by M K Lansbury
“No, no. He really was fine. He still loves us—you especially—and is happy for us.”
“Well, now I feel bad for calling him up and asking him to help out with the anniversary. ‘Hey Uncle Dennis, let’s celebrate forty years of getting your girlfriend stolen by my dad!’”
Their combined laughter made Tara rush back to the room, a doctor at her heels.
Zara shook in laughter and fell over her father’s bed as her stomach churned. Tears of mirth streaming down her cheeks as her dad’s robust laughter joined in.
Tara’s whiplash of a voice didn’t do anything to stop them. “You two are crazy!”
***
It was time to put it all out in the open. Zara wasn’t even nervous anymore. She wasn’t scared. Seeing her dad’s near brush with death had completely flipped Zara’s perspective.
What was she doing avoiding the inevitable?
The cab swerved into the driveway of the biggest hotel in Valentine, which had just three floors. It had a nice, homely feel to it. An expanse of green grass on either side of the long driveway, gardeners at work pruning hedges and watering bright purple-leaved plants.
She paid the cab-driver and walked up the four wide steps leading into the lobby of the hotel.
She had to know right away. If Lance really did feel the same way about her, as she did about him.
And what do you feel?
Zara wasn’t sure about that. All she knew was that she wanted to be around him at all times. She could never get him out of her head. Seeing his face—even for a moment—completely buzzed her. It made her high and insanely excited about being alive. It was far more than a crush or an infatuation. She wanted more. Even if she was pretty sure she could never have it.
Not with Lance anyway.
Zara envied Ally. Ally had managed to find her Soul Mate, and Tristan was not her biggest competitor in business.
As for Zara, she’d sorely un-lucked out in the Soul Mate department. Sure, she found her match—the prized one in three, but the man was the last person on the planet she could be with.
Nonetheless, Zara was eager to discuss their relationship with Lance—if she could even call it a relationship. She needed to know exactly how he felt. Even though she knew there was no solution to their dilemma. Communication was important.
As Zara crossed the lobby of the best hotel in Valentine, she considered asking the front desk to inform Lance that she was coming up—then changed her mind.
She wanted to surprise him. He’d made no secret that he was happy to see her any time of day. Since Zara was hell-bent on talking about the insane attraction that sizzled with life between them, maybe it was time to let herself enjoy the silly, fun things people do for one another—when they’re in love.
Zara got off the elevator on the top floor—the third floor. Suite 101 was hard to miss. She waited silently outside the carved double doors and sighed deeply.
Think it over, Zara. One more time. How is your decision going to affect Ally?
But it’s not fair!
Ally gets to keep her happy ending. She gets to keep the man who cares about her and she craves.
Zara lifted her fist to knock. Just before her knuckles connected with the fine wood, the doors swung open. Lance stood in the doorway, pulling on his suit jacket.
Zara smiled at the sight of his handsome face. His eyes narrowed on hers—ominously.
Zara instinctively stepped backward, away from the foreign, unfathomable look. “Hey, Lance. I hope you don’t mind; I need to talk.”
“It’s not a good time,” he snapped.
Zara froze at his tone. “Is everything okay?”
He adjusted his jacket on his insanely wide shoulders and pulled the collar of his pristine white shirt. His jaws clenched together as he stared at her. “I need to head back.”
Zara’s ears began to ring as he grabbed his phone and wallet off the silver metal- and marble-top console. The camel leather bag with Lance’s initials embossed in gold on the side was wrenched unceremoniously off a chair before he headed out the door. She stood in the doorway of the room watching Lance stalk off purposefully toward the elevator.
There had to be a mistake. Lance never ignored her!
“Lance, please. Stop. Wait a minute.” She drew in a relieved breath when he stopped. But he was still avoiding meeting her eye. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Lance? You don’t look okay—”
“I need to go.”
“Well, thanks for your help.”
“You’re welcome!” he snapped, without as much as glancing her way.
“What’s going on?”
