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Seventy
Henley
Something my dad said to me has been eating at me.
You deserve more than a life of cleaning up other peoples’ messes.
He’s right.
I do.
That’s why I’m not going to marry Jeremy.
He can have his money and his happily-ever-after with Gregg or he can keep living his lie to please his family.
He’ll have to make a choice.
He’ll have to be brave.
Because I can’t do it for him.
Not anymore.
I call my mom.
“Where are you?” she says. “Spencer called earlier. He said—”
“I’m not with Spencer. I’m in Boston.”
My confession is met with silence. I decide to go for broke. “I’m not marrying Jeremy and I’m not coming back to New York.”
“Henley Rose,” she says, biting my name in half. “Don’t be ridiculous.We’ve already discussed this.”
“We’ve discussed nothing,” I say, sharpening my tone. “You attempted to blackmail me, and I’ve decided I don’t care for it.”
“Jeremy will be devastated.” It’s a veiled threat. A reminder of what she promised to do to him if I don’t go through with the wedding. “And your friend, Dr. Deaver. He’ll also be sorry that you’ve changed your mind.”
“I don’t think so. I think Jeremy and Gregg are going to be just fine… you forget, I know things about you too. Things that I don’t think you want your rich society friends to know about.”
“Those things cut both ways,” she reminds me. “You would be just damaged by the truth as I am.”
“Yes.” That used to matter to me. I used to worry what would happen if the people I associated with found out that I wasn’t who I claimed to be. Not anymore. “The difference between you and me is that I know longer care.”
“You little bitch,” she hisses at me like a snake.
“Don’t you mean bastard?” I say. “I mean, that is what you call someone who doesn’t know who their biological father is, isn’t it?”
The silence on the over end of the phone is deafening.
“You’re going to leave Jeremy and Gregg alone. You aren’t going to say a word to anyone about anything and you’re going to let me go.”
“Let you go?” She laughs but it sounds strangled. Forced. “I’m your mother. Where would you be without me?”
“Happy,” I tell her, sad because it’s true. Because she’s never going to love me. Because nothing I give her will ever be enough. “Without you, I’ll be happy.”
I hang up the phone and I feel something I’ve never felt before in my life.
I feel free.