Page 51 of Say You'll Stay
That’s it. The final straw. I’m in her face before I can blink, my finger jabbing into her chest, my vision tunneling with rage.
“You shut your goddamn mouth. Cara is worth a thousand of you, a million. She’s the best fucking thing that’s ever happened to me, and I’ll be damned if I let you sully her name with your poison.”
I’m dimly aware of movement in my peripheral - the good doctor slowly backing away, Amethyst’s wide-eyed stare. But all I can focus on is the icy fury etched into every line of my mother’s face.
“You’re making a mistake, Juniper,” she warns, her voice low and lethal. “A mistake you’ll regret for the rest of your miserable life.”
“No,” I say, my voice so deadly-soft it could cut through steel. “I will not be your pawn, your prized stud horse for breeding. I don’t care about the money, or the empire. I care about her - the woman I love, the woman I’ve wronged in so many ways but who still owns every beat of my fucking heart.”
I square my shoulders, meeting my mother’s frigid gaze with a fire of my own. “Disown me, disinherit me, I don’t give a single flying fuck anymore. I choose her. I choose Cara. And I will spend the rest of my goddamn life making this right, earning back her trust, loving her the way she deserves to be loved.”
In the stunned silence that follows, I feel a weight lift from my chest. A lightness I haven’t known in years, maybe ever. The shackles of the Deveaux name, the expectations and manipulations, they fall away like rusted chains.
I am free. Finally, utterly free.
Ignoring the sputtering protests of my mother, the wide-eyed shock on Amethyst’s face, I stride towards the door. The bodyguards tense, ready for confrontation, but I simply smirk.
“Oh, I’m leaving, boys. And if any of you even thinks of stopping me, just remember - I’m a Deveaux. And we always get what we want.”
But he remains unmoved.
“I’m afraid I can’t let you leave, sir,” the lead goon says, his voice a monotone rumble. “Mrs. Deveaux’s orders.”
I bark out a laugh, the sound harsh and jagged in the charged air. “Of course. Can’t have her prized stud escaping the breeding program, can she?”
I take a step forward, then another, until I’m nose to nose with the human barricade. “Listen carefully, because I fucking despise repeating myself. You have two choices here. You can step aside and let me pass, or I can make you. And trust me, you don’t want option two.”
They’re well-trained, I’ll give them that. But they’re nothing compared to the fury, the righteous anger coursing through my veins. The seconds tick by, taut and tense.
Freedom, redemption, Cara…they’re so close I can almost taste them on the tip of my tongue.
But before I can cross the threshold, my mother’s voice cracks through the air like a whip, stopping me dead in my tracks.
“Not so fast, Juniper.”
I turn slowly, every muscle tensed for a fight. She stands there, arms crossed, a cold, calculating smile playing at the edges of her lips.
“You didn’t really think I’d let you walk out of here, did you?” she asks, her voice dripping with false sweetness. “Not when there’s so much at stake.”
I grit my teeth, my hands curling into fists at my sides. “I told you, Mother. I’m done playing your sick games. I’m leaving, and there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop me.”
But even as the words leave my mouth, I feel a flicker of doubt. Because this is Elaine fucking Deveaux, and she always, always has a trick up her designer sleeve.
“Oh, but there is,” she says, her smile widening into a Cheshire grin. “You see, darling boy, you have two choices here. You can either cooperate, provide the necessary…contribution…to ensure the Deveaux legacy continues. Or…”
She pauses, letting the silence stretch out like a garrote. I feel my stomach drop, a cold, creeping dread slithering up my spine.
“Or you’ll never leave this penthouse again. And you’ll certainly never see that little tart of yours. What was her name again? Cara?”
Red. All I see is fucking red. I lunge forward, ready to wrap my hands around her throat, to squeeze until the poisonous words stop spilling from her lips. But before I can reach her, the goons are on me, restraining me with iron grips.
“You fucking bitch,” I snarl, straining against their hold. “You can’t do this. You can’t keep me here against my will.”
Mother just laughs, a cold, tinkling sound that sets my teeth on edge. “Can’t I? I’m Elaine Deveaux, darling. I can do anything I want. And right now, I want my grandchild. The next heir to the Deveaux empire.”
She nods at the doctor, who’s been watching the whole exchange with wide, fearful eyes. “Prepare the extraction, Dr. Volkner. It seems we’ll be doing this the hard way.”
Panic rises in my throat like bile. This can’t be happening. This can’t be fucking real. I thrash against the grip of the goons, but it’s useless. They’re too strong, too many.