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I narrow my eyes as I fold my legs underneath me, grateful I’m wearing workout gear today. First, the boys staged a fucking intervention, and now my grandmother? Just how obvious have I made it that I’m affected by Celeste’s engagement?
Grandma hands me a cookie and I stare at it, remembering the moment I realized my sister and Celeste had become friends. We’d been at my house, and Sierra walked in with a Tupperware box filled with cookies. Normally, she’d come in just to gloat and wave them in my face before leaving again, but this time, she sat Celeste down, made her a cup of tea, and offered her a cookie.
I’d never seen anything like it before. Sierra practically engages in guerrilla warfare to get her hands on these cookies, yet there she was, handing one to Celeste, an eager expression on her face, like she’d hoped Celeste would love them as much as she does. I didn’t have the heart to tell her Celeste doesn’t like sweets of any kind.
“One day, Grandma will make them for you too,”she promised, her gaze reassuring.“When she does, I’ll absolutely fight you for them… but until then, you can have mine.”
“Zane?”
I blink in surprise to find Grandma staring at me, a hint of concern in her gaze. “Thanks,” I murmur belatedly, before biting off a chunk, the bitterness in my body rendering it completely tasteless.
“What’s going on with you, sweetheart? What are you doing here on a weekday? Why aren’t you at work?”
Because everywhere I go, I’m reminded of the past. I can’t go to the office without thinking of Lily, and I can’t be in my house without thinking of Celeste. I renovated my entire home when we broke up, and that still wasn’t enough to erase her.
“Just needed a day off,” I murmur. “I had a headache, so I thought it’d be good to spend some time here.”
Grandma raises a brow. “A headache?” she repeats, her voice dripping with disbelief. “Is that what we’re calling Celeste Harrison these days? Quite apt, I suppose.”
My head snaps up at the mention of her, but my grandmother merely grins and continues to unpack the variety of cheeses and crackers she brought, acting like nothing is amiss as she holds up a thermos. “Would you like some tea?”
I nod demurely, unsure what else to do. What is she even doing here? Something about her gaze makes me feel unsettled — she does this sometimes, makes me feel like a pawn in an elaborate game I don’t know the rules of.
She hands me a delicate porcelain cup, the Windsor crest on it in real gold. “Zane,” she says, her tone serious. My entire body tenses at the sight of that unwavering stern look in her eyes, a hint of unease running down my spine. “I would like you to stop attacking Harrison Developments. I let you do it for years because I don’t particularly like Ed Harrison, and it seemed cathartic for you. I’m starting to think that’s no longer the case.”
“I won’t,” I tell her, my tone rough. I didn’t think she’d even realized what I was up to, but I should’ve known better. There’s a lot she ignores, but there isn’t much she misses.
Grandma smiles kindly, deceptively. “Did it sound like I was asking? I’m not.”
I stare at my grandmother, trying to get a read on her and coming up empty. “Why?” My voice sounds harsher than I intended, betraying my torment.
She grins, and for a moment, she looks just like Sierra. “Because Ed and I came to an agreement.”
Dread settles in the pit of my stomach. “What?”
She reaches over and pats my hand. “Zane, your anger is merely a thin veil that attempts to obscure your pain, despite its sheer nature. It’s time to take a step forward, toward happiness. You need to move on and let the past be just that — the past.”
Move on? Like Celeste thinks she’ll do with Clifton? Is that what this is? Did Ed forsake his pride to ask for a ceasefire on his granddaughter’s behalf? A wedding present, perhaps?
“What did he offer you?” I ask, anger manifesting in my voice.
Grandma takes a sip of her tea, leaving me in suspense as her eyes roam over my face. “He offered to return something precious to me, something I’d lost.”
I tighten my grip on my cup, my anger boiling over. “What could possibly be so precious that you’d make a deal with the devil?”
She smiles, but this time, it doesn’t reach her eyes. “You.”
ChapterForty-One
Zane
My grip on my phone tightens as I read The Herald’s latest headline, my stomach turning in distaste.Wedding Of The Century,they captioned their article about Celeste’s wedding plans.
Thankfully, we’ve been able to keep news about her out of every media outlet that Windsor Media has a stake in, but the Herald is hard to silence. Every attempt to acquire them has failed, and they seem to take great joy in covering Celeste’s upcoming wedding. Fucking cockroaches. Week after week, they publish something else about her, and like the sucker I am, I can’t stop reading that tripe.
I sigh as I walk into my grandmother’s house for our weekly dinner, feeling uneasy. Ever since Grandma asked me to stop attacking the Harrisons a few weeks ago, I’ve been on edge. I hate not knowing what’s going on in her mind, what she’s plotting. She’s been awfully quiet in recent weeks, and that never bodes well for any of us.
The dining room is buzzing when I walk in, and I glance around to find Ares sitting with Raven, Luca with Val, and Dion with Faye. All three couples look so happy together, and fuck, normally I love seeing the happiness on their faces. Today it just reminds me of everything I lost.
