Chapter 21
PHOEBE
Determined to fight my own battles, I head over to the Baldwin mansion. It’s Saturday morning. Crystal likes to spend her Friday nights in her childhood bedroom, then recreate her favorite breakfast routine with Mom in the morning. It never included me. But it means they’re both here.
I stand at the top of the stairs, staring at the front door for a while. Finally, Maggie comes out to greet me, a strained smile on her face.
“Miss Phoebe. What a surprise. Mrs. Astor-Baldwin wasn’t expecting you.”
“I know.”
“She’s in her study.”
I give her a warm smile. “I know the way, Maggie.”
Just as I’m about to walk into the foyer, Maggie rushes ahead and stops me.
I see the shadow of concern on her round, pink-cheeked face.
“I’m sorry for what has been happening between you and your mother.
I’ve been hearing things, and I just wanted you to know, it’s not what your father would’ve wanted. ”
“Oh, I know, Maggie. That’s why I’m here. To see if I can talk some sense into my mother.”
She glances over her shoulder to the top floor where the bedrooms are. “Perhaps you should speak to your sister, as well. You never know.”
“Crystal has been an adversary for as long as I can remember.”
“She’s been on your mother’s side because she doesn’t know any better,” Maggie insists. “Just talk to her, Phoebe. You might be able to gain some clarity as to where she stands.”
I detect a double means, but I don’t fully grasp it. I admit my interest is piqued. I give Maggie a brief nod, then head across the foyer and down the main hallway.
I enter a door to my right just before the kitchen. It’s my mother’s study, which was previously my father’s. She didn’t keep many of his things. In fact, she had the whole room redecorated mere months after he passed.
It’s light and breezy, with off-white walls and warm brown furnishings, along with plenty of plush, cream-colored seating. Framed pictures adorn every inch of free space not allocated to books.
Situated before the large window is her desk. She sits behind it, her nose deep in her laptop, scrunched under a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. When she looks up and sees me, she sighs a sigh that reeks of disappointment.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Phoebe. What are you doing here?”
“I was hoping we could talk,” I say, casually taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of her desk. “This whole inheritance nonsense. You need to stop.”
“I will if you do as you’re told,” my mother calmly replies, leaning back in her chair.
“You mean if I drop the weight and beg Matthew to take me back.”
“Yes and end your ludicrous liaisons with those three men.”
“Those three men have names. Theo, Dominic, and August. The men who more or less saved me.”
She laughs. “Oh, please, they’re just using you, Phoebe. It’s ridiculous that you still don’t see it. That whole debacle at the Perle Noire should’ve convinced you.”
“That was a setup. Georgina planned it,” I calmly reply. “We have proof.”
“Nonsense. You belong here with us. Not out there, doing whatever it is you’re doing with three men.
You’ve brought nothing but shame and embarrassment to this family,” Mom insists, her tone sharper and heavier with every word that comes out.
“You’re unstable. Unreliable. Matthew couldn’t get through to you, either.
I’m just trying to protect our family name and your father’s company. ”
I shake my head. “Can we be honest with each other, Mom? For once?”
“I don’t understand.”
“You’re not stripping me of my inheritance and my company shares because you care about the Baldwin name or Daddy’s company.
If you cared about his company, you would’ve let me run the finance department, like I was supposed to.
My whole education was built on the prospect of assuming that role.
I have a master’s from Columbia University precisely for it.
None of my financial predictions have erred so far. ”
Mom scoffs and slaps her laptop shut. “You don’t belong anywhere near our finance department until you prove that you can be trusted.”
“You’re still lying to me. Gaslighting me. Aren’t you tired?”
“Excuse me?”
“This whole act. Doesn’t it wear you out?
I was a model student. I was top of my class from middle school through my graduate studies.
Magna cum laude. I was a hard-working student.
Hell, I even upgraded the marketing department, even though it wasn’t where I belonged.
You keep dragging my personal life into this conversation because you have nothing else to hold over my head.
Even now, you sit in that chair and lie to my face, Mom. To me. Your daughter.”
“My daughter would never elope with three men to—”
“Enough with that crap, too,” I snap. “Like you were a saint yourself. Or Crystal. You both look down on me. Always have. Nothing I did was ever good enough. When I was little, I was too skinny, wasn’t eating enough.
You wouldn’t let me get up from the table until I finished my entire plate.
Dad would try to intervene, but you’d keep me in my seat. Then after he died—”
“Don’t bring your father into this!”
I raise a hand to silence her. “I have to. Because after he died, you and Crystal pretended like I didn’t exist anymore.
I ate more just so you’d notice, so you’d see that I could be a good girl and do as I was told.
” I pause as tears prick my eyes. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve gone out of my way to please you, to try and make you love me. But what did you do?”
“I did my duty as a mother,” she replies.
I scoff loudly. “Yeah, right. When Matthew humiliated me in public, you sided with him. Crystal sided with him. Not once did I hear either of you say, ‘Hey, Phoebe. I’m sorry Matthew did that, you deserve better.’”
“You don’t deserve better, not with the recent choices you’ve made,” my mother replies, pressing her lips into a thin line.
My blood boils as my heart breaks all over again. I know there’s a kind woman in there, somewhere beneath the cruelty, the judgment, the layers of makeup, filler, and expensive fabrics.
