Chapter 48
Nora's POV
I arrived at the café ten minutes early, choosing a seat by the window.
The café door chimed. I looked up to see Victoria stride in like she owned the place.
Without any pleasantries, she slid into the seat across from me with the air of a benefactor granting an audience to a subject.
I met her gaze directly. "Mrs. Vaughn. What do you want?"
Her lips thinned, clearly displeased by my lack of deference. "I need you to do something. Go see Kyle."
I let out a short, harsh laugh. "See him? Are you fucking kidding me?"
"I need you to be reasonable—"
"Reasonable?" I cut her off, my voice flat. "About the eighty-seven thousand. I'll pay it back. Every cent. But that doesn't mean I owe you anything else."
Her face flushed. "Pay it back? With what, your pathetic salary of what, forty-five thousand? Do you have any idea how much Kyle has spent on you?"
"Those were his choices." I forced myself to hold her stare. "I never asked him to pay for my mother's treatment. I didn't even know about it."
"Didn't ask?" Victoria's laugh was cold and sharp. "You didn't have to. You just made sure he saw how devoted you were to your poor sick mother, how noble and self-sacrificing. And my idiot son couldn't resist playing hero because he loves you."
The word 'loves' hung in the air between us like a weapon.
"And now you're just going to abandon him?" she continued, her voice rising. "After everything he's done for you?"
"Abandon him?" My fingers tightened around the coffee cup. "He's the one who betrayed me first, Mrs. Vaughn."
Victoria shed all her arrogance, and her voice began to crack in a way I'd never heard before. "Nora. He's been on a hunger strike for seven days. Seven days! If this continues, he'll die. Do you understand that?"
The words hit me like ice water. My mind flashed back to the scene of Kyle trying to win me back, the desperation in his voice when he'd grabbed my wrist. "I'll prove it to you, Nora. Give me one more chance. My mom's just being controlling, but if I'm more determined than her, she'll have to agree to let us be together. I'll show you with my actions!"
I'd thought it was just another manipulation tactic. Another empty promise.
"So he's starving himself to blackmail you?" I said slowly. "To force you to accept us being together?"
Victoria's jaw clenched, but she didn't deny it.
For a moment, neither of us spoke. I could feel the familiar weight of guilt trying to settle on my shoulders—if he dies, it'll be your fault—but I pushed it away. This wasn't my responsibility. This was the Vaughn family's toxic power struggle playing out, and I refused to become another pawn in their game.
Victoria took a shaky breath, and when she spoke again, her tone had shifted to something softer, almost conciliatory. "I've agreed. I've agreed to you being together."
I went very still. "You've agreed? You're calling off the alliance with the Taylor girl?"
Her eyes slid away from mine. "The alliance stands. Business is business. But you and Kyle can continue seeing each other. I won't interfere anymore."
The world seemed to tilt. For a second, I couldn't process what she was saying. Then it all clicked into place with sickening clarity.
"You want me to be his mistress," I said flatly. "He marries the Taylor girl to consolidate the family business, and I get to sleep with him in secret. Is that the solution you're offering?"
"I'm offering you a solution—"
"A solution?" I could hear my voice rising but couldn't stop it. "You're asking me to be his kept woman in the shadows while he plays happy family with someone else for the cameras?"
Victoria's composure crumbled further. As I started to rise, she suddenly stood and reached across to grab the strap of my messenger bag. "Please! Nora, just listen to me!"
I'd never heard her say 'please' before. The word sounded so foreign coming from her mouth.
"Just go see him," she said, her voice trembling now. "Just once. Make one phone call. Tell him to eat something. Tell him to stop this. He listens to you. He's always listened to you!"
I looked down at her manicured fingers clutching my bag, then up at her face. This woman who'd called me a gold-digger, who'd tried to teach me a lesson in the woods—she was begging me now. Her eyes were red-rimmed and desperate, and for the first time since I'd met her, she looked old.
"Mrs. Vaughn," I said quietly, "Kyle isn't doing this because of me. It's because your family taught him that love is something to be traded for power and money. This is his way of fighting back against you. It's a struggle between mother and son. It has nothing to do with me."
"How can you be so cold!" Victoria's voice broke. "He's doing this for you! He became like this because of you!"
"Kyle and I broke up normally," I said, each word deliberate. "And he's the one who betrayed me first."
"Aren't you afraid I'll make trouble for your aunt's family?" Victoria asked, her jaw tight as she suppressed her anger.
"You wouldn't dare!"
"What wouldn't I dare!" Victoria stared at me. "If something happens to Kyle, I might be capable of anything!"
I pulled my bag free from her grip and headed for the door. I didn't say yes. I didn't say no. I just needed to get out of that café before the walls closed in completely.
Victoria called after me, but I didn't turn around.
Outside, the cold air hit my face like a slap. I made it half a block before I had to stop.
I closed my eyes. Took a deep breath. Then another. Some small part of me—the part that had loved Kyle once, or thought I had—felt a flicker of concern. A flicker of guilt.