by M K Lansbury
The tables vibrated with raucous laughter, and Zara’s dad shook his head with a chuckle.
Ally stood up next, sheepishly smiling at the guests. “Most of you know me as Zara's friend, but I’m more than that. I actually feel like a second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez.”
Zack smiled, his eyes glistening with moisture as Tara took his hand and beamed at Ally, blowing her a kiss.
Ally lifted her glass. “My second mom and dad, I'm so happy to see you together and more in love than ever before.”
Zara used the edge of a napkin to wipe a tear off the corner of her eyes, clutching Ally in a sideways hug.
Then, caught up in the happy moment, Zara stood. Silence descended over the dinner tables again as everyone looked up at her. “Mom and Dad, it’s a wonderful day today, and we’re all honored that you’re celebrating your love with us.”
Everyone applauded at that to affirm the statement, and Zara grinned.
“I’m so grateful that Dad is here, being the life-of-the-party he has always been. Celebrating a love like theirs is truly a privilege.”
“Yeah!” Chet boomed, and some people snickered.
Sighing, Zara's eyes danced over her mother and father, love shining in their eyes. “For all my life, I’ve believed in true love because of them. I saw how important a role love plays in your life. Someone to support you and hold you up when you fall. A partner in crime. A companion for life. I'm so happy for my parents that they found such wonderful love. They have been extremely lucky. Let’s be honest; it’s rare, especially in today’s world.”
Some disgruntled, heartbroken souls muttered in agreement.
Zara felt like doing the same but continued regardless. This was her parents’ day, and she wanted it to be all about a celebration of their love.
“Love is a tricky thing. You never know when, or where, you’re going to find it. And sometimes you think you’ve found it, but it turns out that you were wrong,” she added with a morose chuckle. Ally squeezed her hand, and Zara sighed.
“Love is hard and . . .” Her eyes moved over the hundred and fifty intent faces, all people she had invited and were excited to see.
But then she saw one other. Someone not invited. Someone that stood out. Her heart thudded quickly then skipped a beat then pounded again. Her fingers tightened on the microphone. She couldn’t see herself, but she was sure she had turned pale.
Lance Chase was standing at the back of the room.
In a burst of déjà vu that hijacked her vision, she saw the same man in an audience at a tech show in New York smirking at her.
Except this time, Lance was not smirking. His hands shoved into his pants’ pockets, he listened to every word she spoke with intense interest.
Listening to me talk about love.
Zara forced herself to look away from him and instead glanced at her parents. They were looking at her strangely. Zara realized that she’d suddenly gone quiet at the microphone, and everyone was waiting for her to recover.
“I’m sorry. What was I saying?” Zara muttered. The microphone broadcast her confusion to the whole party.
Everyone laughed, except for Lance.
“Uhh . . .”
Her father helped her along. “Love is hard you were saying.”
“Yes!” Zara burst out too loud. “It’s hard. Difficult. And . . . it hurts you most of the time. But if it’s really worth the trouble, and if it’s meant to be . . .”
There was silence. Everyone concentrating on her stammering speech, but Zara’s eyes were glued to Lance’s now. Her heart raced. Her mind spun with a myriad of questions. Why was he here? What could he possibly want from her? What did he want to achieve by crashing her parents’ party?
She knew without a single doubt in her mind that she had fallen madly in love with him. The fact that he hadn’t was another matter entirely.
“. . . I guess, if the love you’re hanging onto is worth a shot, you can make it work. Otherwise, it’s all doomed!”
She sat down with that announcement. The guests stared at her silently. No laughs. No applause. Zara belatedly realized that she’d concluded her speech on love on a very sinister, somber note.
“To true love!” She added in an attempt to fix it. It worked. Everyone was a little tipsy and just needed a reason to yell and cheer, so they did, raising their glasses to Tara and Zack.
The warm gaze on her face made her look up at her dad. His brows furrowed at Zara’s face before he glanced toward Lance and back at her. He knew exactly what was going on, just like he always had.
And like always, he smiled, making a feeling of safety and comfort gush through Zara. She reached for his hand underneath the table and let him squeeze her palm briefly. His eyes knowing and kind, he lifted her hand and kissed her knuckle.
Sniffling, Zara pushed her chair back and stood up. “Excuse me,” she muttered to her father and Ally—the two concerned parties who had their eye on her like a hawk. Zara spun around, her heels sinking into the grass as she half jogged in the direction opposite of where Lance stood.
The more distance between them, the better. In fact, Zara needed that distance to stop thinking about his face, how he looked. How she wanted to hug him and tell him about everything that had gone wrong. She ached for his touch and the way he stroked her face with the back of his hand. Pining for him would end with a calamity.
Zara considered rushing back to her parents’ house and locking herself in the bedroom. Spend another few days munching on tea-soaked cookies and laying on an unmade bed, crumbs scraping her skin off.
But she couldn’t abandon her mother and father on their fortieth wedding anniversary. Zara was stuck here.
And Lance! Why was he even there? He was the one who should go away.
There was no reason for him to be there. Unless he’d hit upon some new ideas to hurt Zara.
