Swear to Me

by Lilian Monroe

  As much as it hurts, I know it’s the right decision.

  I’m the reason he lost his father. I’m the reason he lost his father’s business. I can’t be the reason he loses his livelihood. I brush the hot tears away from my cheeks and try to sit up straighter.

  Vincent puts his hands on his knees and stands up. He looks down at me with that arrogant smirk on his lips.

  “Good decision,” he says. “You’d better pack now. We leave tomorrow.”

  “What!” I say, snapping my head up towards him. My mother clears her throat.

  “You and Vincent will go back to Silicon Valley. I’ll manage the rest of the renovations. Vincent and I have agreed to keep Dominic’s contract in place, as a show of good faith to you.”

  My jaw is on the floor, and all I can do is look from one of them to the other. A show of good faith? Is she fucking kidding? She thinks she’s doing me a favor?

  Based on the state of Dominic’s front yard, I’m not even sure he’ll want to keep working for my mother. I open my mouth to speak, but she and Vincent are already out the door. They leave the door open and all I can do is stare after them.

  My head is reeling. I feel like I’m falling through space, and I don’t know which direction is up and which is down.

  Pack your bags, Vincent said to me.

  I finally turn to the window and look at the mountains that I grew up with. A tear falls down my cheek and I put my head in my hands.

  I’ve lost everything now. Maybe it’s karma, for causing Mr. Clarke to lose his life. Maybe letting the Clarke brothers live in peace is my atonement, and I deserve all of this.

  I was kidding myself when I thought I could make it up to them with this business deal. The best way to make it up to them is to leave forever and never come back.

  Chapter 33 - Dominic

  It takes me half an hour to clean up the destruction in the front yard. I look at the pile of broken timber and sigh, throwing it all into my box of kindling. At least I can make use of the table, even if it is just to burn it.

  Burning things to ash seems to be my specialty.

  I cast my eye over the front yard and take a deep breath. It’s clean now, and Mara won’t have to see it like that. My cheeks burn as I think of her.

  I’ve been acting like a child having a temper tantrum. It’s not like me. I let my emotions get the better of me when what I should be doing is talking to her.

  I’m not sure if I still have a job, but all I know how to do is work, so I walk towards the workshop. I throw open the big garage door and let the sunlight fill the space. I look at the mountain of half-finished work and put my hands on my hips. I’ve got a lot to do.

  I get to work, and pretty soon the cobwebs in my mind have cleared away. With every cut of my saw, every mark of my pencil, and every measurement of my tape, my head is a little bit clearer. Within two hours, I have the frame for a new nightstand built and assembled.

  Taking a step back, I look at my work and sigh. This is what I should be doing, not drinking and smashing things. I should be working and building things up. I walk over to my mini-fridge and take out a bottle of water, emptying it in one gulp. As I finish it, I hear a car pulling up the drive. I lean against the wall and wait to see who rounds the bend.

  When I see Margaret McCoy’s car, I start to frown.

  Is she here to tell me I’m fired? Why isn’t Mara with her?

  Margaret stops the car outside and gets out. She’s wearing a Jackie-O type suit with perfectly styled hair. Her oversized sunglasses cover most of her face and she smiles at me with her bright red lips. I try not to shiver. I take a few steps towards her and wait for her to speak.

  “Dominic!” She calls out. I grunt. She takes a deep breath and paints a smile on her face. “I wanted to apologize,” she continues.

  For what? For cheating on your husband with my father? For stealing his business?

  “Okay,” I grunt.

  “I’ve been an absolute ninny. Your work for the hotel has been exquisite. I hope my reaction hasn’t put you off. I’ve been thinking that maybe this is the perfect way to put all this silliness behind us.”

  Silliness?

  I grunt again and she smiles a bit wider. It seems to be a struggle for her to smile hard enough, but I just nod.

  “So you still want the furniture?”

  “Of course!” She says with that smile still plastered over her face. “You do such wonderful work. Don’t you think it’s great that our families are able to work together again?”

  “Yeah,” I reply, not knowing what else to say. She looks at me for a few moments and I see the edges of her smile start to droop. She nods her head and claps her hands together.

  “Well, that’s settled! I’ll be taking over from Mara when she leaves. If you could send me through a schedule of completion, that would be great.”

  Alarm bells start to go off in my head. “Mara’s leaving? Where is she going?”

  “Oh!” Margaret titters. “Of course! You didn’t know!” She laughs again and waves her hands. My heart starts thumping and I just want to tell her to spit it out already. She smiles again and tilts her head to the side. “Mara’s fiancé Vincent came back! They’re off to Silicon Valley in the morning. Isn’t that wonderful!”

  I hardly hear what she says. Her voice sounds like it’s coming at me from under water and my vision starts to tunnel.

  I knew it.

  I know what I saw. I knew it was him. I’ve been such an idiot! To think that Mara would be with me. To think that she wouldn’t run back to the rich billionaire she’d been engaged to at the first opportunity.

  Margaret McCoy says something but I don’t hear it. I turn back towards the workshop and vaguely hear her car start. I close the doors and slump down on a chair as I try to process what I’ve just learned.

  She’s leaving.

