my eyes, hoping the newly forged, fragile plan will finally bring enough peace for me to rest.
A knock on the door interrupts that wishful thinking.
Jesus. I roll on to my side, mastering the non-existent energy to stand up.
The knocking turns into a loud bang. I push up to a sitting position. Fuck, I really overdid it this time. I’m so weak.
“Roxy!”
I groan. Liam fucking Stone is on the other side of my door, banging and yelling. The last thing I need is to deal with him. Or the police if he continues.
“Go away,” I call.
“Open the door, Roxy, or I will break it down,” he growls.
A minuscule part of me appreciates the caveman routine. I roll my eyes. Something is seriously wrong with me.
I trudge across the small apartment and open the door. “Stop yelling. Do you want to get me into trouble?”
He doesn’t wait for an invitation and pushes past me. Sighing, I close the door and lean against it. God, why does my bed seem so far?
“Here.” Liam lifts a takeout bag.
The smell of a pho broth wafts into my nostrils, and I swallow, saliva pooling in my mouth. I didn’t even realize I was starving.
But my pride wins, and I ignore the bag, glaring at him. “You lied to me. You betrayed me. You robbed me of an important career opportunity. And then you think soup will solve everything?”
He frowns. His eyes dart between me and the bag. “I brought you food because, knowing you, you probably didn’t eat today.”
“I can take care of myself,” I snap, though lately there has been little evidence of that.
He sighs and puts the bag on the table. “Please eat.”
“Please leave.” I push off the door, and really hope he will leave so I can eat that soup.
“First, explain, what the fuck were you thinking? You’re resigning? Leaving the company? What the hell, Roxy?”
“I don’t have to explain anything to you.” I don’t even have the energy to raise my voice. “You lost that right when you lied to me.”
His jaw works. “Okay, take your revenge on me then. Don’t fucking throw away your future. Why would you resign?”
“Fraternization policy.” That is technically what I’m resigning over, though we both know that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Why I am bringing it into this argument is beyond me. Why am I even engaging in the argument?
I don’t want him here. I don’t want to justify my behavior to him. I don’t want his lies anymore.
He throws his arms up in frustration. “Bullshit. Merged is a private company. The partners can change the rules or adapt them. And they would for you.”
All the endorsements I’m getting today are eating away at my insides. A bit too late.
“Why do you even care?” I regret moving away from the solid door, because my legs don’t seem to support me properly today.
I almost sway, but I don’t dare show him an ounce of weakness.
He flexes his fingers, sighing again. “I don’t want you to throw away your future because you’re mad at me.”
I scoff. “Don’t give yourself so much credit.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, woman.” He vibrates with frustration. “Maybe you can give me a chance—”
“To do what? Manipulate me more? Take advantage of me? Just go away.”
He flinches at every word, every accusation. Part of me wants to hear what his agenda is. To comprehend the game he’s playing.
To understand why he showed up at Merged, apparently skipping the engagement dinner with my sister, according to Nico.
Part of me wants to give him a chance to explain, because he’s still the man who put me first so many times.
The man who helped me believe in myself when I was struggling. Who supported me silently, creating space and opportunities for me.
That same part has already decided not to trust his words, and that, despite myself, makes me sad. It hurts.
I’ve grown up feeling betrayed by the men in my life. But this man?
He came along and… well, showed up in many ways. And it was all just a game to him. It fucking hurts more than I care to admit.
“I’m sorry, Roxy. I’m fucking sorry. I know my words mean shit to you right now, but I’m not leaving until you hear me out. So sit down, eat, and listen to me.”
I snap my eyes to him, hoping to inflict some of the pain I feel.
“Please,” he adds.
I collapse into my chair, not to accommodate his plea… or maybe that too, but mostly because the room continues to sway.
Liam unpacks the soup, rummages through my drawer to give me a spoon, and then walks to the window.
With a shaky hand, I pick up the spoon. When the hot liquid meets my tongue, I almost whimper.
