by R. S. Lively
He looks up at me with desperation in his eyes, and I can almost see the gears turning as he tries to come up with what he's going to say.
“Alice, just give me a second to explain.”
“There's nothing to explain, Dean. What do you think you could possibly say that would make it not completely messed up that you are the silent partner who's been tormenting me?”
“I am not the silent partner,” Dean protests.
“You're not? So, it just happens that this company, and the company you own, have the exact same name? A name that is completely different from the one you gave me for your business, by the way. They just coincidentally are called the same thing?”
“No,” he says. “It's not a coincidence. This is my company. A division of it, anyway. I gave it a separate name from the rest of DreamMakers, Inc. so people wouldn't realize it was my company interested in making real estate purchases.”
I can't believe I'm actually stunned by what he says. I already know what he's done, but hearing it come out of his mouth so matter-of-factly just makes it worse.
“So, you're telling me I'm not the only person you've screwed out of a business they love and have poured their heart and soul into.”
“That's not what's happening, Alice.”
“Then what's happening?”
“I am so sorry I didn't tell you the truth from the very beginning. Please believe me when I tell you I had no idea about any of this when I met you. We had already started seeing each other when the head of my acquisitions department told me about the contract with you. I had no idea he’d gone behind my back to make that agreement. I was interested in the Goldberg when it went on the market, but when I heard there was someone else who was interested, I withdrew. I told my acquisitions team I wasn't interested in moving forward with it because I didn't want to hurt anybody. They're the ones that went into this contract with you, completely against with my knowledge and my wishes. I don't do silent partnerships. I don't do investments. When I want something, I want it as my own.”
I give a mirthless laugh.
“Then I guess you can list me as one of your acquisitions, can't you?”
“Stop it, Alice. I'm trying to explain to you what happened.”
“You honestly want me to believe you didn't have anything to do with this? This is, by your admission, your business. You are in control of it. Yet someone managed to draw the contract and create an agreement without you knowing it?”
“Like I said, I was very clear with the team about what I wanted. I trust them to manage that aspect of my business because it is not my expertise. I'm not a lawyer. I'm not a real estate expert. I choose the buildings or locations I want, I tell my department, and they make my interest known. If the owners are willing to sell, they manage the details for me. I would never make an agreement like this. Never something this predatory.”
“Even if I could believe that, you knew. I poured out my soul to you and told you everything I was going through, and you didn't say a word. You've been manipulating me from the very beginning, just stringing me along so you can make me more vulnerable to my theater being snatched out from under me. Come to think of it, every time something went wrong at the theater, you weren't around. I wouldn't be surprised if you had sent out someone to do your dirty work and try to scare me away.”
“That's enough. Don't you dare try to suggest I had anything to do with vandalizing the theater or putting you at risk. I would never hurt you, Alice. And why would I bother doing that? Why wouldn't I just let the deadline pass, and take the theater back?”
“Maybe because you started feeling threatened. You saw good things happening at Wonderland and it occurred to you I might be able to save it.”
“Because of something I put into place,” Dean snaps. “Keep in mind I'm the one who made sure you had a way to make the money to save your theater. Why would I go through something like that if all I wanted to do was then turn around and scare you into giving it up, or wait for you to lose it?”
“You were probably double dipping. You knew if you brought Luella into it, not only would you be able to take care of her bucket list item, but you would also drum up attention for the theater and make it even more valuable for when you took over. I don't know. But I also don't know how you could look at me every day and see how much I was struggling, and never tell me the truth. At any point you could have told me what was going on and offered to end the contract.”
“Is that what you would have wanted?”
“Don't try to...”
“No. Is that what you would have wanted, Alice? Would you have wanted me to just swoop in and tell you everything's going to be fine, because I was going to fix it all for you? I could have paraded you into the office and let you watch while I ripped up the contract and declared everything over and done with. I didn't do that, and I didn't because I know how much it means to you to do this for your father, and for yourself. You called me spoiled the night you met me because I had maids come in and clean before my dinner party, and I hired someone to cook. You had such incredible disdain for the idea of money or things coming easy to me. Why the hell would I think you would want something to come easily to you?”
“You could have at least defended me. You read those emails and saw the way he was talking to me, but just let it happen.”
“I didn't just let it happen. I went to my acquisitions department and confronted Micah.”
“Who's Micah?”
“The head of the acquisitions department, and the man who handles every one of my transactions.”
“His name is Micah, who is Q?”
“He asked me the same question. I showed him those messages and they weren't from him.”
“What do you mean you showed him the messages?”
“I forwarded them from your phone to mine. It's not something I'm proud of, and I'm sorry to have invaded your privacy, but I needed to look him in the eye and force him to acknowledge the way he was treating you. All he did was deny he had anything to do with it and point out that the messages didn't even come from his email address.”
“Now you're going to try to convince me that no one sent me those messages?”
