Chapter 33
ELLORA
I sat cross-legged on the couch between Bree and Mercedes, an open bottle of wine sweating on the coffee table next to three glasses in various stages of needing to be refilled. The air smelled like melted cheese, chocolate, and heartbreak, the three primary food groups of any proper pity party.
Bree and Mercedes were meeting for the first time, and somehow, they were already thick as thieves, united in their shared mission of keeping me from wallowing too hard. To be fair, when I’d called them, I’d felt—and sounded—like my world was ending.
That was how I’d felt when I’d left Holden’s building, at least. Both of them had been waiting when I’d gotten home, all three of us laden down with wine and snacks.
“I still can’t believe he’s the person behind it all.” Bree tore another piece off a gooey mozzarella stick and held it up, but didn’t pop it in her mouth yet. “That’s, like, some next-level betrayal. He really never said a word?”
I shook my head. “Not a one. Not even a hint or a comment that could’ve had another meaning. Nothing.”
Mercedes reached for her glass and wrapped her fingers around it, curling her legs up under her.
“Rich, hot, smart, charming. That’s always the combo you have to watch out for.
I didn’t think he would wind up being downright evil, though.
At worst, I thought he might end up not being able to stop fucking around. ”
I groaned and flopped backward against the cushions. “Don’t remind me. I think I’m allergic to billionaires now. Or maybe just men in general.”
“They’re all assholes,” Mercedes declared. “Except Kody, of course. Nothing bad we say about boys tonight applies to him.”
Bree threw a pretzel at her. “You don’t count. From the sounds of it, you and Kody are the Disney version of love. Everyone else is just trying not to drown in the dating swamp.”
“True,” I said, pointing my glass at her. “You two are soulmates. The rest of us are just, I don’t know, hobbyists or something. This sucks.”
Bree sighed and topped off my wine. “So what’s the plan now? You can’t just give up your store. No matter who’s developing the block. You can’t let him take that from you, Ella.”
“I don’t want to, but I honestly don’t know what else to do,” I admitted, staring into my glass. “I signed their stupid papers, remember? I guess it’s done. I just… I thought he cared. I really did.”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat and took a huge, slow gulp of wine. Mercedes reached over and squeezed my hand. “Maybe he does care, but caring doesn’t really undo what he did. At the very least, he should’ve told you.”
I nodded, blinking fast as tears started welling in my eyes. “Yeah. I know. It’s just a really bitter pill to swallow. I mean, this is the man who was with me after my mom died. He’s the guy who canceled his entire day to take us to the beach. In Florida. On his private plane.”
Mercedes grimaced. “Not for nothing, but flying people around on a private jet isn’t as big of a deal to those who can afford it as it is to those of us who can’t. Maybe he just wanted to go to the beach and figured he’d give you a ride.”
“No,” Bree said immediately, her features soft as her eyes held mine.
“It might not have been as big of a deal to him, but he wasn’t just going to the beach anyway.
He definitely did that because Sara wanted to go.
Not that it excuses what he was doing behind your back, but we should at least give him that. ”
“True.” I sighed. Closing my eyes, I dropped my head back on the couch. “I just really thought I was a better judge of character, you know?”
“If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t see this coming from him either,” Bree offered. “He was really, really good at hiding that he’s a cruel, soulless jerk. I was actually pretty surprised by how nice he was. And the way he looked at you…”
She trailed off, her head shaking.
Mercedes took a sip of her wine, staring absently into the middle distance for a minute. “I only met him briefly at the funeral, but she’s right. I really do think he cares. I’m just not sure if or how that changes anything.”
“It doesn’t,” I said with a hint of finality ringing in my voice. “This is what he does for a living. It’s how he made his money. He develops properties, and often, those properties are being leased to people like me before he sinks his claws into them.”
A few seconds of silence passed between us before Bree held up her glass. “To complicated men, temporary heartbreak, and carbs.”
I clinked my glass against hers. “To good friends who bring good snacks.”
“To hiring private detectives to investigate the next men who try to come into your lives.” Mercedes winked. “Seriously, we’re never letting this happen again. I’m sure Kody knows someone who could help us out with this.”
“Fucking billionaires,” I muttered, reaching for another handful of chips. “Think they’re rulers of the entire universe and that it doesn’t matter who they hurt.”
Mercedes arched an eyebrow. “Not all of them.”
“Right, of course,” I said dryly, waving a chip in her direction. “Just most of them. Present company’s fiancés excluded, obviously. Kody’s basically a humanitarian with a trust fund.”
“Damn straight,” she said with a proud grin. “Well, I mean, he is now. Think about what he was like at first.”