Liam stands with his back to me, so I allow a tiny smile as the broth caresses my insides, providing more than nutrition for my body. Soups are life-savers.
“Have you lived here since you moved to Manhattan?” Liam’s words break the pleasurable moment.
“Is that what you want to talk about?” I deadpan.
He sighs and turns to me. His expression is marred with suffering and regret, and I have to look away, because he doesn’t deserve my compassion.
“I never planned to marry you, or your sister,” he says.
“Good to know,” I quip, and he winces.
At this point I’m just mean, because it protects me from… him? Us? The feelings I don’t want to name?
The hurt that is now mingled with them? The situation I don’t want to be in?
“Did you know your father tried to pawn Tawny to Xander first?”
It’s fucked up that the idea isn’t that far-fetched. “I didn’t know that.”
“Anyway, my brother took off and married someone else, and my father started forcing the union on me.”
Xander never mentioned anything. Did he know who I was? But that doesn’t matter.
I take a shaky sip of the soup. “It makes no sense. Tee isn’t even eighteen.”
“The engagement was to last until she turned eighteen. It made no sense to me that he would want to marry your younger sister, but then I met you, and it made more sense.”
I take another spoonful, the warmth making the conversation more palatable.
“Why would your father force a union with the Stones?” Liam asks.
“He has power. He has money. The only thing he doesn’t have is acceptance in high society. His only wish is to sit at the table with old money.”
“Fuck, I can guarantee it’s no picnic at those tables, but I guess it makes sense. What makes no sense is why my father would support that.”
“What does he have to gain?” I ask, intrigued. I didn’t want this conversation, but my curiosity spikes.
“Exactly. We don’t need a union with the Locks. Not for money. Not for prestige. Not for business growth. It makes no sense.”
“You think my father is blackmailing yours?”
“It is the only reasonable explanation.”
“And knowing my father, you’re probably right. So what? You wanted to marry me to find out? To protect your father?”
He bows his head, flexing his fingers. Is he deciding his next move? Or the level of honesty he’s willing to reward me with?
When he looks at me again, I look away because how dare he look hurt? He’s the one who caused the wounds.
“Roxy, I didn’t want to marry you or Tawny. And I definitely don’t want to protect my father.”
I snort weakly. “Okay, Stone, I’m too tired and too weary at the moment. You’re making no sense.”
“I admit I came here to get closer to you. I didn’t plan it the way it happened, believe me.”
This time it’s me wincing, but Liam is not looking at me. He’s watching his fingers flexing, lost in his story.
A story that still makes little sense to me, but that feels genuine. So much for not trusting the man.
“My father did something ten years ago,” he continues. “Something that I still carry with me… It doesn’t matter now, but I want to use your father’s leverage to take my revenge.”
I blink a few times. This is not what I was expecting. “How does Merged come into it?”
“I researched your family and found out the older Lock sister works at Merged. A company owned by my brother, no less. I wanted to know what the connection is.” He looks at me now, and I wish he didn’t, because I don’t want to trust him, but deep down, I know he’s telling the truth.
I shouldn’t trust him, or my intuition on this, but I do.
“There is none,” I say. “It’s just a coincidence.”
“I believe that now. When my brother decided to sell his stake in the firm, I saw an opening.”
God, I would have done the same. The idea isn’t comforting at all. “So you decided to become the partner and seduce me?”
“What happened between us… it just happened. I didn’t plan it.
I didn’t force you into anything.” He sighs.
“I figured that the daughter who is living freely under an assumed name, one that is not a pawn on Victor Lock’s chessboard, might be the best avenue to help me find out what he has on Sterling. ”
“You would have been better off marrying Tee if you wanted to get closer to my father.” I pick up the container and take a sip from it. “But please don’t do it.”
“If there ever was a Lock to marry, I know which one I would go after.”
“Stop.” It hurts to look at him. The last thing I need is for him to pretend we’re more than we are. “So the Merged partnership?”