7. Common Ivy
7
COMMON IVY
MEANING: ENDURANCE; DEPENDENCE; MARRIAGE; MATRIMONY
OCEAN
________
“ C ome in.”
Pushing the door open and found my aunt draped across one of the couches in my uncle’s office, wrapped in a silk robe with what looked like a cosmo in her hand. If I had to guess, I’d say she’d never gotten dressed today. But if I’d done the same thing she would have called me lazy.
I hated that part of me would have believed her.
Frank stood near the giant fireplace with a drink, though it was too warm this time of year to have a fire indoors. The plate with my grilled cheese still sat on his desk, with the sandwich only half eaten.
“Glad you’re on time,” Frank said.
I said nothing.
After a second, he cleared his throat and took a sip of his drink. “You probably know that the business has been having some trouble.”
“Yeah.” I didn’t know what, but I heard enough to know that things weren’t going well. Yet another reason why they wouldn’t pay me what I was fucking worth for all the flowers I did for the gala.
“We received an offer today. It’s a good one.” He winced. “Well, it’s a decent one, and we’re going to take it.”
I frowned. “Okay? What does that have to do with me?”
“You’re part of the deal.”
It felt a little like the sounds of the whole world went fuzzy and I had to lean in to hear him properly. Because there’s no fucking way he actually said what he just said. “Excuse me?”
He huffed out a breath, looking annoyed at having to repeat himself. “You’re part of the deal. The Alphas making the offer want a wife, and they want you. So you’re going to marry them, and while you do, you’ll help us take their company for our own from the inside out.”
My jaw dropped, and for a second I wondered if I’d hallucinated this whole thing, or maybe the soup had been expired and I had food poisoning. “Are you fucking insane?”
“ Watch your mouth .” My aunt was on her feet and charging toward me. “You think you can suddenly talk to us like that after everything we’ve done for you?”
“Done for me?” I gaped at her.
“Yes. Done for you. You should be grateful we took you in at all.”
My jaw trembled and the words I’d wanted to say my entire life hovered behind my lips. As if they could take me in when the house we lived in was mine and they were staying in it on borrowed time. As if anything they’d done in my entire life had caused me anything but pain.
But they still held the keys to fucking everything, which bound my tongue. Rage swam behind my eyes and my entire body shook with it. My hands curled into fists with the urge to reach out and hit and hurt and take back everything they’d done for me .
“No,” I said.
“You ungrateful little shit,” she hissed. “You will do this.”
I shook my head. “No, I won’t. You might control my entire life, but you cannot make me marry anyone. I don’t care.”
“You want us to be thrown out of this house because you can’t see this for the opportunity it is?” Laura’s voice was rising, echoing off the walls. “Frank said you’d do this, and I thought you would be happy.”
Part of me snapped. “Why on earth would you think that?”
“Because someone would finally fucking want you.”
I didn’t intend for the gasp that came out of me. My rule was never to show how hurt I was. Never give them more power over me than they already had. Yet, with that single sentence, it felt like I’d taken a knife to the ribs.
That was the worst part. Laura believed those things, and an aching, not-so-small part of me believed them too. Hadn’t I just said the same thing to myself?
It wasn’t just the desire to be wanted romantically. Was it too much to ask that my own family want me?
The pain drained out of me, replaced with bleak devastation. She was right. It would be easier to take what I could get and try to find some happiness within it. Then at least I’d be away from them and I wouldn’t be alone.
Five more years of this stretched in front of me like a path into nothing. Just a desert of the same conversations and the same hurts over and over again. I almost said yes.
The tiniest glimmer of my soul that wanted to be loved for me instead of what I could give someone rebelled. It took all the strength I had. “No.”
“I thought you might say that.” My uncle crossed the room and leaned back against his desk. “But you’re going to say yes.”
“The hell I am.”
“You are,” he said calmly. “Because the agreement is only for a year, and at the end of that year, if you do this, I will sign your trust over to you early.”
My aunt’s head whipped around so fast I could have sworn I heard a crack.
“What?” we both asked at the same time.
His eyes went cold. “Stop making me repeat myself.”
More pain spread through my chest, making it hard to breathe. “You could have done that this whole time? Signed it over to me?”
“It’s not easy,” he said with a shrug. “A lot of hoops to jump through. But I need you to do this, and because you’ve never been helpful a day in your life, I knew you would need motivation.”
Hot tears flooded my eyes, and I turned away, breathing through the sharpness of my grief. “Why do they want to marry me?” I asked, voice watery.
“Some kind of PR problem. I don’t really know, nor do I care. What I care about is signing the paperwork that will save McCabe Fabrics, and you are a part of that paperwork.”
One year instead of five. One. ONE .
My mother died when I was twelve. I’d already survived eighteen years of this. I could survive one more. Especially if it wasn’t with them. One jail for another. At least there would be different scenery.
There wouldn’t be anything to tie me to this marriage when the year was over. The implant in my arm was more than enough to prevent any accidental pregnancies. I’d tried to get the surgery Isolde had, preventing them entirely, but no one would perform it on me because of my size. One surgeon even went as far as to say I wouldn’t need it at all. Like me having sex was a crime against humanity.
One year, and I could be free of all of this.
“I want it in writing,” I finally said, looking at him and disgusted by the victory in his eyes. “I want it in writing and notarized, with lawyers and witnesses .”
“Fine.”
The ease with which he said it made me want to crumple. It wasn’t hard, he just hadn’t wanted to do it. They never wanted to do it because it wasn’t worth it to them. As long as they controlled the estate, they could do whatever they wanted and held all the benefits that came with it. No matter if they couldn’t touch the money that was mine. They would still try.
Maybe that was why the paperwork had been thirty-five. Maybe Mom and Dad thought that their closest family wouldn’t hesitate to sign the estate over to me when I became an adult.
I closed my eyes, and a tear finally spilled over. I didn’t bother to wipe it away. “Then I’ll do it.”
“Good. I’ll have the paperwork here for you, with your notary, lawyers, and witnesses, on Saturday.”
“Ellie’s—” I stopped. “Isolde’s sister’s wedding is on Saturday. I did the flowers, and she’s my friend. I have to be there.”
Laura crossed her arms. “I’m sure the flowers will be fine without you.”
“What part of I have to be there wasn’t clear the first time?” I snapped.
Her eyebrows rose into her hairline and she took a step back. I never spoke to her like that. Well, I did, but usually in my head.
Frank interrupted whatever she was about to say to me. “I meant what I said, Ocean. This is an opportunity for all of us, and I will need you to get me information.”
“Sure.” Whoever it was, if they were doing this, I doubted they were stupid. They knew who Frank was, and they weren’t going to let me anywhere near the kind of knowledge he was talking about. I could try if he wanted me to, but that wasn’t on my priority list. My priority list was his signature on the document guaranteeing my freedom.
“We’ll get everything set up. Sign the papers for you on Saturday, and the rest of the deal on Monday. I’ll see if they can come and meet you on Saturday.”
“That’s fine.” I was already retreating into my own mind, making plans and dealing with the repercussions of what I’d just done.
“Do you want to know who?”
I looked at him. “Does it matter?”
“No.” Laura snorted. “You’re lucky they’re even looking at you.”
It looked like Frank was going to say something else, but I didn’t let him. “Saturday night . I’m going to the wedding. Let me know when they’re going to be here.”
Then I walked out, and I didn’t look back.