Page 122 of On The Rocks

A gasp tore from my throat.

I gritted my teeth through the ache of my heart ripping open. My knees felt weak and wobbly, but somehow, despite my sister’s shameful words, I managed to stay upright. My stomach churned sickeningly, intensifying to the point I thought I was gonna puke.

The sounds quietened. Every conversation—even the soft music playing in the coffee shop—faded to silence until all I could hear was ringing in my ears.

I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or slap Shannon fucking Doyle across the face for saying such wicked things to me.

In the end, I didn’t do any of that. Instead, I croaked, “Go on.”

“Da paid for Lorcan’s cancer treatment,” Shannon murmured. “So Lorcan signed over the bar to pay it back. Dad offered Callum a reprieve—twelve months to raise three hundred thousand dollars, plus, he knocked fifty K off the debt, but only on the condition he married you.” She nodded down at the paperwork on the table. “It’s all there. They even signed a fucking contract for you.”

Black spots clouded my vision, and my fingers hit the table to steady myself. “It’s not true,” I whispered. “Callum wouldn’t do that.”

But as I threw out my denial, I knew I was being a fool. And the reason for that was because of the words Abe unwittingly spoke to me two days before. The same words still floating around in the back of my head, haunting me from the moment he said them.

‘Often, when two people are forced to be together, the resentment alone could pile on enough pressure for everything to implode.’

Slowly, I closed my eyes, unable to speak through the burn hitting the back of my throat.

Don’t cry, Maeve. Keep it together. Don’t you fucking cry.

“Callum never wanted you,” Saskia told me quietly. “I know he’s probably told you all kinds of bullshit about me, but he was with me the weekend before he married you.”

“He said he hadn’t touched you in months...” My voice trailed off, and I blinked.

Yeah... I really was a damned fool.

I’d believed every lying word out of his beautiful traitorous mouth, and while I buried my head in the sand and ignored what was in front of my face, I’d also taken my heart from my chest, wrapped it up in a big bow, and handed it over to somebody who didn’t give a shit about it.

The signs had always been there. Callum O’Shea had never given me the time of day before, but I was so set on living my fairytale that I’d ignored all the red flags.

I gave him the hidden pieces of myself that I’d buried deep since the day my parents died. I gave him my trust and my hopes and my dreams; I gave him parts of me I could never get back, parts of me I didn’t even want back because now they were tainted.

I gave him my truth, my vulnerabilities, and my insecurities.

I gave him everything I had, everything I was.

I trusted him.

“I’m sorry,” Shannon murmured. “I didn’t want to be the one to tell you.”

My tear-filled eyes drifted to hers, and I whispered, “Liar.” Then, my stricken gaze lowered to the table where the papers lay, and I reached out to pick them up.

I couldn’t read them, maybe because my mind had gone blank with the knowledge that everything I’d believed in never really existed.

Folding the papers, I shoved them under my coat, making sure to keep them secure.

“What are you doing?” Shannon bit out.

“I don’t know where you got these from,” I retorted. “But I’m going to use them to confront our da.”

Her face twisted in a mixture of fright and horror. “You can’t do that,” she cried. “He’ll go barmy.”

“Should’ve thought about that before you stole his paperwork,” I snapped.

“I didn’t steal anything,” she protested, gesturing toward Saskia. “She did it.”

My eyes sliced toward the other woman.

---