  She’s leaving tomorrow.

  She’s leaving tomorrow with her fiancé!

  How could I be so fucking stupid! I can’t believe I thought I meant something to her. The anger from yesterday starts welling up inside me and I try to push it down. My head is spinning. The clarity that I had just a few minutes ago is replaced with a tornado of thoughts.

  She’s leaving.

  I can hardly believe it. I finally lift my head and look around the room, trying to understand what’s going on. Did the past few weeks mean nothing? Why is her mother all of a sudden so nice to me? Why does she still want me to work for her?

  Why did her fiancé come back?

  The urge to destroy something bubbles up inside me but I shake my head. I’m not going to turn into that person. I’m not going to let myself get carried away like that again. I’m not going to drink my troubles away and I’m not going to destroy anything else.

  The workshop feels stuffy. My vision blurs and nausea comes over me like a tidal wave. I throw open the door and rush outside, leaning against the wall as my stomach churns.

  Bile and acid and alcohol come out out of my stomach as I retch against the workshop. I vomit over and over into the grass until my body calms down and I’m able to stand up. My mouth tastes vile and my eyes are watering, but all I can do is lean against the workshop and breathe in and out.

  My head is a mess. Mara is leaving. I’m still working for the McCoys. I open my eyes and stare at the blue sky. I let the sunshine warm up my skin and I take a few deep breaths.

  When I’m able to breathe normally again, my shoulders relax and one clear thought comes to me.

  Something isn’t adding up.

  There’s something about this whole thing that just doesn’t make sense. Something is wrong, but I can’t figure it out. It’s too rushed, too unexpected. Mara couldn’t have been lying to me this whole time, could she?

  I shake my head.

  Something isn’t right.

  Chapter 34 - Mara

  The horror from yesterday has been replaced with numbness
. I zip up my suitcase and stand it up, walking to my bedroom door and opening it.

  At least I didn’t have to share his bed.

  My father is walking towards the back of the house with a concerned expression on his face. He helps me with my suitcase and turns towards me, searching my face.

  “Are you sure this is what you want, Mara? It’s all so quick! What’s going on?”

  A pang goes through my chest when I look into my father’s eyes. I don’t want to lie to him. I don’t want to lie to Dominic. I don’t want to leave, but what can I do? The only way for me to protect Dominic is to do what Vincent and my mother want me to do.

  I swallow and force a smile onto my face.

  “I’m sure, Dad.” I open my mouth to say something else, but I can’t think of anything. My father puts his hand on my shoulder and stares into my eyes until I have to look away.

  “Mara,” he says softly. “What’s going on?”

  I force myself to look at him again as I straighten my shoulders. “I’m getting married, Dad. That’s what’s going on.”

  “Why does it sound like a funeral, then? Mara, does this have anything to do with what you were saying before? About using you? Is there something I don’t know?”

  I shake my head. “Dad, please. I’m just tired. I was up late packing all my things. This is what I want to do. I want to go with Vincent.”

  I hope that my voice is convincing. I hope he believes me, and he stops looking at me like that. I hope that I can just leave this town behind me and that the pain in my chest will fade.

  My father sighs and nods his head. “You know you can talk to me, right? If something is wrong? I know your mother is bull-headed sometimes, but that doesn’t mean you have to change your life for her.”

  I grimace as I try to smile at my father. “I’m not changing my life for her,” I say. I’m doing it for him.

  My father nods and takes a deep breath. “Better get going then,” he says.

  It’s a somber walk from my little room at the back of the hotel to the front lobby. Vincent is there, with his sunglasses on and his hair slicked back. My mother is waiting near the door, and I pass both of them without saying anything. I walk straight out the door to the waiting car. My father follows with my suitcases, and I help him load all my things up into the trunk.

  As I’m putting the last of my bags in the car, a truck rumbles down the road. I can almost sense Dominic’s eyes on me, even before I look up to see his vehicle. Our eyes meet as he pulls up in front of the hotel. My mother flutters down the pathway towards him, calling out for help behind her.

  “Dominic! I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow! Do you have a delivery already?”

  “Finished early,” he says, not looking at her. Our eyes are locked on each other. He’s asking me a thousand wordless questions and I can’t do anything except stand there. My heartbeat sounds like a hurricane in my ears, and it feels like the earth has shifted on its axis. I’m off-balance, and all I can do to stay standing is stare at the man I love.

  Every part of my body is screaming to run to him. I want to wrap my arms around him and kiss him and never let him go. A light breeze ruffles his hair. He stands next to his truck and looks at me as if nothing else in the world exists. If I took three steps, I could be in his arms. I could wrap myself around him and tell Vincent to leave me alone.

  But what then?

  Dominic’s career would be ruined. Vincent might go after Ethan and Aiden as well. I’d be the cause of all their pain once again, just as I was ten years ago.

  Vincent appears beside me and puts his hand on the small of my back. A shiver of disgust passes through me and I try to step away from him. I shift my gaze to the ground. He urges me towards the car and I let myself be led to the passenger’s side door. It slams closed and I see Dominic in the mirror, standing exactly as he was. He’s staring at the car, and then shifts his gaze to Vincent.

