Chapter Three: The pact
1591 Words
The wedding happened on Saturday in the estate gardens with twenty people and a string quartet I'm pretty sure cost more than my college fund.
Mom wore ivory lace and cried through her vows. Richard looked at her like she was precious. Ezra showed up in a suit and made everyone during the ceremony and Cole… well he stood as best man and gave a toast about new beginnings even though he looked like he had been threatened with months of allowance if he didn't do it. He didn't look at me once.
I stood in a dress Mom bought specifically for this, smiled for photos, and counted down the hours until I could lock myself in my room.
By Sunday, my boxes were unpacked in a bedroom three times the size of my old one.
Mom and I had moved into the estate that afternoon, our entire lives fitting into six boxes that looked pathetic in rooms the size of our old apartment. She was downstairs with Richard, probably trying to smooth over the dinner disaster. I was trying to find a bathroom in a house with too many hallways and stumbled onto a balcony that jutted off the second-floor library.
I stood there gripping the railing, looking out at gardens and pools and excess, trying to remember how to breathe.
"You've got to be kidding me."
I spun. Cole stood in the library doorway, wearing sweatpants and a Crestwood Football shirt, looking like I'd personally ruined his night.
"Sorry," I said, not meaning it. "I didn't know this was your brooding spot."
"It is. Find your own."
"It's a big house. I'm sure there's room for both of us to brood."
"Not on my balcony, there's not."
The sheer entitlement of it lit something in my chest. "Your balcony? Pretty sure your dad married my mom, which makes this our house now."
Cole's jaw tightened. "Don't."
"Don't what? State facts?"
"Don't pretend this is anything other than what it is."
"And what's that?"
He stepped onto the balcony, and I hated how close he was and how much space he took up. "A transaction. Your mom locks down a rich husband, you get to graduate from Crestwood without drowning in debt, everyone wins. Just don't expect me to play along with the happy family bullshit."
I laughed coldly. "You think I wanted my mom to marry some guy she barely knows and move us into his ridiculous mansion with his asshole sons? Think again."
"Then why didn't you stop her?"
"Because she's a grown woman who makes her own choices!
Because maybe she actually likes your father! Because not everyone is as cynical and damaged as you!"
"Damaged?" Cole moved closer, and I refused to step back.
“Did I stutter?”
“You know that's rich coming from the girl whose dad bailed before she was born."
His words hit me in one of my weakest spots and I felt it in my chest.
"f**k you, Cole.”
"Very classic.”
"No, seriously. f**k you, Cole Harrington. You don't know anything about me or my life or why my mom makes the choices she makes. You just assume everyone wants your money because that's all you have that's worth anything."
Pain flickered across his face but he buried it under layers of anger.
"Get off my balcony."
"Make me."
We stood there, two feet apart, breathing hard. The night air was cold, but I felt overheated burning with rage.
"This isn't going to work," Cole said finally. "Living here together…"
"So what are you going to do? Run to daddy to intervene?”
"Oh, please. We are going to set grounded rules."
I blinked. "Rules?"
"I will stay out of your way, and you stay out of mine and you better not say a word about this to anyone at school. You'll have to be civil in front of our parents but please, I beg you in the name of God, avoid me for the rest of the time."
"Trust me, avoiding you will be my pleasure."
"Good." He pulled out his phone. "Give me your number."
"Why?"
"So I can tell you when I'm in common areas and you can avoid them."
The pettiness of it was almost impressive. I typed my number, watched him save it as "Witch"
"Great," I said. "Anything else, or can I go back to trying to figure out which of the fifteen bathrooms is supposed to be mine?"
"One more thing." Cole's eyes met mine, cold and direct. "Don't get comfortable here. This marriage won't last. My father has a pattern—he falls fast and loses interest even faster, I am even surprised this one made it to marriage. Just give it six months and your mom will be the third ex-wife with a nice settlement."
The cruelty of his words stole my breath.
"You're a miserable sadist,” I said quietly. "And I feel so sorry for you."
"Save your pity. You're going to need it when this falls apart."
He walked back inside, leaving me alone on his balcony with shaking hands and tears I refused to let fall.
I went inside my room, locked the door and cried into my pillow until I heard footsteps in the hallway.
"Maren?" Mum knocked softly. "Can we talk?"
"I'm tired."
"Please, sweetheart. I know tonight was hard—"
"Hard? This is horrific."
The place was silent for a while.
"Richard talked to Cole, he apologized."
"To you. Not to me."
"He will tomorrow, Richard promised."
I stared at the ceiling. "Why are you doing this? Really?"
"Because I love him." Her voice was quiet through the door. "I know it's fast and it looks bad. But Maren, I've been alone since your father left, and Richard makes me feel—"
"Happy?"
"Seen."
The word settled like weight.
"I don't want this," I said.
"I know. But please, just give them a chance? Trust me this once."
I thought about Cole's face, the venom in his voice and the way he looked at me like I was something dirty. But mum sounded calmer than she had in years.
"I'll try," I said with determination.
I pulled out my phone and opened my anonymous book review account as mum retreated. It had fifty thousand followers who knew me as @PageTurnerMaren and trusted my opinions on everything from romance to literary fiction.
I started typing.
Just finished "Forbidden Hearts" and I'm furious. This book romanticizes every toxic dynamic—power imbalances, forced proximity, enemies-to-lovers that's really just abuse with s****l tension. The stepsibling angle? Absolute garbage. These aren't complicated feelings, they're completely INAPPROPRIATE and slapping "forbidden love" on it doesn't make it romance. It makes it gross. 1/5 stars and I want my time back.
I hit post and watched the likes roll in.
Across the hall, I heard Cole's door close.
Five minutes later, my phone beeped and I eagerly picked it thinking it was another comment from my post but it was a text from the devil himself.
Cole: Kitchen, now.
Who the f**k did he think he was to boss me around?
Me: Why?
I stared at my phone and saw the three dancing dots pop up meaning he was typing.
Cole: We need to talk about the deal.
Perfect bait. He knew that would make me go. I pulled on a sweatshirt, wore my slippers and padded downstairs. The house was dark except for the kitchen where Cole sat at the island with a glass of water.
"What?" I said from the doorway but he just typed something furiously on his phone.
The whole thing was draining and maybe offering a hand of friendship would make it easier so I walked fully into the kitchen and stood under the full light.
“I know how frustrating it is for you being stuck living with someone you think is a leech. It must be so hard for you."
"Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Act like you're the only one whose life got ruined by this marriage."
Typical Cole. There's no way there would be peace between the both of us. If this was the vibe he wanted, I would absolutely match it up.
"Ruined? You live in a mansion with a trust fund the size of a small country's GDP. Trust me, your life isn't ruined. "
"But it was better," he fired back. "Before my father married your mother and added to the number of people on his monthly check."
"No one asked him to do anything."
“Being married to your mother typically requires that of him. I've seen it happen before." Cole's voice trembled a little. "Twice. My father got married, we accepted the women and even started getting used to them and then he got bored when reality didn't match the fantasy and discarded them. So I can assure you, your mum won't be the last."
The cruelty of it and the casual certainty made my chest hurt.
"You're wrong about this one."
"Am I? Or are you just desperate to believe this works out?"
"f**k you."
"You keep saying that, you should find a new mantra already. I am getting bored of this one."
My eyes burned through his skin and he glared back across the kitchen island. Suddenly, the hatred between us felt solid enough to feel in my hand
I heard footsteps down the hall and as I turned in the direction, I caught Cole turning through my side eyes too.
- Writer
