Just Be Her Read online

“What the f . . . I don’t give a shit. Why are you telling me this?” I didn’t know it was possible for someone to smoke angrily, but he was doing it like a pro.

  “I’m telling you because I’m trying to show you that I get it. You’re hurt. I am too.”

  “Fuck you, Toni.” He finally looked me dead in the eye. “You’re not the one who was lied to. The two of you did the lying.”

  I laughed darkly. “I’ve been lied to my whole damn life by my parents. They’re both dead, so I can’t even rage at them, demand answers, ask why they never told me. My whole life’s been turned upside down. I’m thinking maybe you know a bit about that too.”

  “Lying piece-of-shit parents? Yeah.”

  I kept my mouth shut. I loved my parents and didn’t like him lumping them in with his, but I knew this wasn’t about them.

  Silence settled between us, the rain and the muffled thumping of the music from inside keeping us company.

  “Why do you hate me?” I finally asked.

  He gave me a disparaging look, and I waved him away. “I know why you’re pissed about what’s gone down recently. I’m talking about all the shit before that. You’ve been a dick to me from day one, and I have no idea why.”

  He finished his cigarette and flicked it into the rain. “Honestly? I was in love with Andre. I was struggling to figure out what to do without my trust fund. Then you show up, and that same day he gives you a job and clears out his dad’s old office for you to live in. I thought you were taking him away from me. Turns out that fell to another bitch who looks just like you.”

  I pushed myself to my feet and looked down on him, letting the frustration show in my face. “That’s my sister you’re talking about, asshole. Yeah, she fucked up. We both did. But can you really say you’re perfect? She woke up that morning ready to walk away from it all for you. She was going to lose her family business, give up on a goal she’s had her whole damn life, because she realized she needed you and Andre more. She loves you, and you wouldn’t be this cut up if you didn’t love her too. So get over yourself. In twenty years’ time is any of this shit gonna matter?”

  I pulled the door open and got back to work. The bar was slammed with orders, and it was a busy night, but Ren stayed out of my way.

  The next day, I went to Preston’s apartment. Annabelle and Alex helped me submit the college applications, and then we had lunch. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to let them into my life, how open I was to getting to know them better, letting them know me.

  My walk home took me past the same park George had stalked me to so Alex could convince me to switch lives with her. I was in no rush, so I sat down on a bench under a big tree. I watched a little girl playing with a beagle in the distance and smiled. Hopefully one day I’d have a house big enough to get a few animals. Ones that stayed permanently instead of coming and going like Kennedy did.

  The sound of heels clicking on the paved path drew my attention.

  Caroline Winthrop smoothed her cream A-line dress and perched on the bench next to me, following my gaze to the little girl with the beagle.

  She didn’t say anything at first. My heart hammered, and I sat up a little straighter. Should I run away? Was she here to give me a piece of her mind? Could I really blame her?

  After a few moments she turned to face me with a sad smile on her face.

  “Hey, Mrs. Winthrop.” I watched her, wide-eyed, not really sure what I should say.

  “Didn’t I tell you to call me Caroline?” Her smile widened. “Now, it’s Antoinette, isn’t it?”

  “Uhh . . . yeah . . . yes. Most people just call me Toni.”

  “Toni.” She nodded definitively and folded her hands in her lap. “I thought it was about time you and I talked.”

  “OK. Sure, let me have it.” It was the least I could do. God help whoever crossed a southern woman. I’m sure whatever she had to say to me, she would be giving Alex a serve too. We deserved it.

  “Oh, sweetheart.” One of her perfectly manicured hands covered mine, and I looked up into her face, surprised. “You misunderstand.”

  I frowned. I had no idea what the hell was happening, but she wasn’t ripping me a new one.

  “I’d like to give you the money necessary to save your family legacy, and a little bit extra for college.” She waved her hand around as if she were talking about spare change in her pocket, not millions.