Bree made gagging noises into her glass. “I haven’t even met Kody and I’m already getting cavities just thinking about the two of you together.”
“What they have is the dream.” I slumped deeper into the couch, letting out a dramatic groan that was about seventy percent wine and thirty percent heartbreak.
“Seriously, though. What the hell was I thinking? I mean, was he lying to me the whole time? Did he know? Was I just some little side quest between mergers and acquisitions?”
Bree gave me a look over the rim of her glass. “Girl, you’re not a side quest. You’re a whole main storyline.”
“Yeah,” I said with a bitter laugh, “Just one without the happy ending, right? I’m the main storyline of a horror show. Or a psychological thriller. Or maybe just the textbook they’re going to be using to train up therapists for years to come.”
Mercedes nearly snorted wine through her nose. “Okay, that’s funny, but wow, it’s also actually pretty dark.”
I waved her off. “It’s not dark, it’s true. He told me he believed in what I was doing and I believed him. He helped me with ideas for the shop. He bought tacos from a truck and actually looked like he was enjoying them like a real human being. I thought that meant something.”
“Maybe it did?” Bree offered gently.
I stopped pacing to glare at her. “It couldn’t have meant much if all along, he was secretly planning on evicting me.
Even if he did or does care about me, he obviously doesn’t care that much.
I’m starting to think that all he really cared about was getting off with a poor student girl he was about to pull the rug out from underneath. ”
She winced. “Fair point.”
I flopped back on the couch again, throwing an arm over my face. “God, I’m such an idiot. The man literally owns a jet and I thought he just got me.”
“You’re not an idiot.” Mercedes reached for the wine. “From everything I’ve heard from both of you and what I saw with my own two eyes at the funeral, it did look like he’d found his soulmate in you.”
I sat up, my voice rising. “Well, like you said earlier, it doesn’t even matter because now he’s bulldozing my neighborhood and turning it into some high-end hellscape where nobody knows each other.
I’ll never be able to afford a new lease there, and even if I could, I don’t know that I’d want to. It’s gone. All of it will be gone.”
Bree rubbed my shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Ella.”
I sighed, the fire in me dimming into something sadder.
“It’s just that I really thought what we had was special.
We connected, you know? When I was with him, it didn’t matter that he could buy the entire city while I have to budget to afford toilet paper.
We clicked like I never have with anyone else.
Where does that leave me now that I know the guy I thought I was falling in love with doesn’t even really exist? ”
Mercedes leaned over, bumping my knee with hers. “You’re going to be fine. You’ve been through worse than some shiny guy with commitment issues and a god complex.”
“Yeah,” I said, letting out a shaky laugh. “It’s just too bad that he took my heart and my lease.”
“Okay,” Bree said after pausing for a beat. “We’re officially cutting you off for the night. No more crying over rich men with emotional damage. You’re too hot for this.”
I grinned weakly. “Too hot to cry, huh?”
“Exactly.”
“Fine,” I said, holding out my empty glass. “But I’ll take just one more for hydration purposes.”
They laughed, but Mercedes did me a solid and poured it full. I took a sip and leaned back, letting the wine buzz and their laughter drown out the ache in my chest. Together, we drank, laughed a lot more, and ranted about boys who ghosted, boys who lied, and boys who wore loafers with no socks.
For a little while, I could almost forget that my life was unraveling. Somewhere deep down, I knew the heartbreak would still be waiting for me in the morning. I was just trying not to let it drag me down right now.
We were halfway through a bag of salt-and-vinegar chips and a heated debate about whether love or carbs was more addictive when there was a knock at my door. Three hard, unmistakable raps that made all three of us go still.
Bree froze with a chip halfway to her mouth. “Are you expecting anyone else?”
“Only the pizza guy,” I said automatically, but my heart was already beating too fast. “Maybe that’s him.”
Mercedes frowned. “That didn’t sound like a pizza knock. Pizza knocks are usually a lot more polite. That sounded serious, like you owe someone money.”
Before I could answer or agree with her, a familiar voice came through the door, low and rough, but heartbreakingly familiar.
“Ellora,” he said. “Please open up. We need to talk.”
I felt like all the oxygen had instantly disappeared from the room. Bree’s eyes went wide. Mercedes mouthed, oh my god.
“It was a serious knock,” she whispered urgently. “Do you want me to tell him to leave?”
I stared at the door, my wine glass trembling slightly in my hand and every nerve in my body screaming to get close to him. Holden was here. After everything that had happened, he’d come to my house and he wanted to talk.
Glancing at Mercedes, I shook my head and stood up. While I appreciated the offer, I didn’t need her to do my dirty work for me.
He’d come to talk, but as far as I was concerned, there was absolutely nothing left to say.