Page 66 of Little Liar
Her shoulders rise. “It’s always been one. For generations.”
“Were you forced to marry my dad?”
“That was different. I was already dating your father in school before the Vize family came to mine and brought up themarriage agreement. My parents were secretly struggling for money—that contract saved us.”
“Would you have married my dad if you hated him? If you didn’t know him? If he told you to lose weight and change your hair and style of clothes? If he threatened you? Did your mother force you to sleep with older people the same way you did to me?”
Her silence is my answer. I can’t stop the words from spilling out. “And did Dad have a clause that you weren’t allowed birth control? Or did you find another loophole when he brought mine and Malachi’s cases to you?”
Her head lowers on a sigh, her shoulders dropping. “We had the clause too. But we tried and tried for years, and I couldn’t fall pregnant. I’m infertile. We didn’t know before we got married. I wanted to adopt because I’ve always wanted a family. He thought bringing me you and your brother’s cases would make me happy even though he hated the idea of having children not biologically his.”
My breathing grows heavy, my chest suddenly aching. “Dad didn’t want to adopt?”
“Not initially, no,” she replies, breaking my heart some more. “But he loved you and your brother regardless. He still does.”
A tear slides down my cheek. “You wanted to adopt so you could manipulate me into making you more money? Is that all you see me as? Another income after you marry me off to your highest-earning suitor? Dad didn’t even want me, and you just saw me as being able to fulfill another generational tradition.”
Adam was an agreement because Malachi attacked him, and Parker was her choice when I was younger, but neither of them have the same wealth as the Reznikovs. Xander’s family are borderline billionaires. It makes no sense for them to even want to collaborate with the Vizes. It’s like Xander’s being told no and he refuses to accept it.
Xander doesn’t even think I’m pretty; his reaction when he first saw me was evidence of that. He was unimpressed and said I needed a nose job and that he’d arrange for me to get breast enlargement surgery, then took a picture of me and sent it to his friends. His social-media posts show him and his brother partying with girls who look nothing like me.
As soon as my mother tells him the wedding will no longer be going ahead, he’ll send me more threats, but ultimately, he’ll move on to the next girl on his list. Mom just needs to accept this isn’t happening, but going by the way she’s looking at me, she’s not going down without a fight.
“What if I ask for some changes to the agreement?”
Huffing, I lean back in my computer chair and cross my ankles. “Why can’t you give up on this? I’ve been forced into this my entire life—why can’t I make my own choices now? I’m about to turn twenty-seven.”
“Because your choice is to be with your brother! It’s sick!”
“The term that I’m not allowed to use birth control will mess everything up for you. I’ll fall pregnant, and I won’t know who the father is because I won’t leave Malachi, and I’m assuming Xander will force himself on me.”
I’d rather die than go anywhere near him.
“This is ridiculous. Why can’t you see how ridiculous this is? Malachi is your brother. You are siblings. He is my son, and you are my daughter! We raised you both. You were brought up together in the same house, and you acted like brother and sister. You played together. Ran around the house with toys and laughed like all brothers and sisters do! If it wasn’t for Malachi manipulating you, you wouldn’t even care about him.”
I let out a laugh. “Every time you took away one of my choices, I needed him, and he was always there for me. You pushed me closer to him. You’re the reason we’re together.”
As soon as the traitorous words leave my mouth, every drop of blood drains from my body, my veins running ice cold. My heart snaps in two, because although I was just trying to throw it in her face…
It might be true.
I stand, piling my files together and grabbing my bag. “I need to go.”
“Don’t you dare walk away from me, Olivia.” She follows me to the door, and even as I swing it open so everyone in the office can hear, she yells after me, “I’ll be arranging a meeting with the Reznikovs regardless!”
Malachi is supposed to pick me up. My shift doesn’t finish for another few hours, but I don’t stop running until I reach the apartment I’ve left empty for the last week.
My shoulder hits a few people on the way, but I keep going.
I slam the door shut behind me, throw my things on the ground, and run to my bedroom before I allow the screaming cries to release into my pillow.
18
Malachi
Idon’t want to be here.
I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to fucking be here.