  “Give me . . .” My eyes narrowed, and I pulled my hand out from under hers. “You want to pay me off? No. I’m not gonna tell anyone about what happened. I don’t want your money.”

  She chuckled. “I do so admire your integrity. I’m not looking to buy your silence. I simply want to do the right thing. Just like you.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “My husband is prideful and he’s angry. My son is stubborn and he’s hurt. But men are idiots, and now that I know the full story, I’d like to help. I know what kind of financial difficulty Zamorano Wines is in. I know all about how you were taken from your mama as a baby. I know about you and Alexandria bumping into each other and deciding to switch. I know you’re planning to go to college. I have the means to help, and I’ve decided I’m going to.”

  She rolled her shoulders back and nodded with a satisfied smile. She’d just decided. Never mind what anyone else wanted. Rich people, man . . .

  “I just want one thing in return,” she announced.

  My eyebrows went up so high I was worried they’d merge with my hairline. There it was. “And what might that be?” I’d already decided to tell her to shove it. I wasn’t going to put myself at the mercy of a rich, powerful woman. I’d rather be poor and free.

  “I want you to fight for my son.” Any hint of levity left her expression. She looked at me with so much intensity it felt like a punch to the guts.

  “What?” I gripped the edge of the bench, digging my nails into the dirty wood.

  “What you and your sister did was . . . somewhat foolish. But I’m damn glad you did it.”

  “You are?”

  “Yes. You see, when Annabelle and I arranged this deal, I simply hoped it would give my son the freedom to run the business as he saw fit, that having his father out of the way would allow him to relax a little bit more. I never expected to see him come alive the way he has in the past few weeks. That’s because of you, Toni.”

  I shook my head, hating that tears welled up at the mere mention of him. “He hates me. He made it perfectly clear. I fucked it up. Shit! Sorry about the language.” I lifted my wide, watery eyes to her, and she smiled warmly.

  “I don’t give a flying fuck what words you use, sweetheart. Just use them to talk to Oren. He’s miserable. He never expected to find something real in a sham marriage, and now that you’re gone, he’s even worse than before. He’s thrown himself into his work. He won’t speak to anyone. He’s short with the staff. Please.” She took my hand again. The richest person I knew was pleading with me to do something I ached to do anyway. But was there any hope?

  “I don’t know if there’s any point. I’ve hurt him too much.”

  “You have to try. My husband is already talking about who else might make a suitable marriage partner so Oren can get his inheritance. Vanessa is all over him at work, even if he doesn’t see it. I don’t want that fake, social-climbing Barbie as a daughter-in-law. I want you.”

  “You do?” What in the actual fuck was happening? Was she about to pull out her magic wand, conjure an elaborate gown, and turn a pumpkin into a carriage to take me to the love of my life?

  “Oren will do what he thinks is right—the practical thing. He needs you to make the first move. You have to bring that chaos back into his life. Bring that light back into his eyes.”

  “I don’t know.” We were too different; I wasn’t good enough for him. I wasn’t sure I could handle the humiliation of having him say it to my face.

  Caroline reached into her purse and handed me a card. “This has my number and the number of my lawyer. Th
e money is already on its way to you—just call him to arrange the details. It’s yours regardless of what you decide, but I certainly hope you’ll decide to try one last time.”

  She stood, smoothed her dress, and walked away, her heels clicking on the concrete.

  Twenty-Eight

  Alex

  “Oh my god.” I burst into tears, the relief rushing through my body so intense my knees went weak. I lowered myself into a chair at the dining table and sobbed into my hand, my other shaking hand holding the phone up to my ear. “Are you sure?” This was too good to be true.

  “I’m sure, Alex.” Toni sounded choked up on the other end, but I was so overwhelmed I didn’t even tease her about it.

  “Absolutely positive?”

  “I just got off the phone with Caroline’s lawyer. He ran me through the whole thing, and when I looked at my bank account, the number of zeroes made me hyperventilate.” She laughed, the sound a little manic. “I’ve never seen that much money, man!”

