Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Levi’s harebrained idea made less and less sense the closer I got to home, and by the time both Lily’s and Sebastian’s cars were in the driveway, I desperately needed advice.
“Are you ready for me?” I asked the second Lily opened the door. “Because I can’t hold it in anymore.”
“What happened?” she asked.
Sebastian was in more comfortable clothes and sitting on the couch. When he saw me, he leaned in with a raised brow. “We can start with the fact that Levi took her out to lunch and moved her interview back.”
“Wait, as in a date?”
“No, it was a lunch to discuss the prospect of marrying me.”
“No need for sarcasm,” Sebastian said with a huff of awkward laughter. “Whatever happened, you can tell us.”
“I am telling you what happened. That’s it.”
They both looked at me blankly.
“What?” I asked.
“I’m waiting for the punch line.”
“There isn’t one. I know Levi from high school. He proposed to me at lunch.”
“Proposed like ... marriage?” Lily eventually asked.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Levi hates Calvin. That’s why.”
“And getting married is the only option to do this?”
“He said go big or go home, and I did say I wish I could be a housewife with a hot, rich husband.”
“I thought we were done with weird conversations about marriage,” Sebastian said as he rubbed his eyes. “Seriously. How many times can this happen?”
“At least it’s not your marriage this time.”
“She’s right,” Lily said, crossing her arms. She considered what to say for a long time. “What are you thinking about telling him?”
“Shouldn’t the answer be no?” Sebastian asked.
“If that’s what she wants, then yes. But we haven’t heard what she’s thinking.”
“I want to not lose my house.”
“Listen, you know how I feel about marriages for a purpose,” she admitted. “And you know how bad it was for us.”
“Even if the benefits are good?”
“They don’t look as shiny when you’re in it, trust me.”
“It can still work out,” Sebastian added. “But it’s not easy.”
“I’m not looking for this to work out. It’s for money. Trust me, I know Levi. We have a history.”
“You do?”
“He once used me to piss off Calvin by kissing me.”
“That’s ...” Sebastian frowned. “That’s not like him.”
“It was nine years ago.” I shrugged. “But he’s known to hate Calvin. It’s not that I blame him but ... I can’t fall for him. I know what it leads to. Not every fake marriage ends up in a relationship.”
Even if theirs had worked out well for them.
“Well, at least she’s realistic.” Lily turned to Sebastian.
“Besides, how much time would we even spend together? He runs a company, and according to Sally, he has busy nights.”
“He says he spends it relaxing,” Sebastian said.
“There are many ways to relax,” I replied pointedly.
“If you’re thinking that he has a lot of women he spends his nights with,” Lily added, “then that’s not a good sign for marriage.”
“It’s a marriage for money.”
“Sure, but it eats at you.”
My lips twisted. When Sebastian and Lily had been in their arranged marriage, Lily spent many years thinking he was in love with his assistant. When I’d first met her in person, she’d nearly hit me with her car because she was leaving her house in a jealous rage.
But I knew Levi would do something like this. I’d been burned before, so I would go into this knowing what was going to happen.
“So you think this is a bad idea?” I asked.
“Normally, I’d say yes. But he is offering to solve your problems without you working. And I refuse to outright say no and risk alienating you if you decide to do it,” Lily said.
Lily’s friend, Jessie, had done just that. She’d been so forceful in trying to tell Lily not to go through with the marriage that it broke them in the end.
“I appreciate it. But you could tell me not to and I wouldn’t hold it against you.”
She tilted her head as she thought about it. “I probably wouldn’t do it, but I get how desperate one can feel when they don’t have options. And you’re the one calling the shots here, so it’s different than a contracted marriage like Sebastian and I had. You could say no to anything if you wanted to, so that changes things.”
“And Sebastian?”
“I . . . agree with my wife,” he said. “This seems like an easy way out, and as far as I know, Levi isn’t a bad guy.”
“I disagree there,” I replied.
“He’s not a bad guy in the ways I know him, and even if he is, you’re going in prepared.”
“I really expected you guys to be more shocked about this.”
“Oh, we are shocked,” Lily said. “But you need advice, and we can process how unhinged this is later.”
“It’s so wild that you could probably write a book about it. I’ll need it when I don’t get my own happy ending.”
“Don’t say that. You could meet the one during this whole thing.”
“Who would I meet? Because it’s not the guy marrying me for revenge.”
“No, but someone else could walk into a coffee shop while you’re there one day.”
“I admire how positive you are since you and Sebastian ended up together.”
“It’ll happen to you too. And maybe you can help me write that book.”
“I don’t think I know enough words to write my own book. In fact, sometimes I feel like I don’t know how to read, and that I’ve just memorized words.”
“Is that a thing?” Sebastian asked.
“Wait, that’s from a show you told me to watch ... What’s the name?”
“New Girl,” I said. “You watched it?”
“Some of it. I use it as a palate cleanser between episodes of House of the Dragon .”
I winced. “I don’t know how you can stomach that.”
“I’m just special,” she said.
And with Sebastian’s smile at her, I knew he thought the same thing. I watched the two of them gaze at each other, locked in their own little world. I couldn’t help but linger on Lily’s words.
Maybe I would find my person soon.
But first, I had to decide on what to do with Levi’s proposal.