Zara strode across to the buffet tables laid out with an array of food and behind the makeshift altar that had seemed like a good touch when Zara and Ally were finalizing the details of the anniversary party.
Spotting a covered canopy that had been provided for the hosts to change and get their makeup done, Zara’s spirits lifted. A reprieve. She was going to hide in there until . . . until the party was over.
Zara was about to step inside when a strong hand clutched her forearm in a viselike grip. “Zara.”
She spun around, stiffening. He was so close. He smelled comforting and masculine. His day-old stubble leaving a delicious shadow on his jaw. His chest was wide and strong, and she wanted to sink into it and cry. And beat it with two fists while she was at it.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m here for you.”
“Why? Why now? What good can possibly come from you coming here now to see me?”
“I owe you an apology.”
Zara laughed out loud and shook her head in disbelief. “You're a piece of work.” She turned away, and he quickly stepped in her way, halting her.
“Zara, please hear me about. I'm sorry about everything I said to you.”
“Thanks. You know what? That helps. Really helps. Actually, that sorry just magically fixed everything!” She glared at him.
Lance grated his teeth. “There’s more. I have so much to—”
“Oh, come on, Lance. You played me!”
“No!” He groaned, stroking her arms. “I didn’t play you. I was the one who was played. And I didn’t know what was going on until everything had already gone south.”
Zara sensed the sincerity in his voice, and that made her temper quickly simmer down. He looked tired, his hair mussed up, a few strands falling over his forehead. She ached to smooth the strands off his face but fisted her hand to keep herself in check. His suit was immaculate as always, but he looked like he’d been up all night. There were gray shadows beneath his eyes that hadn’t been there before.
“I’m not behind the Soul Mate purc
hase. I had nothing to do with it. I was looking forward to our two companies fighting it out fair and square in the dating app market. We had completely different models and different audiences.”
“Hardly, Lance.”
“Remember how I told you about Rick Ulster trying to kick me out?”
Zara grimaced. “How can your board of directors consider allowing a crook like him back? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Ulster is cunning. And with Kassandra on his side—”
“Wait a minute, Kassandra Young was in on this? With that crook?”
“They’ve been doing this together all this time. You're not the only one who’s blindsided by this, Zara. I am too.”
“No wonder Kassandra was so keen to blast that story of me being at Finder headquarters. This was all a ploy.”
“Exactly. She was setting the stage for the ultimate takeover of both Soul Mate and the CEO position at Finder. When your investors decided to put Soul Mate on the chopping block, Ulster dove in and made an offer they couldn’t refuse.”
“How could they possibly know, though? Beata only confided in me!”
“These things get out, Zara. Beata’s husband, Lawrence Cho, is a well-respected name in the tech industry. When his companies went down, it was pretty much obvious that he would liquidate everything he could. Cho was dumping his assets urgently, and it ticked off Kassandra. Rick Ulster offered to buy up Soul Mate for Ally’s algorithm. I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
Hope soared in Zara's chest as she ogled the face of the man she had grown to love. He was her friend, her confidant. He had no intention of hurting her. “Let me get this straight. When I told you about Beata having financial difficulties and thinking she might have to sell Soul Mate, you didn’t use that information against me and Ally to snatch up Soul Mate?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Then why in the world did you run off after yelling at me like I mean nothing? At the hotel?”
“I’m sorry about that. I had just found out about Rick and Kassandra’s move, and saving my job was the only thing I could think of. I overreacted.”
Zara shook her head. “So to save your job, you sold us out later?”
He inhaled sharply, his eyes troubled and tired. He looked like a man who had fought hard and often the last few days and had not come out victorious. “You’d think if I was part of the takeover, I’d still have a job.”
Zara's heart thudded against her ribs. “What do you mean?”
He stood up straighter and shoved a hand into his pants pocket. “I'm being removed as CEO of Finder. Tomorrow. Ulster is taking over.”
Zara's hands covered her mouth in shock, and she saw it then. The strain in those eyes, the tension, the stress. She remembered him saying he was terrified of losing his success because that’s what his parents had gone through. That’s what had destroyed their marriage. And now he had headed down that same track. With no fault of his own.
But the important thing is he didn’t betray you.
“So, the fact that Ally and I are losing Soul Mate has nothing to do with you. You lost everything too.”
“It was an orchestrated plan from the beginning. To take me down, and take you down. It was an attack against us and what we’ve built.” He silenced and glanced around as servers rushed past them. Lance clearly didn’t want them to overhear.
Zara’s throat constricted, and a lump of unshed tears formed in her throat. It wasn’t just her who was suffering, Lance was too. And they were all victims of one man’s vile ambitions: Rick Ulster.
“I thought you had used me.”
He shook his head. “I’d never do that to you. Ever. I'm sorry I lashed out at you at the hotel. But . . . I flew you here, and when I got to my suite, I got the phone call about Rick taking over. It was overwhelming. All I had to blame was you. I lashed out at the only person who was closest to me. The only one who actually cared about me.”
Zara’s lips parted at the love shining in his eyes. There was no denying it. All those memories they’d made together, ones she’d crossed off and attempted to bury alive because she assumed he was playing her as a pawn in his game, came back to haunt her in all their tender glory. It had not been an act. Lance had cared.
