Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 123575 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 618(@200wpm)___ 494(@250wpm)___ 412(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123575 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 618(@200wpm)___ 494(@250wpm)___ 412(@300wpm)
Inside the vehicle, finally hidden from public view, she crumples. Even from this distance, I can see her shoulders shaking with silent sobs, her forehead pressed against the steering wheel. One minute passes. Two. Her raw grief is a private performance I have no right to witness, yet I can’t look away from the damage I’ve inflicted.
Eventually, she straightens, wiping her face with harsh scrubs of her wrists. The engine starts. The car backs out with textbook precision. Lilian always excels at whatever she sets her mind to, even driving with a broken heart.
The girl who arrived brimming with hope and nervously rehearsed declarations is gone. In her place is someone harder, someone already building walls that will never completely come down. I recognize the transformation because I’ve gone through it myself, many times—the hardening of vulnerability into armor. She’ll need to make it harder before the family will be satisfied with her, anyway.
When the taillights finally disappear around the corner, I turn away from the window, the silence of my room suddenly oppressive.
I pick the watch up, my thumb tracing the engraving on the back I hadn’t noticed earlier: For the time we’ve shared and the time to come. – L
The words lance through my walls. She’d planned this gift with such hope, such certainty that her feelings would be returned. And I’d crushed that hope, cut her so deeply she might never risk such vulnerability again.
It was necessary, I tell myself. The only possible response.
The Hayes family destroys what it touches and corrupts what it controls. Father would have weaponized any relationship between us and used it to tighten his grip on both our lives. Used her to control me, used me to hurt her. Better a clean break now than slow destruction later.
But knowledge of necessity doesn’t ease the self-loathing settling over me like it always does. I’ve protected her from my family’s manipulation by manipulating her myself. Saved her from pain by inflicting it directly.
I place the watch in my desk drawer, unable to wear it but equally unable to discard it. It’s a reminder of what might have been in a different world. A reminder of the choice I made to hurt her to save her.
“It was the right decision,” I tell myself, the words hollow even to my own ears.
After today, I know with absolute certainty that Lilian Hayes will never look at me the same way, and perhaps that is the greatest kindness I could offer her—freedom from feelings that could only ever lead to greater pain.
Aries
Graduation Day
The tassel feels foreign between my fingers as I move it from right to left, a symbolic gesture marking the transition from student to graduate. Around me, classmates celebrate with genuine enthusiasm—whooping, hugging, and tossing caps despite the dean’s explicit instructions not to. Their joy feels distant, like I’m observing it through glass.
Bachelor of Business Administration, Summa Cum Laude. Father’s expected path, executed perfectly. The first step in the predetermined march toward Hayes Enterprises, toward the legacy I’m meant to inherit, but increasingly questioning.
“Aries Hayes,” Dean Richards had announced minutes earlier, hand extended with rehearsed congeniality. “Exemplary academic achievement.”
I’d smiled the perfect Hayes smile—practiced and revealing nothing—as I accepted the diploma. Another performance in what feels like a lifetime of them. Despite the incredulous laughter and ribbing of my classmates. I’ve played the brute a little too well if they think I bought my way to this distinction.
Now, navigating through the chaos of post-ceremony crowds, I scan for the familiar grouping waiting precisely where they said they would be. The Hayes family is nothing if not punctual, positioned for maximum visibility and optimal networking opportunities.
I spot them near the central fountain—my father in a tailored suit despite the June heat, my stepmother, Patricia, in a cream dress that probably cost more than some students’ tuition, and slightly behind them stands Lilian.
My steps falter momentarily at the sight of her. At twenty, she’s fully transformed from an awkward teen into a young woman of remarkable poise. Her green dress complements her eyes, and her soft blond hair is styled in loose waves rather than her usual practical arrangement. She’s beautiful in a way that makes me pissed at myself for noticing.
“There he is,” Father announces as I approach, voice carrying just enough to draw attention from nearby families. “The newest Hayes business graduate.”
His hand lands heavily on my shoulder—pride indistinguishable from possession. I endure it as I always do.
“Congratulations, Aries.” Patricia steps forward, social smile perfectly in place. “We’re so proud.”
The platitude rings hollow. We both know her pride extends exactly as far as my achievements reflect well on her position in the family. Still, I return the appropriate smile, accepting the expected cheek kiss.
“Thank you for coming,” I respond, the social script flowing automatically.
“We wouldn’t miss it,” Father says, already scanning the crowd over my shoulder. Networking never stops, even at his son’s graduation. “The Henderson family mentioned their daughter graduated today as well. Investment banking track. We should find them before we leave.” Of course. No moment is complete without a business angle.