Her heart beating at a million miles a second, she stood a few feet to his left. He was a picture of panic, tapping his foot, constantly toying with his jacket and collar of his shirt. His eyes were glued to the digital screen at the top of the elevator frame.
This was no time to have the discussion she’d come to have. He was in no state to want to talk about their undeniable attraction or answer any of the other big fat questions that had rolled in her mind ever since he flew her to Nebraska.
There was nothing in it for him. He’d decided to be there for her, for her. He’d wanted to fix her problems and bring her to meet her father. No one had ever done such a thing for her. And even though she’d been perfectly fine with ignoring her feelings for him, now she was not.
She wanted to know him better; she wanted to be with him.
But fate was playing a cruel trick on her. Now that she’d summoned up the courage to finally discuss it with him, he clearly was unavailable for the discussion.
“Lance, is everything okay?”
His jaws ground together. His eyes clenched shut as if he was trying very hard to get through the moment.
“Lance? Talk to me.”
“Just stop, okay!” he bit out through clenched teeth turning his head toward her. His steel-gray eyes shot shards of icicles at her. It gave her instant, emotional frostbite. His tone didn’t offend her; it made her chest ache in a pulsating throb.
And that was before he decided to unload the rest of the ammo.
“Stop asking questions. I don’t have anything to discuss with you. You're completely destroying what I built through years of hard work. And I can’t allow you to do this any longer. I need to keep Finder at the very top, and I need to be there to keep it there.”
“What are you talking about?” she stammered.
She’d learned something new about Lance. The tall, strong man looked strikingly domineering when he was furious. She also learned she wasn’t particularly fond of that sight.
Where the temper came from, Zara had no clue. Mere hours ago, he’d hugged her, insisted she call him if she needed anything. He made sure to mention multiple times that he was at the Presidential Suite. He had to be expecting her to show up.
“Lance, I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m pretty sure I’m not at fault.”
“Oh, Zara. You can stop the act. You're a distraction. You're distracting me constantly, and I can’t help but feel like this is an intentional ploy. Get me off my game so you can take over Finder’s market share. After the dust settles, I’ll be the fool who was running after you while you snuck in with Ally and stole my company.”
The elevator dinged loudly as if announcing the ultimate end to something that was practically doomed from the beginning.
Zara stood there, motionless, his words and accusations resounding in her head, echoing through her eardrums. Lance entered the elevator and almost punched the buttons. Their eyes met just as the elevator doors closed shut between them.
The moment was almost symbolic. There were too many obstacles between them. They were meant to stay apart. An insurmountable wall would always exist between them.
She’d known that from the get-go.
And it had just become a reality.
SEVENTEEN
The Sky Is Falling
Hello?”
It took a moment for Zara to wake up. When she did, she’d already answered her ringing phone and had it pressed to her ear.
“Zara? It’s Ally.”
The panic in Ally’s voice made Zara snap upright in bed. She looked around, realizing she was in her childhood room.
She reached for the purple lamp she’d had since she was five years old. The floral-print purple and pink duvet smelled of her mother’s favorite fabric softener. The print was too much and the colors too loud, but fifteen-year-old Zara hadn’t wanted to hurt her mother’s feelings, so she’d pretended to love it for the last fourteen years. On the wall in front of her bed, Zara’s name was spelled out in solid wood letters her father had hand-carved for her before she was born.
For a moment, she was slightly disoriented. Too much was happening all at once.
Why am I in my childhood bedroom? Oh, right. I came to Nebraska with Lance in his private plane.
Her disorientation was completely justified after that surreal experience.
“Ally? Where are you?”
“I'm at home. Zara, the sky is falling.”
“What?” Zara rubbed her left eye. Ally wasn’t prone to dramatics. The sky would actually have to be falling for Ally to claim as such.
“It’s over. Everything is over.”
Tristan! “Is Tristan all right?”
“Zara, I just got off the phone with Beata and Lawrence. Finder’s made a buyout offer for Soul Mate. Beata is selling.”
