29. Twenty-Nine #2
“No,” Cora replied calmly. I had to hand it to her. She was a master at unhinging people. She wasn’t afraid of Sharon in the slightest. She also wasn’t falling for her act and allowing pity to take over. No, she was taking charge. It was a thing of beauty.
“Now, here are your options,” Cora said when Sharon continued to make huffing noises and shifted on her chair. “You can take the ten grand I’ve brought with me and hand over the blackmail materials you were going to provide Ryder with.”
Sharon opened her mouth, but Cora cut her off with one shake of her head.
“I’m not finished,” Cora said primly. “You should know that, even as we speak, the board members in question are resigning their spots. They will not be helping Ryder. Whatever he’s promised you, it will not be coming to fruition.
He’s done, and your only option to get anything out of this deal is to take my offer. ”
Something dark and dangerous flashed in Sharon’s eyes. “Are you going to sit there and let this woman railroad me?” she demanded of me. “Are you going to let her malign your mother like this?”
“You’re not my mother, Sharon,” I replied. My voice was strong, and I was thankful for that. “You’re the woman who gave birth to me. A mother takes care of her child. She doesn’t leave them for days on end when they’re not even old enough to use the stove.”
“Who uses a stove? I taught you how to use the microwave. You were fine.”
“Yes, that’s why when we lived in that crappy apartment on Decatur, the neighbors found me starving after two days and had to feed me.”
“That was on you. If I hadn’t monitored your food intake when you were a kid, you would’ve been the size of a bus by now. You should be thankful that I taught you about healthy eating.”
“Yes, all that boxed mac and cheese was really healthy.” I couldn’t even muster a snarky smile at this point.
“Why are you even arguing? You’ve never wanted to be a mother.
I get it now. When I was a kid, I kept hoping that you would snap out of it and take care of me.
That never happened, though, and I’m over it. ”
“I was a good mother to you!”
For once, I refused to let my anger build. That was the effect she usually had on me. She tried to confuse the situation until I exploded, and then she pointed the finger at me and said I was irrational. Well, that wasn’t happening this time.
“I don’t care what your excuses are.” I chose my words carefully. “I don’t care why you partnered with Ryder. I don’t need an explanation. I already know why you do everything. Money. You think he’s going to make you rich, but that’s not going to happen.”
“Even if he did somehow regain his position, which he won’t, he wouldn’t follow through and give you what he promised,” Cora volunteered. “That’s not who he is. That’s never been who he is. He’s a bad man with a bad heart.”
“In a weird way, you’re a good match,” I mused. “You’re too old for him, though.”
“That’s true,” Cora agreed. “He likes them young and dumb. You’re dumb but not so young.”
“I look like I’m twenty-five,” Sharon snapped.
Everybody snorted.
“I do,” she insisted.
“Sharon, I don’t care what delusional game you’re trying to play or with who,” Cora said. “It doesn’t matter. You have one option here. I don’t really need your proof. I would kind of like to hold it over Ryder’s head, though. You can either leave this partnership with ten grand or nothing.”
Sharon blinked several times. When she turned back to me, I knew it would be the last time I would entertain anything from this woman. I was tired just looking at her.
“You have to help me here, Tallulah,” she said. “I know you’re angry. We can talk about that later. I’ll make you see that I wasn’t as bad a mother as they’ve been telling you. Frankly, they’ve poisoned you against me.”
“No, they haven’t,” I replied. “I’ve never forgotten a single thing you’ve done to me. Or, rather, a single thing you didn’t do for me. I’ve been done with you for a long time. You just didn’t realize it.”
“We’ll talk about that later.” Her voice was unnaturally chipper, as if she’d already won.
Maybe she believed I would fall for the same lies I had as a child.
I wouldn’t put it past her. She’d always believed what she wanted to believe.
“For right now, I need you to be on my side. If we join together with Ryder, we’ll both be rich. Isn’t that better than being poor?”
“I’ve never cared about money like you,” I shot back. “I only need enough money to be comfortable. If you could’ve figured out a way to sell me as a kid so you could get ahead, you would’ve done it.”
I vehemently shook my head so she wouldn’t start talking again. “Just stop. Cora told you the terms of the deal. Take your money—we both know you’re going to—and then say goodbye. This is the last time you’ll ever be seeing me.”
“Excuse me?” Sharon reared back as if she’d been slapped. “You’re my daughter. You don’t get to just walk away.”
“I’ve been walking away since I was a kid. I’m taking the final step now.” I didn’t feel sad about cutting her out of my life. Just exhausted. “Take the money, Sharon. Ryder is done. Take it, and have a few weeks of fun. You like fun.”
“But…” She broke off and bit her lower lip.
“But Ryder promised you more,” I finished for her. “I get that. He’s not good at keeping his promises. Ask his former mistress.”
“Ask all of his former mistresses,” Cora said dryly. She withdrew a large envelope of cash from her bag. “Give me the blackmail material, and this is all yours.”
Sharon’s eyes lit up when she saw the cash.
“Fine,” she said after a beat, making it seem as if she was debating.
She wasn’t, but she wanted to make it look good.
“I’ll get the recordings.” She got to shaky feet, her eyes moving to me.
“As for you, if you don’t want to see me, you don’t have to. Go ahead and cut off your mother.”
“That’s the plan,” I agreed.
She muttered something under her breath and started toward the hallway that led to her bedroom.
“Just know that she’s serious,” Ronan called out, speaking for the first time. “She’s serious, and I’ll be around to make sure that you don’t make her life hell again. You’re done doing that.”
“Oh, right,” Sharon snorted. “And how long do you plan on hanging around?”
Ronan slid me a soft sidelong look. “Forever, if I can manage it.”
My heart started beating harder. I couldn’t believe he was actually saying that to me—and in front of an audience no less.
Weirdly, for the first time in, well, ever, the prospect wasn’t frightening.
“Forever has a nice ring to it,” I agreed, surprising myself.
“Once we actually start dating legitimately,” I added.
He laughed, leaning in to kiss my forehead. “Let’s see where life takes us.”
I leaned so my head was against his shoulder and linked my fingers with his. “That sounds like a perfect plan to me.”