Heat Wave(103)

“What are you talking about?”

“Well I no longer want a man like Logan deciding how our investments go. It’s obvious now his judgement can’t be trusted. We can’t always make the best investment decisions, but if we sell now, I’m sure we’ll make some money on it.”

“You can’t…you can’t just sell. Logan is a shareholder.”

“He doesn’t own the majority of the hotel, dear. If he did, I wouldn’t be keeping tabs, now would I? When he first met Juliet, he was getting the hotel off the ground. We swooped in and came up with the remaining funds, money he used to purchase Moonwater. That’s never been a secret.”

“But…it’s his! It’s all his! It’s his flesh and blood. It’s his passion. It’s his job. Maybe you gave some money, but without Logan, you would have nothing at all.”

“That was his decision. It kept him and Juliet busy, but now that’s over.”

I’m starting to shake. This has to be a bad dream, a nightmare, and I can’t wake up.

“Mom,” I whisper. “You can’t do that. There has to be some legal way about it. It’s still his company, his business, his hotel. You can’t just decide to sell. He has to approve.”

She gives off a small, merciless laugh. “Oh, you’re so naïve. I thought I raised you better than that. Let me make this clear, Veronica Locke.” Her tone becomes as hard as flint. “If you don’t call off this marriage, call of this silly relationship, your father and I will sell what’s rightfully ours. Logan will get a small chunk of change, plus whatever he invested. Which, by the way, wasn’t much. And that’s that. Frankly, this has gone on for too long anyway – we should have done this as soon as Juliet died.”

No. No. There has to be some way out of here.

There’s so much to say. I want to scream. Cry. Protest. Swear. I want to revel in my anger, I want her to feel what I’m feeling. I want to beg for forgiveness. I want to plead for approval. I want to be given a chance.

But the only thing I can manage to ask is, “Why do you hate me so much, mom?” My voice is broken, ruined, weak. “What did I ever do to you?”

The silence says everything and nothing at all.

“Give him back his ring, Veronica. Do the right thing. Even if you don’t care about Juliet’s honor or my reputation or your self-respect, even if you don’t give a shit about any of that, think about Logan. Do you really want to be the one to ruin all that he’s worked for? Do you want to be the one to crush his legacy? The man has been through so much. Do you want to make him lose it all?”

“Fuck you, mom,” I tell her and hang up the phone.

But the act seems worthless. Because she’s already won. She’s right.

My fingers go to the ring, the beautiful ring, and twirl it around, trying to gather strength from it, trying not to cry. Could I be the one to call it off? Do I tell Logan what just happened? Do we try and find a solution together?

Or would that ruin everything anyway? I know Logan. He loves me. He’s stubborn. And he’s not going to let me go without a fight. If I tell him what we’re faced with, he’ll give up the hotel. He’ll let my parents take back Moonwater and he’ll lose all that he’s worked for in order to keep me.

Can I live with myself if that happens? Can I marry him knowing I ruined his life, that I made him lose it all?

Or do I get up and walk away to save him.

Do I tell Logan the biggest lie I’ve ever told and break his heart in order to keep this piece of paradise for him?

I sit down on the couch, numb.

This is going to hurt beyond belief.





CHAPTER TWENTY




They say that life isn’t measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

I have to agree with that.

When I first laid my eyes on Logan, I was breathless. I knew he would have a significant impact in my life, even though I had no idea he would become my life. He was Juliet’s for so long, and I accepted that as much as I could. Everything else was a shameful, hopeless dream.

And I am breathless now.

Because I am breaking.

Breaking inside, fragments, jagged and sharp.

Breaking in slow motion.

I am paralyzed by this decision, a decision that can only be mine, one that will destroy everything I love no matter what I do.

I don’t know how long I stand in the middle of the living room. I don’t know where to go, what to do. I’m a robot, I’m on autopilot, I’m a zombie.

This can’t be happening; this can’t be happening.

But you knew it, I tell myself. You knew it would be this way. You knew you would never get away with it.