Page 49 of Say You'll Stay
But first, I gotta handle this clusterfuck of a situation at the office. Pops’ legacy is crumbling, and it’s on me to save it. Me, the prodigal son, the black sheep. Fucking ironic, isn’t it?
My phone buzzes, Judith’s name flashing on the screen. I hesitate, my thumb hovering over the answer button.
But I can’t deal with her right now, can’t handle her well-meaning concern and pressing demands. I let it go to voicemail, shoving the device back into my pocket with a curse.
I need to clear my head, to escape this suffocating penthouse and the ghosts of my own making. I grab my keys, stomping towards the door with single-minded determination. My nerves are a mess by the time I get to Cara's family duplex.
But before I can ring the bell, the door opens, and I’m greeted by a sight that stops me dead in my tracks.
“Juniper Deveaux.” Cara’s mom stands before me, her eyes hard and cold, her lips pressed into a thin line of disapproval. “It’s not a pleasure today, I’m afraid.”
Fuck me sideways. This is the last thing I need right now. I open my mouth to speak, to plead my case, but she cuts me off with a sharp gesture.
“I don’t know whether to strangle you with that fancy belt or put you over my knee and discipline you with it,” she hisses, her words dripping with venom. “I’ve always liked you, blamed your lack of manners and commitment issues on your faulty parents. But today, your mother has the audacity to bring herself to my door, to come into my home just to insult my child and my motherhood, trying to buy your freedom. And now, after what I’ve learned, you have the gumption to step foot on my doormat and ask to see my child?”
She takes a step closer, her finger jabbing into my chest, and I feel my stomach drop. “Vai a cagare! And if I find out you were the one stalking her, sending her letters and threats, messing with the chance for me to have grandbabies, well, I ought to…”
She trails off, her chest heaving with barely contained rage, and I feel the full weight of my actions crashing down on me. I’ve not only betrayed Cara, but I’ve brought pain and suffering to her entire family.
“I’m sorry,” I manage to choke out, my voice rough and strained. “I never meant to hurt her, to hurt any of you. I just… I love her so fucking much, and I got lost in that love, in my fear of losing her.”
Cara’s mother shakes her head, unmoved by my pathetic attempt at an apology. “That’s not love, June. That’s possession, obsession. And it has no place in my daughter’s life. Now go, before I do something we’ll both regret.”
With a final, piercing glare, she slams the door in my face, leaving me standing in the hallway like a fucking idiot. I lean my forehead against the cool wood, my heart shattering into a million jagged pieces. She’s right, I know she is. I’ve crossed a line that can never be uncrossed. But the thought of losing Cara, of never again basking in the warmth of her presence, is a fate worse than death.
I trudge back to my car, my feet heavy as lead. The drive to the office passes in a blur, my mind lost in a haze of self-loathing and despair. I ignore the curious glances from my employees, storming past them like a man possessed.
As I round the corner to my office, I catch sight of a familiar figure. Alex. What the fuck are they doing here? And then, they see me…
“Don’t get your designer panties all twisted, Deveaux,” Alex grins. “I just came for lunch with a friend. Or can’t I hang with our other friends.”
I stride up to them, getting too far up in their grill, but I can’t find fucks left to give. “Cara? Is she your lunch date?”
“You’ve gotten so fucking weird man, and it’s not in a good way. Dude, you’re obsessed as shit.” Alex rolls their eyes, pushing me back a step. “Maybe you should get to the nearest shrink!” With that, they turn heel and leave.
The rejection smarted for sure, but a niggling suspicion remains. I pace back to my office, tempted to punch straight through the frosted glass door.
My head throbs, some Poe-level thumping threatening to crack my skull wide open. How the fuck did things spiral so spectacularly?
Answer’s crystal clear when I think on it - I’m a jealous fool who doesn’t deserve the goddess I worship. The sickest part? I legit don’t know if I can stop chasing her.
Cara’s the elixir in my veins, the fucking oxygen in my lungs. Losing her would be beyond catastrophic…it’d be damn apocalyptic.
Fuck me sideways. I barely make it two steps into the office before I’m ambushed by a wall of muscle in cheap suits. Mother’s goons, no doubt.
“Mr. Deveaux,” the beefiest of the lot grunts, “your mother requests your presence at the mansion. Immediately.”
I bark out a laugh, harsh and humorless. “Oh, she ‘requests’ it, does she? Well, you can kindly inform Mother Dearest that I have no intention of playing her twisted little games today. I’ve got bigger fucking fish to fry.”
I try to shoulder past them, but they’re unmovable, a human barricade blocking my path. Rage simmers under my skin, white-hot and ready to blow.
“I ain’t asking,” Beefy sneers. “You’re coming with us, whether you like it or not.”
Oh, hell no. No one tells Juniper fucking Deveaux what to do, not even on my mother’s orders. I straighten to my full height, channeling every ounce of icy authority I possess.
“Listen carefully, because I despise repeating myself. I am not going anywhere with you meatheads. I have urgent business to attend to, business that does not involve indulging my mother’s megalomaniacal power trips. So kindly fuck off before I make you regret ever setting foot in my office.”
For a moment, they look uncertain, thrown off balance by the steel in my voice. I seize the opportunity, dodging around them with surprising agility and making a break for the elevator.