“She’s what?” Zara cried, her heart pounding in her chest. The sky really was falling.
Maybe I’m still asleep. This is a nightmare. This can’t be real.
“How is that possible? Beata would never—” Zara halted midsentence, recalling the vital piece of information she’d forgotten. Beata had admitted that she would have to liquidate. Zara had never actually believed she would actually do it.
“I can’t believe Beata would leave us hanging like this.”
“It’s not just her. Lawrence and Beata are gonna force us to sell as well.”
Zara scoffed. “That’s ridiculous. They can’t do that.”
“They can, and they are. Lawrence put some fine print in there that gives them more votes on something like this. According to Beata, she can’t do anything to change it. This is happening, Zara. Soul Mate is gonna be bought by those guys and shut down!”
“I’m coming back. We’ll figure this out. We won’t allow this to happen. I promise.”
“It’s too late!” Ally snapped, her voice breaking. “Finder isn’t even planning to keep Soul Mate. They’re dumping it and just taking the algorithm.”
“Oh God.”
“We can’t do anything to save it.”
Her sob made Zara’s chest wrench in shared pain. Ally was crying openly, loudly now, and Zara’s own eyes burned with unshed tears as she figured out a way to get to Ally. It was 3 a.m.
“I’m getting on the first flight out of here. Okay?”
Ally was inconsolable. “I don’t get it. Beata told me just now about her financial situation and said that you already knew. Why didn’t you tell me? At least I’d have been a little prepared for something like this.”
“Ally, I just found out about it last night. You’d just gotten engaged. I didn’t want to ruin your perfect night.”
“Well, that’s been ruined now, hasn’t it? You should have told me. And how did Finder find out about our financial situation? Have they bugged our offices or something? Do they have a spy? They’ve gotta be doing something to find out this stuff.”
The more Ally spoke, the more Zara’s blood turned cold in her limbs. Her hands and feet grew numb. Zara leaned back against the headboard of her childhood bed and stared at the glow-in-the-dark star stickers on the ceiling. Trying to stay sane as she connected the dots Ally was struggling to connect, Zara noticed in a daze that some of the stickers had fallen, leaving behind greying sticky tape.
Zara closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. No more secrets. “They’re not doing anything illegal, Ally. Nothing at all.”
“That’s impossible. The only people that know this are you, me, and Beata. So they must have hacked Beata’s emails or something like that. Zara, we need to look into this and sue them. Or could be it Chet? Maybe his whole idiot thing was just an act?”
“It was me.” Her words hung in the silence of her room.
Ally was suddenly eerily quiet on the other end.
“What are you talking about?”
Zara’s face scrunched up as sobs broke free of her lips. She had betrayed her friend. She was a traitor. No one was responsible for Ally’s pain but Zara. No one was responsible for Ally being robbed of her hard-earned, well-deserved success but Zara.
“It was me. I've been . . . spending time with Lance Chase.”
“What do you mean?” Zara blurted to out. “Why are you crying? What did you do?”
“I matched with Lance on Soul Mate.”
“Wait a minute. You’ve been dating our biggest competitor?”
“No! Not dating. Spending time together.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t think anything bad was going to happen.”
“Well, you were certainly wrong about that. You sold us out. You sold me out.”
“I didn’t sell you out!” Zara panicked. “I was stressed out over Dad’s heart attack last night. Lance flew me up to Nebraska on his jet, and I was so panicky and worried that I . . . I mentioned Beata’s failing finances. I didn’t mean to. I was tired and worried, and . . . I had no way of knowing Lance would—”
“You had no way of knowing?” Ally scoffed at the other end. “You had no way of knowing that Soul Mate’s biggest competitor was using you to get inside information? Finder, the company notorious for gobbling up and destroying every new dating app that dares to appear on the scene? You didn’t know that? Zara, you’re not stupid. At least, I thought you weren’t.”
