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"Oh my gosh, Xander!" She was so over it that an eye roll just wouldn't cut it. She rolled her entire head. "Let's just get this over with." She held out her dainty wrists, her eyes like steel pools of quicksand. I dove in, wanting to believe that years of disappointment and seeing and experiencing her utter lack of compassion for anyone but herself was just an elaborate ruse. Maybe she did care somewhere deep, deep inside.
"Go ahead," she urged. "Slap my wrists. Your little sister was out to get you again. I just suggested you needed to settle down, and how worried I was about the legacy of our company. I told Daddy you just needed a push in the right direction. It was just a kernel of an idea. I figured I'd at least get to watch some matchmaker person bring in ditzy bimbos for the dashing CEO. The addendum to his will was even better." She did us both a favor and returned her hands to her hips, dropping the charade. She would never suffer the consequences of her actions voluntarily. "I had a little fun, things went a little too far-"
"Thank you, Marie."
Three words I never thought I'd say to my sister fell from my lips.
I'd stormed the castle, ready to raze everything to the ground; to call my sister every synonym of 'evil' that I could name. I'd planned to fly up the stairs, my mother next in line. There was one word that would cut her as deeply as her failure to stand up for me cut me: weak. I'd save the best for last, finding my way to the patriarch of this fucked up family. I wouldn't honor him with words. My middle finger would suffice. He could try and take my company, but I wouldn't take it lying down. The cost of the damage to the brand was higher than even he could stand. His legacy was everything. All around us was excess, a monument to him in every custom piece of furniture, every glass bead on the chandeliers, every art piece that glorified the magnificence of Robert Wade. Hell, he could even be helping me make my own mark on the business world with my own company. Everything I touched turned into money. I'd taken a company that was treading water and gave it wings. Who was to say I couldn't start from scratch and create something incredible?
But I wanted off this ride. Me giving my family a piece of my mind was business as usual. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and hoping for a different result—and I'd never felt more sane in my life.
All the eyes in the room were bulging, but I only focused on Penny. I took both her hands in mine, my heart beating double time. "I don't have the words for how special this girl is.” I tossed my next words at Marie. “If things had been different, like say, you had a heart and didn't treat everyone like a means to an end or chess pieces to manipulate, I never would have met her. I never would have learned that love isn't supposed to hurt."
Tears brimmed Penny's hazel eyes as she nodded slowly and whispered that she loved me.
Branson was the first to speak, whipping out his handkerchief and dabbing his eyes like this was Masterpiece Theatre. "How beautiful!"
My sister made a gagging sound. I'd expended so much energy being angry at her that just letting it go felt damn good. My plans to take them all to task evaporated. Who knew how long my father had left on this earth? Hell, who knew how much time I had left? The words I needed to say to him before I put this house and family behind me had no venom. It was just my truth. And I wasn't leaving here without saying it.
I dipped my lips to Penny's forehead, breathing in her scent, feeling like the future would be just fine, incredible even—as long as she was in it. "I need to say something to my dad." The smell of Marie's cigarette and the heat of her glare zeroed in on us. "You can come up with me."
Penny stroked my cheek and shook her head. "I'm not afraid of your sister. You go talk to your dad. I'll be fine."
I gave her a tender kiss to a chorus of applause from Branson and more gag-like sounds from Marie. I let her go and started up the stairs.
Chapter Seven: Penny
"So you're my big brother's happily ever after."
I watched Xander's ascent, reminding myself that I was a fighter too. If there was one thing I was an expert in, it was bullies. They weren't always some sneering Goliath who could crush you without breaking a sweat. Sometimes they were built like Barbie with personalities just as plastic and words that cut like a knife. Sometimes they were teachers who remembered days of being outsiders themselves and now had a little power and used it to ignore the teasing and pain. They could be co-workers that turned a blind eye to their kids, seeing their job as little more than clocking in and clocking out and collecting a paycheck. A bully could be a mother who knows you're different but insists on forcing you into her acceptable mold, a father that chose long hours at the office over being a dad and husband, a sister who stood silent while her own sibling was being hurt.
You didn't fight a bully with more bullying. Brute force may feel good at first, but it doesn't fix the hurt. Ignoring it just nurtures the pain, forcing it inward where it eats at you. Poisons you. The way to stand up to a bully is to disempower them. To look them dead in the eye and say, 'I'm not afraid.'
I turned around to do just that, but Xander's sister had a smile as sweet as pie on her face.
"I think you and I may have gotten off on the wrong foot." She held out her free hand, her smile broadening. "I'm Marie."
I didn't shake it. "I think you know who I am."
Not one to be left hanging, she brought the denied hand to her forearm, clapping like I'd just done a backflip. Ash rained from her dwindling cigarette, smudging her expensive dress. "I like this one, Branson! Hopefully he doesn't get bored with her too quickly since he's finally dating someone interesting." Her eyes drilled holes into my skull. "To be honest, I couldn't stand Jenna. She had this annoying manic pixie dream girl meets Manson-esque hippie thing going. Bo-ring. You seem like much more fun." She crept forward and I almost stepped back, but held steady instead.
"Marie..." Branson said with a surprising amount of warning. On one hand it made sense. From what Xander had shared, the man had been with the family for years. He knew them in and out and probably had more contact with Marie growing up than her father did.
She threw him a scowl. "Aren't you supposed to be making drinks?"
Hurt flickered across his face, but he just smoothed the front of his wrinkled jacket and looked to me. He asked if I wanted a drink, but he was really asking if I was okay.
"I'm fine, thank you," I assured him with a sad smile.
He dipped his head and whisked from the room, leaving me alone with Marie.
“You sure you don’t want a water?” Her smile darkened. “You’re looking a little flush.”
I hated that I couldn’t stop the heat from rushing my cheeks. I wanted my inner strength to shine as brightly as my involuntary blushing. The nerves just intensified when I took stock of how much Marie reminded me of my sister. Same dismissive beauty, walking into a room and making everyone else invisible. Same pale eyes that could reduce a person to ash or make them feel like they deserved to be in her presence. There was a dangerous magnetism that I shied away from with Victoria, but with Marie, she was like a cyclone. If you didn’t quake and tremble in wonder, she’d tear you to pieces.
I swallowed hard and flipped my hair over my shoulder as I tossed aside the creeping apprehension that I’d let rule my life for years. My sister liked to pretend she had it all together because that’s how she dealt with her own insecurities and lack of control. She wasn’t infallible, or perfect, or the queen of the freaking universe. She was broken too, and afraid, just like the rest of us. Marie was no different.
“I know what you think you’re doing, but you’re wasting your time.”