“Obviously, someone sent them, but I had nothing to do with it and I'm still trying to figure out who did.”
“I just can't bring myself to believe that, Dean. It doesn't make any sense. But even if I could believe you were trying to help me, you lied to me. You've deceived me every day, and I just can't look at you the same way anymore.”
“What are you saying?”
“I'm saying I can't tolerate someone who is so willing to lie to me. I can't be in a relationship with someone who doesn't respect me enough to always be honest with me, and who is so capable of closing off a huge part of their life. Just the fact that it didn't bother you every day tells me this isn't where I'm supposed to be.”
“It did bother me every day,” Dean says forcefully. “It ate me up. I wanted to tell you the truth every time I saw you.”
“Just not enough to actually do it.”
“You can't just walk away from this. We're already committed to each other.”
I scoff.
“That was a game, Dean. It didn't mean anything. We were never married or bonded to each other. It doesn't matter.”
Even as I say the words, my heart breaks. It feels like something is being torn out of me that I had only just learned was there.
“You can't honestly mean that.”
"I do. You and I aren't committed to each other. But I do have a commitment to Luella, and to the promises we made to each other. I can't disappoint her. We're going to continue on just as planned."
I adore Luella and will never be able to thank her enough for everything she's done for me. But my dedication to putting on her play is more than that. I won't give up on Wonderland, and I won't let anyone take it from me without a fight. Even the man who I love. Especially the man who just broke my heart.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Dean
One week later…
I reach up and catch the curtain rod Alice is trying to take down before it can hit her. She wrenches it from my hands and glares at me.
“I can do it myself,” she says.
“It was about to fall and hit you. I was just trying to help.”
“You don't need to help me anymore. I don't even know why you're here, Dean. This is still my theater. The deadline isn't for a couple more weeks, so you don't get to tell me what to do. It's not yours.”
“I'm invested in this too, Alice.”
“I thought you didn't do investments.”
“You know what I mean. I've put a lot of time and energy into this place, and as you were so delighted to point out, Luella putting on her play here is a matter of my business. Regardless of the details of the acquisition and whether or not it goes through, her fulfilling the bucket list item of putting on a farewell play will rest on me. I made the decision to recommend Wonderland as the venue for her play, and it's what she chose. Not only did she choose to put on the play here, but she also provided an incredibly generous grant to make sure the improvements this place needed were actually done.”
“What is that supposed to mean? I'm too thoughtless or careless, maybe clueless, to make sure I oversee renovations correctly?”
“That's not what I said. Stop putting words in my mouth. The reality is the work that was done on this place before you first bought it was shoddy at best. The structural integrity of the building is lacking, the historic elements are being lost, and basic systems like the wiring and plumbing were woefully out of date and not taken care of effectively. As someone who has never purchased a piece of property before, much less a vintage building in need of restoration, you would have no idea what needed to be done to make it not only usable, but beautiful and impressive again. Fortunately, I do know how to do that, and the people who can make it happen. That, combined with the money Luella gave, means this place is going to look better than you ever saw it. I'm not going to stay away because we can't be in the same room without clashing. This is about my integrity and my business, and I'm going to oversee it until the end.”
“Why didn't you just offer Luella to use one of your other buildings? I called Preston. I know you own three other theaters. You could have just recommended another one to her.”
“I did.”
Alice looks stung.
“Of course you did.”
“She didn't want it. This place speaks to her, and she can see the potential in it. So can I. I know you could make something so incredible out of this theater, Alice. It's not just an old movie theater. It's not just a theater where you can put on plays. You and Lee have managed to transform how people see this space, and it'll only get better.”
She shakes her head and holds up a hand to stop me.
“Please. Dean, I need you to not talk that way.”
She sounds hurt but is forcing strength into her voice.
“Why not?”
“Because you're still playing the game. Or someone is. I have three more messages from Q, and they are nastier than ever.”
“I don't have anything to do with those. I've told you that a thousand times. Micah and I had a meeting yesterday and he turned over transcripts of all the emails sent from his computer. He even gave me the access code to his phone and let me scroll through everything that's been sent. Other than some fairly disturbing images and text messages from Sandra, I didn't find anything unusual. He didn't send those messages. I don't know who did, but it isn't someone linked to my business.”
“Then who? Who would know all the details of my contract and use that information to attack me?”
“Micah sent you a few emails at the beginning of the arrangement. Maybe somebody saw them somehow.”
Alice shakes her head.
“I never got an email from someone named Micah. The only messages I've ever gotten about the theater have been from Q.”
What Alice said about the messages didn't make sense, and it still doesn't two days later as I'm walking out of the coffee shop and heading to Wonderland. The cardboard holder is light in my hand. I don't even know why I have it. There's only one cup of coffee in it. Just a single cup of jet-black brew for me. There's no creamy sweet concoction for Lee, or caramel hot cocoa for Alice. The barista might have only given it to me because she feels bad. It's not hard to come to conclusions when someone suddenly goes from ordering two or three drinks every morning to only having one. On the other hand, it may not come from a kind place at all. This is the same barista who watched me throw her phone number away. This could very well be a cardboard cup holder of disdain and judgment.
