Chapter 5 #2
Zinnia had told them about her meeting, beginning to end, like ripping off a Band-Aid. “Can’t you at least pretend to be happy for me? If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you two were upset that I’d found someone at all.”
She was joking, but the guilty-as-hell look on Fiona’s face meant she’d also accidentally struck the truth.
“It’s not that we didn’t want you to. Your proposal was bonkers enough to draw out every opportunistic psycho within a fifty-mile radius.
We didn’t think you’d actually pick someone. We thought…”
“You both thought I’d give up.” Cold dread settled in Zinnia’s bones.
“Or you’d realize that there’s nothing wrong with being single, Z.”
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to have a partner either! I don’t want to be alone for the rest of my life.”
“But you won’t—”
“What is so hard to understand about this? Self-love is not a damn miracle cure. There isn’t any more work for me to do. I know who I am as a person. I know what I can and cannot give to any relationship. How come I’m not allowed to have a partner the way that I want too?”
“Because you’re picking someone fucking guaranteed to exploit you!” Grace stopped in her tracks. Flames danced in her eyes before she turned and walked out of the room.
“Where are you going?” Fiona took a single step to follow.
“TO CALL MY SISTER!” Her shout echoed down the staircase. “Someone needs to talk some sense into her!”
“Are you happy now? Do you see what you did?” It took a lot for Fiona to lose her temper, but when she did it was clear as a summer day during an eclipse. The caring, compassionate light faded right out of her eyes.
“I didn’t do anything. She’s the one who’s overreacting. So what if his family is famous?”
“So what? I need you to be so fucking for real for five seconds. Zinnia, you can’t do this. You cannot marry him.”
She held up her hands, open-palmed and in peace. “I already told Jordan yes—”
A strangled scream ripped out of Fiona.
“—but I trust you as much as I trust myself. I always want to hear what you have to say so…why not? Why not him? Why not now?”
“First of all, you’re too camera shy to make marketing videos. How in the hell are you suddenly fine with starring in a TV show?”
Fiona kept asking Zinnia to film herself packing orders because she wanted to post real-time Work with Me videos for exposure and potentially another revenue stream.
The sample inspiration videos she’d sent had been filled with pastel colors, trendy decorations, and giant leafy plants.
They sold an illusion of aesthetic productivity.
Anyone could do it. That was supposedly the beauty of the movement.
But Zinnia’s room was neon maximalist—functional with bad lighting, at best.
“I’m not camera shy.”
“You won’t post pictures of yourself online.”
“Changing that isn’t part of the deal. I won’t have to post anything.”
“You won’t even let us do it.”
“I get what you’re saying but all I have to do is be Jordan’s wife. They’re going to take care of everything else.”
“I bet they will.”
Grace scoffed, waltzing back into the kitchen.
Her sister must not have answered. “How have you not figured out that they’re setting you up to be the villain?
The intruder that no one in the family likes.
Think of the editing—the jump cuts, the zoom-ins, the dramatic music.
They’re going to treat you like shit and manipulate the viewers into believing you deserve every second of it. ”
Zinnia shrugged. “That stuff can’t hurt me if I don’t see it.”
“You’re smarter than this! Act like it.” Grace snarled in frustration.
“The Zaffres are globally famous. Marrying into that family will flatten you to nothing more than a hashtag for a trending topic every time an episode airs. Most people will stop seeing you as a person. Are you honestly prepared to have people taking stealth videos of you shopping at a grocery store and posting it for clout? What about random creeps following you down the street to find out where you live? Digging through your trash for clues or waiting outside your job because they memorized your schedule? Are you ready for that?”
Honestly, that was a good point. She hadn’t thought about that part. Her optimistic argument was firmly rooted in Jordan. Because when she thought about him, there was just…all this potential waiting for her with open arms.
“Okay, I hear you, but I have such a good feeling about this. I can’t even describe it. You have to meet him. Jordan gets it. He understands what I’m asking for and wants it too.”
Fiona looked at her with equal parts understanding and pity. “Z, whenever you want something bad enough, you convince yourself that the stars have aligned to make it happen.”
“And then when it all goes to shit, you shrug it off as a lesson you needed to learn,” Grace added. “This isn’t like taking questionable detours on a road trip or draining our savings to start a business. We won’t be there. You’ll be alone in a house full of manipulative narcissists.”
“That’s not true. I’ll have Jordan.”
“He’s one of them! He’s marrying you to protect his sister. Those people can ruin your life in ways you never imagined.”
Fiona frowned. “And do you honestly think he gets it or do you just like his face?”
“Two things can be true at the same time!”
And it wasn’t like they got it either. This was going nowhere, and her heart was starting to hurt. They were an impassioned two against a soon-to-be outcast one, just like she’d predicted.
Zinnia pulled up the contract on her phone and slid it across the table to Grace. “I also get paid to be on the show. It’ll be almost four times what I’d make in a year at the call center.”
The energy in the kitchen immediately shifted as her best friends stared at the screen in shock.
“That’s a lot of zeros,” Fiona whispered before shaking her head. “No. That’s not an option if you have to suffer to get it.”
“Being on the show is a way to bring in capital without having to sign away a portion of our business to some sketchy angel investor. We can use that money to hire an assistant and to rent a real office when I get back. ZnO2 can finally be my full-time job.”
Grace was still scrolling, eyes moving quickly as she read every single line. She’d graduated from college with degrees in I/O psychology and had a high-paying job in the private sector but was also incredibly suited to being a COO.
Zinnia and Fiona exchanged a tense look—an agreement to let her finish.
While they waited, she fidgeted with her bracelets, tapped her foot, and chewed on her bottom lip. She didn’t know what she’d do if they truly weren’t with her on this. Now that was something she’d never imagined.
Grace set the phone down with a sharp inhale as if she were coming out of a trance and fixed her unwavering gaze on Zinnia.