  “And you’re sure what you want to do with it is bail me out?”

  “Dude, accept the good news. Fuck!”

  This time I laughed with her, even as the tears continued to stream down my cheeks. “Oh my god, Toni, thank you so much. You have no idea what this means.”

  “I think I have a pretty good idea.”

  “I can’t believe this.” I took a deep cleansing breath. “Dad would be so proud. Of both of us.”

  Toni cleared her throat. She was embracing getting to know us way more than I ever could’ve hoped for, but she still got a bit weird when I referred to Mom and Dad as our parents, which I could understand. She had a mom and a dad, and she’d lost them.

  “The only thing I don’t understand is how she knew all those details. Do all rich people have PIs on call?”

  “Oh, that may be my fault. I sent her a letter and an email a couple days ago, explaining the situation and apologizing for how spectacularly it went wrong. I’d made a commitment and reneged on it—I felt like they deserved an explanation. I sent the same note to Oren, but I haven’t heard back from him.”

  “Do you think he could ever . . .”

  “What?”

  “I don’t even know. Forgive me? Get over it? Speak to me even, so I could say my piece? Thing is, when Caroline accosted me in the park, she basically begged me to try to win him back. Or win him. I guess he was never mine to begin with. I don’t know. God! This is so confusing.”

  “He was always yours, Toni.” That I was sure of. Oren Winthrop and I could never have been more than friends—not when my heart belonged to two impossible, incredible men, and had since before I’d even known it.

  “I don’t know about that,” she grumbled.

  I was ready to launch into a lengthy argument to try to convince her Caroline was spot on, that she should try to talk to Oren, but the front door opened, and Mom’s heels sounded on the tiles.

  “Toni, I’ve got to go catch Mom up on the news. Just promise me you’ll think about it. You deserve to be happy.”

  “OK. I’ll talk to you later.”

  She hung up first, and I sprung out of my chair to meet my mother in the kitchen, bursting with excitement to tell her the amazing news.

  I spent the rest of the afternoon on the phone with lawyers, accountants, and my managers, setting the new deal in motion.

  With Preston’s offer, I’d dragged my feet. Despite it being the best option on paper, it had still felt wrong. With this new development, I couldn’t get things happening fast enough. Toni and I would own Zamorano Wines fifty-fifty—equal share, just like it should be. Although I was pretty sure she had no interest in running a multimillion-dollar business with me.

  That evening, Toni was working, Preston had been out all day, and Mother was having dinner with some old friends, so I found myself celebrating alone. As midnight approached, I was nearly at the bottom of a bottle of Shiraz and on the third episode of a documentary when Preston got back.

  I shot off the couch, eager to tell another person. He wandered into the living room looking tired, his linen shirt crumpled, and dropped his keys on the kitchen bench.

  “You’re back!” I practically shouted, and he startled.

  “Yeah. Dinner and drinks turned into . . . well, more drinks. I was with the friend whose venture I was originally going to invest in. Didn’t mean to stay out this late, but I needed to mend that bridge after pulling out at the last second.” He ran long fingers through his hair.

  “Oh, then I have doubly good news. You can go back to your original plan and invest in your friend’s venture. Zamorano Wines is saved! It’s a long story, but Toni has come into some money, and she’s going to bail us out. And considering the circumstances, half the business is hers anyway.”

  “What?” Now I had his full attention.

  “Thank you so, so much for offering to bail us out. It means more than you know. But I know the deal you had to break was more lucrative. This is perfect. You can go back to that, and Zamorano Wines can get back to business as usual.”

  Preston’s face paled, and he gritted his teeth. “This is unbelievable.” He ran his hand through his hair again, this time tugging it in frustration.

  “What’s wrong? I thought you’d be glad.”

  “Glad? Glad?” He bugged his eyes out at me. “You ungrateful bitch.”

  I took an involuntary step back. “Whoa. Calm down.”

  “Don’t fucking tell me to calm down, Alexandria.” He spat my name as if it were a curse word. “The original deal is gone. My friend found another investor.”