I'm not expecting to see Luella at Wonderland at this time of day, and it's a surprise to find her hugging Alice in the middle of the lobby. Alice's face looks drawn and I can see trails of tears through the makeup on her cheeks.
“It's going to be alright, I promise you,” Luella whispers to her.
“Good morning, Luella. It's quite a surprise to see you here. Is something wrong?”
“I've asked Luella to bring her play to another theater,” Alice says.
“Why would you do that? We already had the agreements in place and preparations are already underway. The work on Wonderland is nearing completion.”
Alice shakes her head.
“There was another fire,” she says in a shaky voice. “It happened in the space underneath the stage that's accessible from the trap door. It destroyed a lot of that room and weakened the stage. it happened last night.”
“You didn't call me.”
“I didn't need to.”
“How did it happen? What could possibly cause a fire in that space? No one's gone in there.”
“I don't know. But it's going to take a huge amount of work to fix it and to make the stage safe. It will delay the rest of the timeline for improvements and renovations by weeks.”
“Let me get in touch with some of the people I know. I might be able to find a team who can do the repairs faster than that.”
Even as I'm saying it, Alice is shaking her head.
“No, Dean. I asked Luella to move her play to another theater because I can't do this anymore. I just can't deal with it all. I need you to leave. Luella has generously agreed to consider the money she put into the theater an investment.”
“It was an endowment,” Louella insists. “I gave that money to you so you could use it, not so I could get something in return.”
“You made that agreement with the understanding you were supporting the improvement of the theater where you would perform. Since you won't be performing your farewell play here, it seems only fair that the money be converted into an investment and I'm able to make payments. It seems only appropriate, anyway. I sold my soul to the devil a long time ago, so it can't possibly be any worse. Especially not with you.”
“Without any other financial support and no plans for a relaunch, what do you think you're going to do?” I ask.
“That's not really any of your concern anymore, Dean. This isn't about you. I might not be able to save my theater, but I'm also not going to grind myself into the ground making something amazing for you. I just want to be left alone and see if I can figure out things for myself.”
“Let me talk to my brothers. I can arrange for a video chat with them within the hour. We can talk about rearranging the terms of your contract. With the restructuring, you can take more time to pay off the contract and won't have to worry about giving up all your profits just to make the payments.”
“No. Thank you, but I'm done. I'm done with all that. I don't want to lean on anyone else or make anyone else responsible for my dreams. I know other business people do it, and investments and partners are the most common way for someone to get and keep their business off the ground, but I started this journey hoping that wouldn't be the case for me, and I want to end it that way, too. Either it will work out or it won't. And to be hon
est with you, buying it was probably a really bad idea anyway. I was just clinging to a memory, and to something I won't ever really be able to recreate. Just like I'm never going to be able to visit with my father again, whether I own this place or not, I'm also not going to be able to give those moments to other people the way I wanted to. I don't know enough. I don't have the resources or the creativity.”
“That's not true, darling,” Luella says. “I can see such amazing things in you.”
“Thank you, but I think it's time for me to accept whatever is going to happen. I know it sounds like I'm just giving up, but that's not the case. I just feel like there is a point in every journey where you have to evaluate whether it makes more sense to turn back, or to keep forging ahead into the complete unknown when it could be inhospitable and even dangerous. You have to know yourself and where you have to stop, as well as where you are willing to go. Unfortunately, they are very rarely in the same place. This was supposed to be an exciting and joyful thing for me to have in my life. Not another source of pain. I want this to go in my favor, but not if it means I have to keep sacrificing little parts of myself to achieve it.”
I'm dumbstruck as Luella and I walk out of the theater. I feel like I've just been cast out of a boat and am bouncing around in uncharted sea. This isn't how this is supposed to be unfolding. None of this was supposed to happen this way. On one hand, I'm heartbroken and devastated at just how much distance has been shoved between Alice and me, and at being torn away from Wonderland. On the other, I'm pissed. The way Alice is handling this infuriates me, but there's nothing I can do.
I'm certain with enough creative talking, and the legal resources available to my brothers and myself, I could easily finagle a way to solve this problem, but by the time it happened, it would be a moot point. No matter how much I disagree with her, I have no choice but to watch and let it happen. I know that I could just sever the contract and intervene directly, but that would still leave Wonderland in disrepair, and Alice would have no way of continuing to keep it open anyway. Some other investor might swoop in to buy it up. I could save the theater by just buying it outright, but she’d never sell to me. On top of that, I know that’s the last thing she’d want. She could save the theater at the cost of her own dreams, but even then, she wouldn’t want anything to do with me. She’d never forgive me.