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Grace was the headstrong matriarch of the family and had herown success outside of marriage and family. But she used it as control over the people around her. Charlie didn’t want to be the pawn in her game. Even if it meant losing the only mother she had.
“…then I think it would be best that we take a break from this relationship,” Charlie finished.
Ryan’s jaw dropped lower than Grace, whose expression showed colors of insult instead of shock.
Scoffing, Grace crossed her arms. “Excuse me? Are you saying you’re going to cutmeoff? For aman?”
“He’s not just any man. I love him. To me, he’s forever.”
“You’re more foolish than I thought,” Grace said. “You deem this second-ratenobodyworth going against your family? Why, I have to say, he’s certainly gotten you to be more gutsy if notstupid.”
Gritting her teeth, Charlie ignored the insults. “He’s only a nobody to you. Everyone else loves him, especially me. You’re just being petty, and I’m tired of it.”
“Don’t be obtuse, Charlotte. If you’re willing to give up everything for this man, then I wash my hands of you,” Grace said, voice thickened with distaste. “I can’t believe I’ve raised a daughter this pathetic. You, cutting me off?” she laughed hysterically, “Do it. Without me, you have nothing.Ifinanced that business of yours.Iprovided the seed money for you to start, which makesmethe majority owner.Isupplied the funds to keep it operating while you’re still attempting to make it profitable. It isn’t, by the way.”
Each sentence flew out like a slap in the face and a stab in the gut. This was a newer side to Grace that Charlie scarcely saw, or maybe it wasn’t shown directly to her until now. Vindictive, conniving. Terrifying.
“I just have to pull out, and your company is done.”
“Aera is a partner,” Charlie said. “She also has power over the welfare of Springly.”
“Her contribution is hardly enough to hold everything up.Unless she can shell out what I put in, then you have nothing to hold it up, and I know you don’t have that kind of money.”
Aera used her earnings from her Olympic wins and investments, and probably won’t have enough to cover her mother’s contribution. Grace was indeed the biggest benefactor, and this was exactly where she would use her power play. Without her financial support, keeping Springly open and operating would be almost impossible without diving into deep debt.
She could always ask her father for help, but that would play into what Rick was so scornful about. Taking handouts. It shouldn’t matter if it was the practical thing to do, but what did Charlie know about practicality? She almost married someone she didn’t love because it was planned out for her.
If she took her father’s money, she’d be proving that everything she’d work for meant nothing without her privileged background.
“Don’t play a game you can’t win, Charlotte,” her mother said caustically. “What leverage do you have to make demands?”
“Why do I even need leverage with my own mother?” Charlie argued, heart torn into pieces. She didn’t think their relationship could get any worse. Was this what family meant to the woman? “I am your daughter. Shouldn’t you want me to be happy instead of forcing your beliefs on me?”
“You’re making a big mistake. Just watch. You only like him because he’s new. A fresh flavor. But soon you’ll find out you have nothing in common,” Grace said, “and after a few kids you’re stuck with this washout who will come after your family’s fortune. I’ll tell you now, once that happens, don’t come to me for help.”
“Mother…” Ryan eventually said, but Charlie was too appalled to pay him any attention.
“And if you’re going to…marrythat man, then I’ll do what I can to protect this family. I won’t let him take a dime of my money, which means I will pull your inheritance immediately.”
Charlie paled. “What?”
“It’s the safest bet. I know what it’s like to go through a messy,failed relationship. If I could redo what I know now, this would be the way,” Grace said. Her lack of emotion told more than if she were to express them vocally. Charlie knew her mother was unyielding, but this had taken a cruel turn. A negotiation with a relentless dictator of a rival nation would have been more merciful than this.
For thirty-two years, Charlie endured Grace’s reign like a dutiful daughter. Despite her mother’s flaws, Charlie thought she was strict because she cared a little too much, but everything was forherself. Grace was still living in her own world and rectifying her regrets through Charlie. None of it was really for the good of her children.
“You’re willing to throw away our relationship for your blind insistence to have things your way?” Charlie asked incredulously. “You will choose your beliefs over the happiness of your own daughter?”
“Don’t twist things to fit your narrative, Charlotte. You’re the one who came here with an ultimatum. I simply told you where I stand,” Grace said.
“So that’s how you would have it? If I chose to be with the man I want, and to live the way I want, you don’t want a part of it. Even though none of it affects you in any way? That just because it’s not the way you want it, then everyone and everything is as good as dead to you?”
Grace rolled her eyes. “I don’t care for the condescending and manipulative way you’re turning it around on me. You’ve made your position clear and so have I. You want to make your bed, then consider the consequences. You want me to say it? Then no! I won’t sit around watching you embarrass yourself when the time comes and your choices fail you. I’ve already warned you. You pick up the pieces yourself. I won’t have any part of it.”
After one disappointment after another with her mother, this stabbed harder than if Grace had disowned her from the beginning.
She couldn’t decide which would have been worse. If her mother abandoned and ignored her completely. Or living as a puppet under her carefully crafted plotline. Either choice was abysmal. Charlie simply couldn’t reconcile both.
The “family first” mantra was beaten into her since young, but no one had ever putherfirst. It was whatever herparentswanted, and when Ryan came, being the elder sister, she was expected to care for him as a parent would. When was it her time to be first in anyone’s lineup?