“No matter what I do, it’ll never be good enough for you,” I conclude with a trembling voice. “There’s no amount of bending over backwards, of settling for less, of working myself into an early grave, even, for you to ever give me the same consideration you so gleefully give to Crystal.”
“I’m sorry you feel this way,” Mom replies.
“It was never my intention. But as a mother and a Baldwin, I need to look out for the family’s best interests, first and foremost. It’s not just you, Phoebe.
We’re all in this together, and when one of us pulls while the others push, well, there’s chaos.
What you’ve been doing lately will surely throw us all off the cliff, unless I take executive action. ”
“By depriving me of my inheritance.”
“By making sure your decisions don’t impact the family or the business in a negative fashion.
” Her tone softens minutely. “You should try being selfless for once, darling. Crystal got the hang of it early on, which is why she’s an integral part of the company and part of our plans moving forward.
It’s not her figure that placed her above you, Phoebe. It’s her devotion.”
“Her blind obedience, you mean,” I retort. “You know what? This was a waste of time. I shouldn’t have come here.”
“Whether you like it or not, it’s happening. I gave you a good start in life, Phoebe. The rest is up to you.”
“I will fight you in court.”
“Give it your best shot,” Mom scoffs.
With a heavy heart, I step out of her office, tears flowing as I close the door behind me.
I’m angry, hurt, and clearly going about this the wrong way.
August, Dominic, and Theo were right all along.
There was no point in trying to reason with a woman who no longer sees me as her daughter, but instead as an invented threat to the Baldwin legacy.
As much as it pains me, I need to save my energy and my resources for the court battle I’m about to face.
I head to the foyer, preparing to leave when Maggie’s suggestion comes to mind. I decide to go upstairs with the intention of trying to reason with my sister. One last try before I let the lawyers take over. One last attempt to resolve this within the family.
“What the…” I whisper as the door to Crystal’s bedroom opens and out steps Matthew.
I freeze, eyes wide with shock as I quickly note the details. His disheveled hair, the top two buttons of his shirt unbuttoned, his tie tossed over his shoulder.
Nausea burns holes in my throat.
He laughs as Crystal sees him off with one last kiss, then stills at the sight of me. Crystal gasps, lips parted wide as her brain scrambles to formulate a response, but nothing comes. She simply stares at me. “Phoebe…” she manages.
“Well, that escalated quickly,” I mutter.
“Phoebe, I can explain,” Matthew starts, but I shake my head.
“No, no. There’s no need. You’re a free man, remember? You upgraded, right?”
Crystal looks as if she might be about to apologize to me, but only for a moment before she shakes it off and reprises her usual mean girl role. “He did upgrade, if you think about it.”
“I made my feelings clear at the time,” Matthew tries.
“Oh, you mean when you dumped me in the wedding group chat. Yes. Crystal clear, as it turns out,” I shoot back with a dry chuckle.
The pun was right there. I couldn’t ignore it.
“So, what feelings were you making clear when you were moping outside the Coates brothers’ mansion in the Hamptons, then? ”
Matthew clears his throat, stuck in visible discomfort, while Crystal gives him a suspicious side-eye. “What is she talking about?”
“Oh. He didn’t tell you?” I reply. “Matthew had a change of heart just a short bit ago. He came to the summer place, begging me to take him back.”
“A moment of weakness,” Matthew tells Crystal, but I don’t think she’s buying it. “It’s you I love. It was always you.”
“A moment of weakness,” I laugh, then take my phone out. “You know, it dawned on me just now. I found some spicy texts in your phone when we were still engaged. I didn’t want to believe it, so I purposely let it slip my mind. But now…”
“What are you doing?” Crystal asks, her face flashing with alarm.
I dial the number and put it on speaker. Simultaneously, a phone rings somewhere behind Crystal, in her bedroom.
I smile at her. “So, the two of you were an item before Matthew broke up with me. Go figure,” I calmly reply.
She and Matthew exchange nervous glances.
“Phoebe, it’s a lot more complicated than that,” he says. “The heart wants what the heart wants. You, of all people, should understand that, given your current relationship status.”
“I never cheated on you!” I snap, then look at my sister. “And you. Oh, God, Crystal. Do you have any idea what you’ve done? What depraved behavior you’ve displayed? You slept with my fiancé. And then you proceeded to wage a public campaign against me—”
“Oh, get off your high horse, little miss perfect!” Crystal cuts me off. “You always thought you were better than me. Why, because you got a fancier degree? Better grades? Please. I win in the game of life. I always have. And I take what I want!”
“And to think I just got an earful of our mother telling me that I need to be less selfish and more devoted to this family like you are,” I reply, shaking my head in dismay. “Meanwhile, you were sleeping with my fiancé. Unbelievable.”
“Well, believe it,” she shoots back. “It happened. I can’t take it back. It is what it is.”
“Crystal and I love each other. We’ll get married,” Matthew adds.
The look on Crystal’s face doesn’t evoke that same confidence nor even an ounce of his enthusiasm. I saw what Maggie wanted me to see. Clearly, I have no real family here. Just people I share a bloodline with.
“Keep telling yourself that, Matthew. I wish you both precisely what you deserve. And I will get what’s mine, Crystal. I’ll get what I’m owed. Mark my words.”
I turn away and head back downstairs. Another deluge of tears threatens, but I blink them back as I storm out of the mansion. It’s not until I get behind the wheel of my car that I allow myself a moment to just break down and let it all out.