Page 26 of The Monster I Loved
Summer sighed. “How much?”
“We’ll discuss and get back to you,” I answered. “Right, if that’s all for today...” I stood up, signaling that the meeting was over.
Summer’s glare burned a hole into me, and she marched from the room. She hated me before, but now I might have to watch over my shoulder.
Just in case she decided to follow in her father’s footsteps.
Summer
After a long lecturefrom Olivia before the meeting, I felt confident that I’d done exactly what she wanted. I’d put my feelings aside and tried to get the Fitzgeralds to pay for the relocations, but after what just happened, I knew the poor tenants would probably get a one-hundred-dollar check, and the press-hungry family would make a show of handing out these checks like they were lottery-winning amounts of money.
“Damn it.” I slammed my car door shut and sank into the driver’s seat. Thaddeus and his fiancée’s smug faces returned to me, and I needed a moment to compose myself. There was no way I could drive with my hands trembling like that. IknewI got a wicked vibe from that friend of Ashley’s. I never even knew Melissa was a lawyer, let alone one who was working for Fitzgerald. Her energy wasn’t just off at that party—she’d wanted to ice me out, specifically, and I guess stealing my ex-fiancé was her way of doing that.
Who cares, Summer? You guys haven’t been an item in years.
Shaking my head, I tightened my grip on the wheel. It wasn’t like I owned Thaddeus. He could marry whomever he wanted. Frankly, I’d dodged a bullet back then. Literallyandmetaphorically.
He and Mimi are bound to be the most miserable couple in the world. Both of them were soulless people. They’d throw anybody under the bus if it meant they’d benefit in some way. If that was what Thaddeus wanted in a lifelong partner, then good luck to him. He’d end up paying bitterly in their inevitable divorce.
I heaved a sigh. I shouldn’t let Thaddeus get to me. He wasn’t worth it. He’d already taken so much from me. At least Eden warned me about them in her frantic phone call earlier.
“Are you sitting down? I have something I want you to hear from me first,” she’d said.
News that needed you to sit often meant it would floor you. My gut feeling told me it was about Thaddeus. “I’m sitting. What’s up?”
“Thaddeus and Ashley’s friend, Melissa, are engaged.”
A pit had formed in my chest. For a moment, I just sat there, silent, replaying her words over and over in my head. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“Melissa? Which?—”
“Mimi,” Eden clarified.
My head had spun with a million questions. Did Mimi and Thaddeus meet years ago? Did they know each other prior to his release? Was she one of those creeps who sent letters to murderers? He’d only just gotten out of prison. How in the hell could he be engaged? A thought popped into my head that gave me a stomachache. Maybe they’d met at his coming-home party, and it was love at first sight. He didn’t deserve to be happy. Not after what he’d done.
“Summer?” Eden’s words pulled me back to reality.
“Good for them. I don’t care.”
Her silence had told me she didn’t believe me.
“Hopefully this puts him in a good mood, and he’ll have mercy on the tenants,” Eden said. Then she added, “It’s a business marriage.”
“How do you know?” I asked out of curiosity.
“After the press release came to my desk, I phoned Ashley in shock. She explained that Mr. Fitzgerald wants Thad married and producing children before he dies.”
I was so grateful Eden worked on the town newspaper, and even more grateful that she thought to call me and give me the heads-up before the meeting. I’d thanked her and hurried off the phone to process my thoughts. I had to pull myself together before the meeting. The man I hate was about to marry another woman and have babies with her. Meanwhile, I hadn’t thought about babies since he shot my dad. Thaddeus hadn’t even been home a month, but he was moving on with his life.
So why was I still stuck?
I allowed my hands to loosen on the steering wheel. The meeting hadn’t gone as badly as it could have, mostly thanks to Eden. I didn’t want to think about how big a hold Thaddeus still had over me. Marni’s warning found its way into my thoughts. My life had been on hold for years. Since my dad’s death, I thought about my father’s murder too often, too fiercely to get on with my life. I’d been as trapped as he was. Seeing Thaddeus return and carve a future out of the rubble made me question everything. I’d been on dates, of course, but hadn’t dated anyone long or often enough to let them get the title of boyfriend. Thaddeus was my one and only boyfriend.
“Fucking piece of shit!” I slammed my palms against the dashboard. The new couple was about to claim their first victory if I didn’t come up with a way to save the building.
Competition was on overdrive. I had to beat them. That cause would be a worthy distraction, something to fill my days while the newly engaged couple got married and planned the birth of their first child in the town I loved.