  “Look, I’m sorry about that, but there will be other deals. You have the capital now, and you know all kinds of people. It won’t take you—”

  “I don’t give a shit about other opportunities!” he roared. Spittle flew from his lips, and he curled his hands into fists.

  Every muscle in my body tensed. He was losing his shit, and I suddenly didn’t feel safe in a house alone with my cousin. I couldn’t understand why he was so upset. This was just business—he was a businessman.

  “Preston.” I worked to keep my voice even, calm, even as my hands started to shake with adrenaline. “Business deals come and go all the time.”

  “You’re such a fucking moron.” He took a step toward me. I took one back, but my knee connected with the arm of the couch. “This isn’t business for me. It’s personal. It’s as personal as it can get. I’ve been trying to get what’s mine my whole entire life, as has my father and his father before him. We’re from the same damn bloodline. That vineyard is just as much mine as it is yours. But you just sit around drinking the fruits of our ancestors’ labor while driving it into the ground, you whiny little cunt. I shouldn’t have to buy something that’s rightfully mine.”

  He growled and stepped forward again. I had nowhere to go. Panic started to settle in, making me tremble as I watched the madness in my cousin’s eyes unravel.

  “But I figured, at least this way, when I take over, the business will no longer be in debt. I came this fucking close”—he held his thumb and forefinger an inch apart in front of my face, and I flinched back—“to fulfilling my father’s dying wish, and now you’re telling me no?” He laughed, a low menacing sound, his teeth bared. “I don’t fucking think so.”

  I knew deep down there was no point reasoning with him, but cornered and alone, I had no other option. “Preston, I don’t know what your father told you, but legally Zamorano Wines is mine, and I’m just doing what I think is best.”

  “Do you have any idea what it’s like to devote your entire life to something and keep failing at it? I was determined to be the generation that got what’s rightfully ours back. I don’t give a shit how many more people I have to kill.”

  A cold chill ran down my spine, both at the clear threat and the insinuation.

  “What are you saying?” I had to keep him talking.

  “You know, if your stupid mother had drunk the spiked tea I’d given her, she would�
��ve slept through the night like the nanny did, and all of this could’ve been avoided. You and Antoinette would’ve been raised by some pathetic middle-class couple desperate to procreate, and I would’ve stepped in to take over from your father. But no, that bitch had to wake up before I could get you into the car.”

  I didn’t think my eyes could open any wider from shock. Every nerve in my body was on alert—he was clearly unhinged.

  “Why?” I breathed, horrified, as tears started to pool in my eyes.

  “Why?” He leaned into my personal space and tapped the side of my head. I flinched but kept my arms by my sides. “Fucking pay attention, Alexandria. I had to have Zamorano Wines. I had to succeed where my father had failed. You think I like killing? I don’t. It’s such an undignified solution, but there’s no denying its effectiveness. Once your father was out of the way, I just needed to be there, let you see that you needed me to step in and run the business. But you’re so fucking stubborn.” He ground his teeth. “It runs in the family, you know.”

  Tears spilled down my cheeks, but rage filled my chest, burning hot. Preston had killed my father. He was responsible for breaking my heart and turning my world upside down. He was responsible for so many awful things in my life.

  “You’re a piece of shit.” I spat in his face.

  His retaliating backhand snapped my head to the side. Pain exploded in my face, and my ears started to ring.

  “And you’re a dead woman. Toni will be much easier to manipulate.” He didn’t wait for an answer. My father’s murderer lunged for me.

  I shoved against his chest, scrambling to get away, but he got a fistful of my hair and yanked my head to the side. I tripped against the couch, and we tumbled into the gap between the couch and the coffee table. My elbow hit the edge, pain shooting up my arm, and I cried out.

  Preston landed on top of me and released my hair. I scrambled to get away, but he was taller, stronger. His hands closed around my throat. I kicked out, desperate, but he pinned my legs with his, his weight holding my hips to the floor.