“Me?”
He grinned, but his eyes were sad when he spoke. “Unfortunately, for you, you’re the only one who matters to me. So you took the brunt of my annoyance with myself.”
“When you put it like that . . .”
He reached for her arms. “I have no one else. Unlike you, I don’t have family and extended family or childhood friends holding my hand and helping me through stuff. For me, it’s always been just me, and I don’t know how it happened, but I began to count on you. As a friend. As a lot more than a friend.”
Zara’s voice locked in her throat, her breath coming in shallow gasps at his admission. Just as a server walked past them, Lance released her and shoved his hands into his pants pockets.
“Excuse me?” Lance called to the server. “Do you, by any chance, know if the golf course is hiring?”
“Pardon me, sir?”
“I need a job, man. I’ll run errands. Get coffee. Make me a busser.”
The server took his time looking up and down Lance’s expensive, tailored suit. Zara burst out laughing and grabbed Lance’s arm. “Come on. Leave him alone.” She dragged him away from the servers.
She took her time walking back to the tables. A smile playing on her lips, she spotted Ally and Chet turned around to watch her curiously. Judging from their smiles, they had concluded that the entire situation was a misunderstanding, which it was. Zara was glad her friends stuck by her. Lance was right; Zara was lucky to have such a great support network. Things weren’t like that for Lance. Zara wanted to be that for him. She wanted to be there for Ally, and Chet, and . . .
Zara stopped in the middle of and whirled around, facing Lance. “I think I have an idea!”
He glanced at the sleeves of his jacket that she held, clutched fiercely in her fists. “Are you going to hurt me?”
Zara shook her head. “Sorry.” She released his suit jacket and grinned up at him devilishly.
“I don’t know why, Zara, but that look kinda scares me a little.”
“Lance, I have a plan, and I think it might fix everything!”
TWENTY
Doomsday
Cho Holdings’ offices were in an impressive fifty-floor building in midtown Manhattan. It was fairly recently constructed and was designed to look like a glass cylinder—a very expensive one.
Lance’s chauffeur stopped the Bentley SUV at the entrance of the building, and three doors swung open before the doormen rushed forward.
Zara, Ally, and Lance stepped out and strode together along the lobby of the building, their strides almost eerily coordinated. They didn’t speak. All three of them staring ahead, their lives on the line. Lance on Ally’s left, and Zara on Ally’s right, the three were a striking sight.
Coincidentally, all three of them had ended up very color-coordinated in their doomsday outfits. Lance in a midnight blue pinstripe suit, Zara wearing a blue silk top with a pleated pencil skirt, and Ally in a navy pantsuit.
The three of them cast ominous figures, the set expressions on their faces, the determination in their eyes. They were the epitome of all business and no play. Every single one of the occupants of the building lobby turned around to gape at them.
Zara and Ally’s heels clicked in perfect harmony on the marble floor. Lance’s strides mute, yet long and sure.
Lance reached forward and hit the button on the elevator, and waited for the ladies to get into the empty car made of mirrors before he strode in to stand beside them.
All three of them stared ahead in unison, at the digital screen counting the numbers up from “1”. It was going to be a terribly long wait, considering the urgency of the task at hand. But getting the needed ammo for this meeting
had come down to the wire. All they hoped for fervently, in shared prayer, was that they weren’t too late.
The elevator bell dinged on the twenty-fifth floor. The doors slid open. Ally was the first to step out, followed by Zara and then Lance.
This is where the future of Soul Mate, and Lance’s retribution, all culminated in one single move.
Massive silver letters gleamed across the oak wall, spelling out Cho Holdings. Beneath it, a marble front desk dominated the open space in front of the elevator. The two women seated at the desk looked up.
“Excuse me? Sir? Ma’am?” One of the receptionists, a blonde in her forties, hurried at their tails as they skipped the customary greeting at the reception and walked right past her.
Employees looked up from their desks as the three friends stepped into the main office floor. Frosted glass cubicles created open spaces for the employees, the back wall dominated by several pairs of doors that housed the offices of the executive staff. And right in the center, a pair of carved double doors. That was their destination.
A silence slowly descended over the office. These people, unlike the ones in the lobby, knew exactly who all three of them were. And they knew what was taking place behind the closed doors of the conference room at the end of the office floor.
Zara stepped ahead as she reached the double doors, hand carved in stunning swirls, and rested both hands on them.
The doors swung open with a flourish. The occupants gathered around a twenty-foot-wide circular table stared at them.
Zara drew in a deep breath, flanked by Ally on one side and Lance on the other.
The eight faces at the conference table weren’t all friendly.
Beata and Lawrence looked pretty much exactly like they had ever since things went south: guilty and sympathetic.
The four Finder board members stayed impassive.
Rick Ulster and Kassandra Young were another matter entirely. Kassandra’s deadly glare set on Lance’s face, a smirk played at the corner of her mouth.
Rick looked like his old arrogant self. Cool, conceited, calm. And judging from his glazed eyelids, probably a little high. Or drunk. Knowing him, probably both.