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I don’t speak to Jacqueline this way.Nobodyspeaks to her this way. It’s all deferential ‘yes, madame’ and ‘what can I do for you?’ in her world.
But if I was force-fed an ugly wake-up call tonight, then she’s going to get one too.
She stands, high color in her cheeks and her voice shriller than I’ve ever heard. “How dare you! She was not worthy... not of House Corbin and not of you.”
“How would you know?” I ask harshly. “You don’t know Autumn, and you sure as hell don’t know me.”
“I know enough!”
Her chest is rising and falling as she glares at me. Most people would wither. It’s what she’s used to, what she expects. But I don’t cower in the slightest. I stare back stone-faced. We’ve had disagreements—over fashion, over collections, over business—but tonight is different. This is personal, between her and me, and it’s been building since I was a child. After tonight, things will never be the same between us. They can’t be.
She sneers. “There’s no silver lining here, Simon, and if you think there is, you’re the fool. This competition idea of yours? House Corbin was built on classic elegance and will always be for that customer base. We don’t need new and flashy, certainly not young and trashy. None of those designers deserve to work with House Corbin.”
“You mean with you, I presume?” I interrupt, speaking over whatever justifications she’s told herself. “Like you’re so much better than they are. Weren’t you once a young designer, trying to start a fashion house? What makes you different from them?”
The challenge is bold and blunt, but she doesn’t flinch. “Nothing. That’s why I know what that American is doing. She wants this by any means necessary, even if it means seducing you to get it. And like a fool, you let her.”
I gawk at her in shock, my brows climbing my forehead. “Are you serious? She didn’t seduce me. I pursued her, despite her repeated attempts to put me off because she was worried about the competition and wanted to win rightfully.”
Jacqueline doesn’t seem the least bit swayed by that new information. “Fine, so she’s adept at playing hard to get, scheming to make you think the relationship was your idea.”
“That’snotwhat happened.”
“However she managed to seduce you—or vice versa—I told you both there would be consequences.” She says it as though this outcome should’ve been obvious, like her destroying me was the only recourse she had.
“So because I didn’t do what you wanted, you took away the only love I’ve ever known,” I say quietly. I search the floor as realization dawns fully. “For one month of my life, I knew how beautiful and all-encompassing love could be. I finally understood what drives men to write songs and poetry, why people will do anything for it, how absolutely everything in life boils down to one thing... love.” I lift my eyes to hers, accusing. “And you took it away from me because I didn’t obey you?”
“I’ve loved you!” she argues. “The best I could. I’ve given you everything, and you stand here, ungrateful for a life most would dream of?”
“You gave me shelter, education at boarding schools, care by nannies, and even a career... as long as I didn’t actually challenge or inconvenience you. But no, you didn’t give me love.” Sadly, I understand something else. “I’m not sure you know what it is yourself. Or else you couldn’t have done what you did. Especially to me.”
She clacks her mouth shut, out of arguments. Maybe because I’m right, maybe because she doesn’t care enough to argue anymore. It doesn’t matter.
I was right, there’s no coming back from tonight. Not for me, not for Jacqueline, and not for us.
“I’m tendering my resignation from House Corbin, effective immediately.”
She huffs out a sigh of disbelief. “Simon, take some time to calm down. A vacation, if you will, or a sabbatical if you need longer. But don’t be rash, not over some young American who dismisses House Corbin and our ‘so-called family’so easily.”
“I don’t need a break. I’m done.”
Sadly, it’s true. I think I’ve been done for a while, and this competition was a last-ditch effort to see if there could be common ground between my aunt and me about the direction House Corbin was heading. But if anything, it’s shown that there’s none. I think Jacqueline knows it too, but she will never admit it. She’ll never confess to setting me up, hoping I would come around to see things her way so I would stop challenging her place on the throne.
And then I process what my aunt just said. “What do you mean our ‘so-called family’?”
“That’s what she called us.” She makes it sound like I’m supposed to be offended at the label, but that’s not what’s bothering me.
“When?” I ask carefully, sensing that there’s another bomb about to explode and needing to be thoughtful in my approach.
Jacqueline waves her hand, unconcerned. “When I saw her in the workroom. I wanted to make sure she knew that she’d brought this on herself. She was quite mouthy, saying she’d rather work as an assistant her whole life than for a day as a designer at House Corbin.” She looks at me aghast, thinking I’ll take her side.
“Yes, I can understand why, given your actions.” I regard her fully, without doubt or hesitation. “I’ll have my office cleaned out on Monday. Right now, I have somewhere I need to be.”
“What? Simon! Where are you going?” she shouts.
But I’m already gone, in more ways than one.
My aunt manipulated me, even before the competition began. But tonight, she manipulated Autumn too, and that is not something I can let stand. Autumn should’ve known better, should’ve trusted me.
