Chapter Thirty-Six Buying Time
SUTTON
I unlock the penthouse door with shaking hands. The key fob slips against my palm once before the lock finally clicks open, the sound unnaturally loud in the silent hallway.
“Move,” Leon snaps behind me.
The tip of the knife presses lightly into the small of my back.
A sharp, electric jolt shoots up my spine, and my breath catches halfway in my chest. Every nerve in my body suddenly feels awake, buzzing with panic.
I push the door open and step inside with Leon and Aubrey close behind me. I’m fighting my fear, trying to keep a clear head as I try and figure out how I’m going to get out of this…but it’s proving a near-impossible task.
My heart is pounding so violently, I’m convinced they can hear it. The rhythm thunders in my ears, drowning out everything else. My palms are slick with sweat, and I keep wiping them against the sides of my skirt without thinking.
As they direct me to the living room, a startling thought enters my mind. Did they know Jayce wasn’t here? Did they wait until he was gone, or were they just planning on taking him out first?
A cold shiver runs down my spine.
“Sit on the couch,” he orders me, his voice harsh.
I’m careful not to make any sudden movements, and cross into the living room.
The penthouse is dim. The lights are still off from when Jayce and I left earlier, leaving only the gray wash of late afternoon filtering through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows.
The skyline outside glows faintly, but inside the room everything feels shadowed and unfamiliar.
I lower myself onto the couch, my legs stiff, my hands folded tightly together in my lap so they will stop shaking.
Leon collapses into the cushion next to me, breathing hard. Up close, the sweat on his face is more obvious now, clinging to his temples and dampening the collar of his wrinkled shirt. His hair looks like he’s run his hands through it too many times.
The knife is still in his unsteady hand, moving with the restless tremor in his fingers, the blade catching what little light there is as it sways.
My stomach tightens. He keeps giving me quick, darting looks filled with something wild and unstable. His knee bounces rapidly, like he can’t sit still. This man is barely holding himself together, and that terrifies me far more than anger would.
Aubrey steps farther into the room, her heels clicking softly against the hardwood floor as she moves toward the glass-topped coffee table. She sets a dark leather messenger bag on the surface with calm, deliberate precision.
Unlike Leon, she looks immaculate in a tailored black coat that hugs her frame.
Underneath is a cream silk blouse and fitted slacks.
Not a single strand of her hair is out of place, pinned neatly at the back of her head.
The contrast between her composure and Leon’s unraveling energy makes the room feel even more dangerous.
She unbuckles the bag slowly and I watch as she begins pulling papers out, stacking them neatly on the table in front of me one by one. When she finally looks up at me, her face is completely blank. No anger. No satisfaction. No triumph.
Nothing.
Her eyes, though, are burning with pure, concentrated fury. The sheer intensity of it makes my blood run cold.
Leon shifts on the couch, the knife glinting faintly as his grip tightens.
“What are those?” I choke out, glancing down at the papers.
She lifts her chin and holds my gaze as she literally looks down her nose at me.
“Marriage contract,” she says in a cold tone, her words sharp. “You and Leon will sign them tonight.”
My throat tightens. Oh my God. She’s going to try and force a marriage between me and Leon? These two are out of their fucking minds!
I finally manage to choke out a response. “What? Why now? Why me?”
I have no idea what the answers will be, but I have to keep them talking and buy myself some time.
Still, I don’t expect Aubrey’s cruel smile, which doesn’t reach her eyes, or her reply.
“Because I’ve waited long enough.”
I blink, baffled by her words.
“What are you talking about?” I frown. “You’ve waited long enough for what?”
She releases a sound very close to a snarl. “To finally prove that I’m better than Iris. That I deserve more than she ever did.”
I feel like I’m getting whiplash with her burst of anger. “You’re doing this because of my mom? I thought you two were friends.”
Aubrey clenches her jaw and her cheeks flush. “Friends? No. Never friends.”
I stare at her, disbelief buzzing through my veins.
“That’s not what my mom said,” I push back. “She said you were close in college.”
Aubrey gives a soft, dismissive sound under her breath. “Your mother talks too much.” Her fingers tap lightly against the stack of papers. “Now, we’re wasting time. You’re going to sign those documents.”
My gaze flicks down, then back up at her.
“No,” I reply firmly.
Leon lets out a short, jagged laugh beside me.
“See?” he says, gesturing wildly with the knife. “This is what I told you would happen.”
