Chapter 30
Lydia assumed Rachel had held back earlier because the Hollanders were around. Now they were alone in the garden, with nothing but the rustle of leaves in the wind breaking the silence.
Rachel didn’t mince words. “What were you thinking? Our marriage alliance with the Leonards is hanging by a thread. One wrong move from you, and we lose everything.”
“So you agree with Effie. You think I’m some loose woman, too?” Lydia’s lips curved into a smile, but her eyes remained cold. “That description makes me sick.”
Lydia had first heard it when she was ten. Effie had trapped her after school, screaming in her face, “Your mother is some. loose woman throwing herself at my uncle.”
She’d punched back hard–hard enough to leave a long, angry scratch down Effie’s cheek. But then three older girls piled in. Outnumbered, Lydia had limped home bruised and battered, only for Rachel to yell at her for stirring up trouble instead of caring about her.
Now Effie was using the same words again, and the way Rachel looked at Lydia made it clear she believed every one of
them. ‘How pathetic,‘ Lydia thought, the bitterness like iron on her tongue.
Lydia pushed the memory aside and turned to Rachel, who still seemed at a loss for words.
“After all these years with the Hollanders, you still dance to their tune? You actually believe everything Effie says?” Lydia
said, shaking her head.
Rachel frowned, jolting back to awareness.
Effie’s voice drifted up the stone path. “What are you two whispering about? Something you don’t want the rest of us to
hear?”
Rachel half–turned to look at her.
Lydia twisted the diamond ring around her finger. “It’s broad daylight, Effie. We’re talking right out in the open. Only people with something to hide eavesdrop.”
Hayden’s sly grin flickered through Lydia’s mind. ‘That fox would’ve loved this whole spectacle,‘ she thought. ‘Too bad he’s missing the show.”
As Lydia was lost in thought, her phone suddenly vibrated in her pocket. Seizing the moment while Rachel and Effie were busy bickering, she quietly pulled out her phone and checked the screen.
Lydia had been checking her phone all evening, waiting for Hayden’s message. When it finally came, the text was brief. [Zachary will pick you up at the Southgate Manor.]
She stared at the screen until the words blurred. In just a few hours, she’d be signing the marriage certificate with him- the thought twisted her stomach into knots.
Lydia took a deep breath. ‘Everyone gets nervous before getting married,‘ she told herself. ‘It’s normal, no matter who you’re marrying,”
Shoving the phone in her pocket, she stood. “I should go. You two talk.”
Without another word, she turned away from their arguing and strode across the terrace, her heels clicking toward the
gate.
The Hollander residence stood close enough to downtown that a yellow cab appeared before she could reconsider.
When it pulled up to the Southgate Manor, she fumbled for her keys before noticing Michael’s face above the wall.
“Michael, do you have nothing better to do?” Lydia rolled her eyes.
Michael grinned down at her from a wooden ladder, one hand braced against the wall for balance. “I leased the place next door,” he announced. “I’m staying in Jettridge as long as you are.”
Lydia stopped dead, her glare pinning Michael where he stood. “You can’t possibly think this is romantic.”
She’d spent months waiting for him to change, offering chances he never even saw. Now she just wanted him gone–no calls, no texts, no contact. Yet here he again, like a coin that always turned up tails.
vas
Michael held her gaze and felt ice water trickle down his spine. “I know you’re still angry,” he said, voice carefully measured, “but you don’t really want to see our company fail, do you?”
Lydia let out a harsh, mirthless laugh. For a brief moment, she had almost convinced herself he might have changed, but this was the same Michael as always–he only ever appeared when he needed something. “What do you want?” she demanded.
Hope flickered in his eyes. “Just an introduction to the Leonards. You managed my projects before. You could do it again.” This time her laugh cut like broken glass. “Keep dreaming. What possible reason would I have to help you?”
Michael didn’t expect that response. “Lydia, you promised you’d always be on my side,” he snapped.
His words grated against her last remaining nerve. She crossed her arms. “I drank myself sick to land your deals. I got you a seat at the Finnian family table.
“But how did you repay me? While I was pulling all–nighters at the office, you were in our bed with Ciara.”
Lydia braced for the familiar sting, but it never came. All she felt now was a dull pity for the foolish girl she’d once been- the one who actually believed in love.
Michael’s grip whitened on the ladder. His lips formed the same worn–out excuses–nothing sincere, nothing she hadn’t heard before.
“Michael? You up there?” Ciara’s voice drifted over the wall from the sidewalk.
A muscle flickered near Lydia’s temple. She turned on her heel and marched toward the house.
“Diana,” she called, “have someone extend the wall tomorrow. Higher, if the budget allows.”
From the kitchen doorway, the fifty–something housekeeper Hayden had hired gave a knowing nod. “Got it, Mrs. Leonard, Diana replied.
After her morning conversation with Diana, the title “Mrs. Leonard” no longer stirred any reaction in Lydia. “I need to go out later,” she informed Diana. “Don’t hold dinner for me.”
Diana paused her dusting, cloth in hand. “Got it, Mrs. Leonard.”
Lydia returned to her room and took out the white wrap dress Hayden had laid out the night before. Silver threads glinted subtly in the fabric as it caught the light.
She stepped into the dress and tucked her hair up with a simple silver pin. The mirror showed an elegant image. With a quick tweak of her emerald earrings, the look was complete.
“Mrs. Leonard.” Diana’s knock came through the door. “Zachary’s arrived.”
“Be right there.” After one last glance in the mirror, Lydia grabbed her ID and hurried downstairs.
A breeze caught her bangs as she stepped outside. She paused to smooth her wrap dress, glancing up at the golden light of the setting sun before walking toward the gate, her heels clicking softly on the pavement.
‘What a perfect day to get the marriage license,‘ she thought. Behind her, unnoticed, a shadow lingered at the neighbor’s
window.
Michael spotted Lydia in her wrap dress, her graceful walk stirring something inside him. But she was leaving for someone
else.
No way was he letting that happen. He spun around, shoved past Ciara without a word, and bolted downstairs. Tires screeched as he peeled out of the basement, speeding after the vehicle carrying Lydia.