I didn’t like the idea of revenge, and as I walked home later, I was going back and forth on whether or not to say yes.
As I lay down and drifted off not long after, I asked the universe to give me a sign, something to tell me what to do. And whatever it gave me, I would follow it.
It was an ungodly hour in the morning when the sound of an excavator backing up woke me up. I groaned and rubbed my eyes. In my neighborhood, we didn’t hear that sound unless a house had been sold to be bulldozed or someone had something really bad happening. I wanted to know about either of those options.
As I slowly got up, I knew the chances of demolition were low. Though Nashville was rich with development, our neighborhood had an unspoken rule not to sell to investors. This was the one place where things felt like old Nashville, and all of us wanted to keep it that way.
Whatever happened in other neighborhoods was none of my business. I knew that we needed more homes to accommodate the influx of people, but seeing a perfectly good place get torn down in favor of cookie-cutter homes was hard. I’d rather expand instead of changing existing neighborhoods. There was no perfect solution, but removing history seemed harsh when people wanted to move here for the charm.
The excavator was pulling up to the house across the street. That property had been for sale for a while, and I wondered if they’d finally sold it and the new owners were making repairs.
I threw on a robe, curious as to what needed to be done. As far as I knew, it was in good shape.
But if some major thing went wrong in a nearby house that was the same age as mine, I needed to start to save money in case it happened to me.
I walked across the street, spotting a note on the door. The workers didn’t bother me as I walked closer, but then, when I saw what was on it, my jaw dropped.
Demolition scheduled.
No. No way. That house was perfectly livable! Why would it get demolished?
“It’s so frustrating when things don’t go your way,” a voice said. For a second, I thought I had to be dreaming, but then I turned and saw Calvin smirking at me from the road, and I quickly realized I was living in a nightmare.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Like my new house?” He turned to the home. “Well, house is a strong word. It’s an antique. But it’ll be a very nice new home once I’m done. I had to offer an extraordinary amount of money for the dump and fast-track the permits to get it torn down so quickly, but it was worth seeing your face.”
I had to stare at him to process all of the bullshit he’d just told me.
“My ... Calvin, what the hell? You’re tearing down a house for revenge?”
“I’m investing in real estate. The neighborhood could use some work.”
My jaw dropped. “Are you serious? Aren’t you busy enough being a CEO?”
“I am, but this is a personal project.”
“A personal—Calvin, get a life . Go hang out with your hundreds of friends.”
“Why would I do that when this is way more fun?”
I knew Calvin was a dick and threw fits to get his way, but I never knew it had gotten this bad. Apparently, gaining power had only added to his big head.
“So you didn’t get Gram’s house. It doesn’t mean you can ruin other things.”
“That house was mine, Amy. I know it, and so did you. I don’t know whose dick you sucked in the probate court?—”
“Calvin!” I hissed.
“But I won’t forget what you took from me. It took a bit for Dad to retire and for one of the losers in this neighborhood to put a house up for sale, but it’s all coming together. And when you can’t pay your bills, I’ll tear Gram’s down too.”
My chest heaved. I wasn’t going to let him get away with this, and I knew the one thing I could say to wipe that stupid smirk off of his face.
“I guess you’re not getting invited to my wedding, then.”
And it worked. Calvin blinked and frowned. “ You’re getting married?”
“Don’t act so surprised. I’m a catch. And I guess I have you to thank, considering you’re the one who led me to him.”
“Who is it?” he asked slowly.
“He’s the CEO of your rival company, a nerdy showboat, and kinda rich. But you know him as Levi Hensen.”
I only got one second of a shocked look from Calvin before he shook his head. “You’re bluffing. You don’t even have a ring.”
“It’s getting sized. I have tiny hands.”
“You don’t even know him.”
“I do, actually. And it only brought us closer when you fired me. He now hates you again. Congratulations.”
“He would never go for you.”
There was a nugget of truth to that, no matter how much I wished there wasn’t. Ultimately, he only needed me for revenge, and he’d never thought twice about me other than that.
Calvin caught on to my pain just like he always did—with that shit-eating grin of his.
“I’ll be waiting eagerly to see pictures.”
“You will.”
“Sure. Sure. Hell, if you do, let me see your registry. I’ll buy the most expensive item.”
“He’s rich, asshole. He can get me whatever he wants.”
“Which is why I don’t think he’d ever be into you . Nice try, though.”
“You’re a jerk.”
“And you’re a loser. I don’t have time to argue with you about who’s worse. I need to get back to my work as a real estate mogul. How many houses do you think can fit on this property? Five?”
He laughed as I sputtered, and molten rage filled every inch of my body.
“Why would you do this to me?” I asked. “All of this over a house?”
“Yes, Amy. And like all of your other failures, you brought this on yourself .”
There it was again, the bit of truth in his statement. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t lay awake at night and wonder if I did the right thing forging that will.
I knew how Calvin was. And I went up against him anyway.
But still, did I deserve all of this? Did the gorgeous house that could have gone to a family deserve to be torn down?
No. And I was mad about it.
I could see why Levi would want to fuck this man up, even if it meant getting married to me.
And as I watched him drive away in his fancy sports car, I realized I’d gotten my sign from the universe, and it was time to make my decision.