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“And you think running away to a pathetic ex-boyfriend is going to somehow help you in that?” His laughter was so caustic it nearly burned me. “You clearly have no clue what you’re doing. You will reconsider.”
“I will not,” I responded, keeping his steely gaze. “Eli has become abusive. He’s left bruises on multiple occasions.” I wanted to say more, to dive into this with any expectation of compassion from him, but I knew it wouldn’t come. So I had to relate to him on his level. “My husband leaving bruises isn’t a good look for the Margulis brand. And besides, you don’t have a say in my personal life anymore. I did what you wanted me to do. Now I need to save myself from the consequences of complying with your wishes.”
This seemed to give him pause. His jaw flexed as his gaze shifted to something behind me. And because it seemed like I’d actually gotten through to him, I took this opportunity to share more.
“I cannot compromise my safety. Eli has been increasingly aggressive, and it’s terrifying. I don’t feel safe in my own home anymore.” I swallowed hard. “I don’t feel safeanywhere.” Except with Axel, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.
“There are always two sides to the story,” my father said, in an annoyingly diplomatic tone. “Have you considered giving it a fresh start?”
A fresh start. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or just walk out. My mouth parted but nothing came out. A fresh start was the last thing I’d considered.
“I can’t believe you have the gall to say that to me.”
“Well, maybe things wouldn’t have gotten so out of hand if you’d tried harder.”
Something shut down inside me. Whatever engine had been thrumming, trying to keep this charade afloat, finally stumbled to a halt. Yet again, it was my fault. The solution requiredmysacrifice. My heart was so incredibly tired of the letdowns from the people who called themselves family.
“What do you honestly expect from me?” I asked him, beyond outrage. Beyond shock. At this point, I had no room left for more emotions when it came to my father. There was just a blankness swelling inside me. Threatening to capsize even the good emotions. “To get beaten to death by a drunk just so you can have your picture-perfect empire? How’s that going to go over in the tabloids?”
My father didn’t respond but his scowl deepened.
“Honestly, why isn’t sacrificing everything I love and desire enough for you?” I shook my head. “Now I have to sacrifice my body, my mental health, and possibly my life?”
“You are being excessive and dramatic,” my father began.
“No. I’m not.” I sliced my hand through the air. “And I’m done. I’ve had e-fucking-nough. I’ve given you and this company more than enough. I’m not giving you that.” I stood up on shaky legs and headed for the door.
Before I could pull it open, my father said, “So what? You’re ready to leave it all behind? Just because that sleazeball of an ex showed up again?”
“I never said I was leaving anything behind except that marriage,” I told him. “There’s no way in hell I’m not going after a divorce.”
He glowered at me; that was not the news he’d wanted to hear. But he’d have to get used to it. I wasn’t resigning. I wasn’t stepping down. I simply needed to end my marriage, immediately.
I strode out of his office. I didn’t need to hear anything else he had to say. Nothing could have been worse than what he’d already said, than what he’d spent his entire life telling me.
The Margulis family subsisted on a steady diet of outward perfection and inward turmoil. For my family, home was synonymous with conditions. “You can be a part of the familyif…” If, if, if.
I wanted to exist in a place where home meant unconditional. Where my headaches weren’t going to signify happiness-destroying storms whenever I dared to venture off the path they’d plotted for me. A place where white roses weren’t a sign of worse times to come.
I’d spent my entire life being told that love was something you could buy. Love was something you could purchase off the rack or in the carefully drawn property lines in an exotic locale. But Chris and I had learned how false that lesson was together; meeting and loving Axel had only reinforced it.
Love wasn’t something you could hand over and take back. It wasn’t some capricious fancy of the heart.
Love was something that soaked into your bones. Steadfast and solid.
An unconditional truth that existed with noifs.
I tucked myself into my office, which almost felt foreign after so many days working from the hotel room and Axel’s penthouse, and tried to get into the groove of my workday.
Less than an hour passed before Axel texted.
AXEL:You still alive over there?
CORA: I’ve got a pulse.
AXEL: That’s how I like my women.
I dissolved into laughter. He always knew how to take the edge off. And now that he’d beaten back the gloom from my predictably terrible meeting with my father, I could see that there was hope for us. Not just for us, but for the reality I’d always pined for. Balancing my job with the family business and being with Axel. It could still exist.