“This isn’t him.” But Zara’s statement lacked conviction; it sounded hollow and empty to her own ears. Maybe it was time to face the truth. Lance had been using her.
Because the world had flipped, and Lance was the one who had flipped it.
Something inside Zara still managed to believe in Lance and speak in his defense. “He couldn’t be behind this. We’re friends.”
“Friends with Lance Chase? Oh my god. The lamb buddying up to the lion? What do you think happens at the end of the story? The lion shreds the lamb to pieces, Zara! I think I'm gonna throw up. How could you?”
“I fell for him! And he has feelings for me; I know it. I tried to stifle everything I felt for him. I even tried to stop seeing him. It was impossible because I really fell for him.”
“And during all this delusional love affair . . .” Ally’s tone was sharp and unsympathetic, “. . . you didn’t think for once that there was something suspicious going on?”
Zara wasn’t sure about anything anymore. Not about herself. Not about Lance’s intentions. “I knew Finder was growing increasingly uncomfortable about Soul Mate’s rising download numbers and were starting to get worried about us. And Lance was acting really strange when I last saw him.”
Ally paused. “When was that? When Lance was acting strange?”
“I don’t know, like six hours ago?”
“Zara, the offer to buy Soul Mate from Beata and Lawrence was agreed to six hours ago.”
Zara clutched her forehead in her hand and broke down, tears dropping on the duvet as she stared at it. Her heart was breaking for Ally, and for herself.
Ally had lost Soul Mate. Zara had lost Lance.
But Lance was never yours to begin with.
Ally was right. Lance had been using Zara to get tidbits of information on Soul Mate. As soon as he had enough, he bailed.
He snapped at you. He was mean and dismis
sive when he left the hotel, and you.
He doesn't love you. You’ve been duped.
As a result of a delusional love affair, you’ve hurt Ally.
“Ally, I'm so, so sorry.” Zara’s voice broke.
Ally was crying at the other end, but the seething anger in her tone wasn’t lost on Zara. “You’ve ruined everything. This venture. Our friendship. My trust. Everything gone because you let a man dupe you into believing he cared about you. How could you be this stupid? How could you be this selfish!”
Zara opened her mouth to apologize again, but Ally had hung up on her.
Zara bent her legs, lifting her knees up to her chest. Resting both arms on top of her knees, she buried her face into the space between them and cried. Her sobs wrenched from her chest as her heart broke into a million pieces.
Ally was right. Zara had been stupid.
Her sadistic mind drew up high-definition images of all the memories she’d made with Lance. Lance handing her his jacket at Storm King.
Lance confiding in her about his family.
Lance surprised that she’d been allowed to dance in the rain.
Lance beaming at her across the dinner table when they first met.
Lance stroking her cheek with his knuckles, looking like he would die if he didn’t get to kiss her.
Lance grinning at her as they stood at the rooftop of the Finder building.
Lance taking off his shirt and putting on a tacky Jack’s Frothies T-shirt.
Lies. Lies.
Gasping to catch her breath, she lifted her head and furiously rubbed both hands over her cheeks.
I'm not going to cry for Lance!
Picking up her cell phone, she tapped on Lance’s name and bit her lower lip in impatience. He didn’t pick up. She groaned as the call went to voicemail. His voice throaty, deep, impassive at the other end.
“Leave a message.”
Clipped and short.
Just like him. Arrogant!
“Hello, Mister Lance Chase. Or should I call you Lance Cheat! I can’t believe you betrayed me the way you have. I thought I knew you; I thought you were opening up to me because you had feelings for me. But now I know you were lying the entire time. Really, Lance? Pretending to confide in me to get me to open up to you, to trust you, just so you can use every bit of information I told you in confidence. Just so you could steal the one thing you knew was precious to me? You didn’t just snatch Soul Mate—and I know you don’t care, obviously—but your actions have destroyed my friendship with Ally. She’ll never forgive me. I’m so stupid. I actually began to care about you. I actually thought I was falling for you, madly.”