Page 72 of My Ex-Fiance's Best Men
“Hey, Mom.”
“Phoebe. What are you doing here?”
“I was hoping we could talk,” I say, casually taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of her desk. “This whole inheritance nonsense. You need to stop.”
“I will if you do as you’re told,” my mother calmly replies, leaning back in her chair.
“You mean if I drop the weight and beg Matthew to take me back.”
“Yes and end your ludicrous liaisons with those three men.”
“Those three men have names. Theo, Dominic, and August. The men who more or less saved me.”
She laughs. “Oh, please, they’re just using you, Phoebe. It’s ridiculous that you still don’t see it. That whole debacle at the Perle Noire should’ve convinced you.”
“That was a setup. Georgina planned it,” I calmly reply. “We have proof.”
“Nonsense. You belong here with us. Not out there, doing whatever it is you’re doing with three men. You’ve brought nothing but shame and embarrassment to this family,” Mom insists, her tone sharper and heavier with every word that comes out. “You’re unstable. Unreliable. Matthew couldn’t get through to you, either. I’m just trying to protect our family name and your father’s company.”
I shake my head. “Can we be honest with each other, Mom? For once?”
“I don’t understand.”
“You’re not stripping me of my inheritance and my company shares because you care about the Baldwin name or Daddy’s company. If you cared about his company, you would’ve let me run the finance department, like I was supposed to. My whole education was built on the prospect of assuming that role. I have a master’s from Columbia University precisely for it. None of my financial predictions have erred so far.”
Mom scoffs and slaps her laptop shut. “You don’t belong anywhere near our finance department until you prove that you can be trusted.”
“You’re still lying to me. Gaslighting me. Aren’t you tired?”
“Excuse me?”
“This whole act. Doesn’t it wear you out? I was a model student. I was top of my class from middle school through my graduate studies. Magna cum laude. I was a hard-working student. Hell, I even upgraded the marketing department, even though it wasn’t where I belonged. You keep dragging my personal life into this conversation because you have nothing else to hold over my head. Even now, you sit in that chair and lie to my face, Mom. To me. Your daughter.”
“My daughter would never elope with three men to?—”
“Enough with that crap, too,” I snap. “Like you were a saint yourself. Or Crystal. You both look down on me. Always have. Nothing I did was ever good enough. When I was little, I was too skinny, wasn’t eating enough. You wouldn’t let me get up from the table until I finished my entire plate. Dad would try to intervene, but you’d keep me in my seat. Then after he died?—”
“Don’t bring your father into this!”
I raise a hand to silence her. “I have to. Because after he died, you and Crystal pretended like I didn’t exist anymore. I ate more just so you’d notice, so you’d see that I could be a good girl and do as I was told.” I pause as tears prick my eyes. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve gone out of my way to please you, to try and make you love me. But what did you do?”
“I did my duty as a mother,” she replies.
I scoff loudly. “Yeah, right. When Matthew humiliated me in public, you sided with him. Crystal sided with him. Not once did I hear either of you say, ‘Hey, Phoebe. I’m sorry Matthew did that, you deserve better.’”
“You don’t deserve better, not with the recent choices you’ve made,” my mother replies, pressing her lips into a thin line.
My blood boils as my heart breaks all over again. I know there’s a kind woman in there, somewhere beneath the cruelty, the judgment, the layers of makeup, filler, and expensive fabrics.
“No matter what I do, it’ll never be good enough for you,” I conclude with a trembling voice. “There’s no amount of bending over backwards, of settling for less, of working myself into an early grave, even, for you to ever give me the same consideration you so gleefully give to Crystal.”
“I’m sorry you feel this way,” Mom replies. “It was never my intention. But as a mother and a Baldwin, I need to look out for the family’s best interests, first and foremost. It’s not just you, Phoebe. We’re all in this together, and when one of us pulls while the others push, well, there’s chaos. What you’ve been doing lately will surely throw us all off the cliff, unless I take executive action.”
“By depriving me of my inheritance.”
“By making sure your decisions don’t impact the family or the business in a negative fashion.” Her tone softens minutely. “You should try being selfless for once, darling. Crystal got the hang of it early on, which is why she’s an integral part of the company and part of our plans moving forward. It’s not her figure that placed her above you, Phoebe. It’s her devotion.”
“Her blind obedience, you mean,” I retort. “You know what? This was a waste of time. I shouldn’t have come here.”
