Page 13 of Malicious Marriage
“It feels like it. And no one wants to have a decent conversation anymore or focus on living life. It’s all about preparing for a future I will never see, keeping everyone else rich and happy. I feel aimless, like I’m being guided around by everyone else’s wants and nothing I feel matters.”
Until now. Until this beautiful, kind woman took time out of her day to entertain my surprise visit and make me lunch. It’s the most normal interaction I’ve had in years.
“Sorry,” I say after a few seconds. “I’m aware of how selfish and egotistical that sounds.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Clover replies, and she nudges her soft elbow against my forearm. “Everyone just wants to be seen. Heard. Feel safe. I think it’s natural. Money and power don’t stop you from being human.”
“You think?”
She nods and tilts her head so that her hair sweeps down from one shoulder and creates a warm curtain of golden brown.“I do. Sure, we might be going bankrupt and losing the house, but I have Bobby. That friendship is stronger than anything else.”
“That’s a good thing to have,” I agree, stabbing another forkful of veg.
“If only there were a way we could help each other.” Clover grins. “Oh, I forgot drinks. Orange juice okay?”
I nod and watch her hop down from the stool and head to the rest of the unpacked grocery bags while her throwaway comment circles my mind.Help one another?
What are the chances that Clover isexactlywhat I’ve been looking for?
6
CLOVER
“If only we could help each other,” I mutter mockingly while trying to scrub the last of the vinaigrette out of the bowls. Dean’s away home and I’m left haunted by the boldness of my runaway mouth and the guilt over the lies I told him.
“It’s forward,” Bobby says, standing by my side with a tea towel. “Though maybe you could have been less direct.”
I glare at him. “I wasn’t thinking, okay? I was caught up in how gorgeous his smile was and how easy it was to talk to him. I told him about my dad, for Christ’s sake. And how we met. It all just flowed and then I was beingtootruthful.”
“It’s a wonder you didn’t tell him outright that you’ve been disowned,” Bobby teases. “I’m sure he would havelovedto sully his reputation by dining with someone who has been ejected from their big, rich family.”
“Not funny!” I snap, flicking soap suds toward him. “I feel terrible. He was talking about how much pressure he’s under to be responsible and carry his family, produce an heir, and stuff, and all I could think was how traditional he is. If he finds out that I’m?—”
“Clover.” Bobby silences me by placing his warm hand on my bare arm. “Listen. He’s not going to find out. The only person who could tell him is your uncle, and that fucker isn’t back until the end of the month. Hell, if this works, then you’ll have a ring on your finger long before that happens.”
“Are we awful people?” I pout softly as guilt continues to churn in my gut. “We’re trying to manipulate one of the most powerful men in the city.”
“We’re not awful,” Bobby replies. “We’re… savvy. He’s the only one within a fifty-mile radius who’s single. He’s recently broken up with a toxic ex and is facing the pressure of hitting forty with no ring on any girl’s finger. He’ll be lucky to have you, and you heard him. If this works and he bites, then you’ll be helping him as much as he’s helping you. ForHailey.”
“For Hailey,” I repeat softly. Nothing calms my guilt like the thought of my missing sister.
Bobby helps me clean up and return the kitchen to its picture-perfect clean slate, then we load the remaining groceries into his car and drive home. He offers to spend the evening with me, but I send him right home. The last thing I need is another call from Frankie accusing me of overworking his husband.
Alone in my shitty apartment with only the window draft for company, I try to sleep. My dreams are turbulent, filled with the nightmare of my uncle coming home early and finding out what I’m up to and Dean learning the truth. I barely know the man, but the thought of him yelling at me for tricking him and screaming at me for tainting his family name with my disowned presence is enough to force me awake in cold sweats. No one said this would be easy.
In the early hours of the morning, with no desire to go back to sleep, I huddle under my blankets and make a nest with my pillows. Comfortable and safe from the cold breeze whistling infrom the cracks at my window, which causes my curtains to waft eerily, I bury myself in my phone.
It’s become tradition that the first thing I do is Google my sister’s name, Hailey Byrne. Zero results. I Google every spelling of Byrne I can think of, including typos, but there’s still nothing. Nothing beyond her high school posts on an old Instagram account that’s been dead ever since she vanished. Sold off by my uncle, or worse, killed.
Whatever her fate, the determination to find her is the only thing that’s been driving me since she vanished four years ago. She’s out there somewhere, and my uncle took advantage of my father’s death and her disappearance to oust me from the family. The money and the power, and reclaiming the Byrne criminal empire, pale in comparison with finding my older sister.
She’s all I have left in the world.
I scroll back through her posts until the sun warms my face, and Bobby texts me to invite me around for breakfast, sarcastically commenting that he knows I have nothing in the apartment. Okay, Hailey isn’t the only thing I have in the world, but Bobby’s friendship comes with a sprinkling of guilt.
He stays by my side, and I can’t ever repay him for that kind of loyalty, but each time he’s with me, it means he’s missing out on things with his husband and his son. That’s where the guilt comes in.
It’s not strong enough for me to turn down breakfast, though, and I arrive in time to see Frankie sprinting downstairs with their two-year-old, Thomas, in his arms. “Clover!” He swings an arm around my shoulders and pulls me in for a hug and a kiss when I’m barely through the door. “It’s so good to see you!”