“Leon…” Aubrey warns.
“No,” he snaps, sitting forward. “She needs to understand why this had to happen.”
“Leon!” Aubrey’s tone sharpens.
“You people ruined everything,” he continues, turning to me and ignoring his mom completely now. “You and your perfect family. Your perfect business. Everyone always talks about Holloway like it’s fucking untouchable.”
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” I say, my voice shaking despite my effort to stay calm.
Leon laughs again, harsher this time.
“Of course you don’t. You’ve never had to fight for anything in your life!”
“That’s enough!” Aubrey’s voice cuts through the room like a blade.
Leon falls silent immediately, though his chest is still heaving.
“Why Holloway?” I demand. “Why my family?”
Aubrey exhales slowly, like I’m an inconvenience she’s reluctantly decided to entertain.
“I have no interest in explaining,” she says flatly.
“Well, if you expect me to sign anything, you’re going to have to do better than waving a knife around,” I snap, rage beginning to overshadow the terror I’m feeling.
Leon shifts beside me again, but Aubrey raises a hand without even looking at him. He stills. She focuses her attention back to me.
“So entitled and demanding,” she sighs. “Just like your mother.”
“What did she ever do to you?” I demand to know.
Aubrey’s lips press together. For a moment I think she’s going to ignore me. Then she groans, clearly irritated that she’s even indulging this conversation.
“She had everything,” Aubrey hisses. “The grades, the friends, and the attention. Then she married your father, a rich, respected, and powerful man who could give her everything. It didn’t matter to her that I met him first. That I fell in love with him the moment I saw him.
Your mother didn’t care. She decided she wanted him, so she snatched him up for herself.
Now, I’m going to take everything from her, and you’re going to help me. ”
What the fuck? My father? I almost laugh out loud, this is so absurd. Like some overdramatic soap opera.
As if Dad would ever look twice at this bitch.
Aubrey nudges the stack of documents closer to me. The glass table gives a faint scrape as the papers slide across it, the sound sharp in the quiet room.
“You’re the key, Sutton dear.”
She folds her hands neatly in front of her, posture perfectly composed as she looks down at me like this is nothing more than a routine business meeting.
“You’ll marry Leon,” she continues, as if outlining a simple transaction. “He’ll be named CEO of Holloway, and then everything your family has built…” Her lips press together briefly. “…everything your mother has taken for granted, will finally belong to someone who deserves it.”
The words sit in the air like poison.
“Are you insane?” I whisper.
My mind spins as I stare at her. All of this is because she’s jealous of my mother? It’s absurd. Totally unhinged. Yet the calm certainty in her posture tells me she believes every word she’s saying.
“You tried to destroy my company because you’re jealous of my mom?” I demand, my voice rising. “That’s your grand plan?”
Aubrey sighs, like I’m exhausting her.
“You’re oversimplifying things, Sutton.”
“Then explain it!” I snap. “Because right now you sound completely delusional.”
Leon lets out a bark of laughter.
“You really don’t know, do you?” he cackles. “Your family’s perfect little empire almost collapsed several years ago.”
A cold chill creeps down my spine. Why’s he bringing that up?
“What?”
“All those financial problems,” he continues, gesturing wildly with the knife. “The contracts Holloway was losing and the deals that kept mysteriously falling through.”
My pulse begins to pound. Mom and Dad were so stressed and afraid they’d lose everything…it was a living hell.
“That was you?” I whisper.
Leon grins.
“Now you’re getting it.”
The room shrinks in around me.
“You started sabotaging us years ago?” I whisper, my voice hollow.
Aubrey doesn’t deny it. In fact, she looks almost proud.
“It was necessary,” she answers coolly. “A strategic weakening of your family’s position.”
My parents had been under enormous pressure back then and decided to leave New York for a while. Just a short break in Colorado to breathe and regroup.
To figure out how to save the company.
Memories slam into me like blows to the chest. The cabin and the long days when Dad was still glued to his laptop, trying to fix everything.
Colson wanting to go outside and play in the snow and the two of us sneaking out…
My vision blurs as the realization sweeps over me.
If the company hadn’t been in trouble, we wouldn’t have gone to Colorado. Colson wouldn’t have gotten sick. He wouldn’t have…
My chest tightens painfully and I gasp out a sob, but then a hot wave of rage explodes through my chest, burning away the fear that had been choking me moments ago.