  I wish I could hear what Vincent says to him, but I can’t. In a few moments, he’s sliding into the driver’s side and the car is rumbling to life.

  My parents raise their arms in goodbye and I see my father’s eyebrows knit together. He knows something is wrong, but he won’t say it. I blink back the tears that are gathering in my eyes and shift my gaze forward.

  This is my life now.

  Vincent turns on the radio and I lean my head against the window. I close my eyes and try to forget the look on Dominic’s face when I got in the car.

  When we pass the sign on the edge of town that says ‘Thank you for visiting Lang Creek!’, my heart breaks all over again. The sharp pain radiates from my chest to every part of my body until I have to close my eyes and focus on my breathing just to stop myself from screaming.

  Vincent reaches over and puts his hand on my thigh. I tense, snapping my head towards him and snarling:

  “Don’t touch me.”.

  He raises an eyebrow and takes his hand away, placing it back on the steering wheel. He glances over at me and shakes his head.

  “You’re going to have to play the loving wife eventually, Mara. This kind of thing won’t fly.”

  “You’re the Devil,” I say as my voice catches in my throat.

  “I haven’t done this alone, remember. Your own family sold you out.”

  He doesn’t look at me when he says it, but I know he’s watching my every reaction. A lump forms in my throat and I try to blink back the tears that are gathering in my eyes.

  As much as I hate him – as much as I hate to admit it – he’s right. It wasn’t just him. It was my mother too. She’s the reason I’m here. She’s the reason the Clarkes hate us. She’s the reason that I’ve just left the love of my life behind to fend for himself.

  The further we drive from Lang Creek, the more the horror of my situation starts to set in. I’m going back to Silicon Valley. I’m going back to the land of fake people and fake smiles. I’m going back to the land of money. Vincent’s world. I glance out the windows at the mountains around us and say a silent farewell.

  Chapter 35 - Dominic

  I know Mara. I’ve known her my whole life, and I’ve gotten to know her very well over the past few weeks. At least, I think I know her.

  I know that I’ve never seen her look like that. When that arrogant asshole Vincent touched her, she almost recoiled in disgust. The look on her face was pure despair. I watch them drive away and feel something inside me die.

  She’s gone.

  Just like that. No warning, no goodbye, no word from her at all.

  I shift my gaze to her parents, and for a moment I meet Mr. McCoy’s gaze. His eyebrows are drawn together, and the tip of his nose is bright red. He’s grinding his teeth together as he looks at me, and then he looks back towards the road where Mara disappeared.

  I watch him tuck his chin into his chest and stomp back into the hotel. Margaret McCoy appears by my side and starts inspecting the furniture I’m delivering. She’s got that fake smile plastered over her face and she says things I don’t hear.

  I couldn’t sleep last night, and I stayed up all night finishing the pieces. She nods approvingly and clicks her fingers towards the two waiting hotel workers. My lip lifts in disgust as they jump forward and start unloading the furniture. She doesn’t even treat them like people.

  I grab a corner and help them load the furniture up into one of the newly renovated rooms. I look around the room at the fresh paint, the hardwood floors and the simple rug that Mara chose. I see her in every detail of the decor – from the wall sconces that she chose to the way the furniture fits perfectly with the style of the hotel.

  She’s talented.

  She’s gone.

  I clear my throat to try to stop myself from tearing up. I help place the new furniture and leave the two hotel workers to their work, going back down to my truck. On the way out, I catch a glance of Tim McCoy in Mara’s office. He’s standing there, looking at her empty desk as if she’s going
to appear in front of him. I glance over my shoulder and when I see I’m alone, I walk over towards him.

  He turns around when I clear my throat.

  “Dominic,” he says, turning towards me. He extends his hand to shake mine. “I’m so impressed with your work. You’re a true talent.”

  “Thank you,” I respond. He clears his throat and avoids my gaze. We stand in front of each other, waiting for the other to speak. Finally, I take a deep breath.

  “Mara…” My voice trails off and Tim shakes his head.

  “Something’s not right,” he interrupts. He glances at the door and moves to close it. When we’re alone in the office, he looks out the window and then back to me. “Something’s not right about this whole thing. Mara didn’t want that.”

  My heart starts thumping as he looks at me. I knew it. I’m simultaneously elated that she didn’t want to go with Vincent, and horrified that she did.

  “What the fuck is going on, then?”

  Tim McCoy stares at me for a few long moments. His eyes narrow and he looks into my eyes until I have to force myself to maintain eye contact with him. He finally nods.

  “It was you, wasn’t it?”

  “It was me what?” I ask. My heart starts beating a bit harder.

  “I thought Mara was seeing someone. She was so happy.” He chuckles and shakes his head. “I should have known. Why else would she keep you a secret? She’s always told me everything.”

  “I…” I look at Tim and finally take a deep breath. “I care about her.”

  “I can tell. I could tell by the way you looked at her when she was getting in the car. I’m telling you, Dominic, something isn’t right.”

  I look at the man that has been on the other side of this stupid feud for ten years, and I remember the letters on Aiden’s kitchen table. How would he react if he knew that his wife had been cheating on him all those years ago? Did he know?