I hated that library.
“Mara,” Mrs. Malone said coldly as Vivi ushered me into the room.
“Hello, Mrs. Malone. Mr. Malone. So good to see you again,” I lied. I forced myself to smile, as if I didn’t have a care in the world.
“You said you wanted to speak to us,” Ford’s mother said. “Well?”
She was sitting in a burgundy leather wingback chair, a villain’s prime choice of seating if I’d ever seen one. Mr. Malone was behind his desk, pointedly ignoring both me and his wife as he hid behind theWall Street Journal. He could be completely charming, I knew from experience—but he was also a total pushover whenever his wife was in the same room. It was like he couldn’t stand being around her either, and always chose the path of least resistance. I almost felt sorry for him, but not quite.
Clearing my throat, I lifted my chin and said, “I wanted to discuss our arrangement.”
“Did you now?” Mrs. Malone said. I saw the way she was taking in my appearance, and the curl of her lip as she did so. I couldn’t help feeling a petty twinge of satisfaction at her obvious disgust. I wanted to strike a pose. To really make her uncomfortable.
“We’re all ears,” Ford’s dad said. “Though to be honest, this hardly comes as a surprise.”
Ah. So they assumed I had come over to formally back out of our deal, or at the very least request an extension on the marriage term. After Ford had declared his love for me right in this very library, insisting he wouldn’t give me up, and that he’d fight for me, of course it made sense that his parents were expecting me to renege.
Were they in for a shock.
Mr. Malone had actually set his paper down, and was looking at me with an interested expression, which I took as a good sign. It meant I had the floor. The power. I was going to say what I had come to say and they were going to listen.
With a deep breath, I straightened my shoulders and faced the two of them straight on.
“I want out,” I said.
“Out of our deal?” Mrs. Malone asked, her voice like acid. “I’m afraid that won’t be—”
“No,” I interrupted. “Out of the marriage. The sooner the better.”
Mrs. Malone’s jaw actually dropped. Behind the desk, Mr. Malone’s brows lifted.
“What?” Mrs. Malone sputtered.
“I don’t think we need to keep up this charade for much longer,” I said. “You want me and Ford divorced, and I want my family’s debt paid.” I paused, mustering up the one shred of truth that would give my words the most credence. “The Bratva’s been leaning on my brother.”
“Ah. I see,” Mr. Malone said. He actually sounded sympathetic.
“Nothing is more important to me than my family’s security. Including Ford,” I added. “I’m sure you understand.”
Ford was getting thrown under the bus, but I knew it was necessary. I also knew that the Malones would do whatever it took to get those divorce papers filed as soon as possible.
“And here we thought you were going to try to renegotiate, seeing how you managed to trick our son intoactuallyfalling for you,” Mrs. Malone said.
Her words sliced into me like a knife to my heart. Because I too had thought that Ford was falling for me. After the way he’d defended me to his parents—standing up to them in a way that had surprised me and them—I had believed that our relationship, our marriage, could finally grow into something real. Something based on mutual love and respect. But now I knew that it just wasn’t possible. Not after what I’d learned about him. About who Ford really was.
He was just like his parents. Manipulative and self-serving and cruel. The sooner I could purge him from my life, the better off I’d be. The better off my baby would be as well.
“Give me a little credit,” I said, surprised at how easily the lies were coming to me. “I intend to honor our deal. Ford’s feelings were never part of that.”
Lies. Lies. Lies.
I could see that Mrs. Malone didn’t fully believe me, but I didn’t care. She didn’t have to trust my motivations, she just had to trust that we were on the same page when it came to Ford, which, right now, we were.
“Before we move forward with this, though, I need a guarantee that my troubles—my family’s troubles—will be over permanently. If I’m going to break my best friend’s heart, I need to know the Bratva won’t come back. Because if they do, there’s no point to any of this.”
I looked back and forth between them expectantly. I could tell they hadn’t expected me to approach this with such confidence. They had obviously assumed they had the upper hand, and could walk all over me. I felt a rush of adrenaline knowing I was the one in control for once.
The wheels in Mrs. Malone’s head were turning. She wanted me out just as much as I wanted myself out. And she didn’t want me coming back and causing problems. She wanted me as far away from her precious little Ford as possible.
