Chapter 9

Lyra watched me carefully from the couch as I paced around my living room, impatient and huffy. I glanced at her, catching her look away quickly with guilt.
“What’re you staring at?” I sneered.
She shrugged, “I’ve just…never seen you this, uh…this frazzled before.”
“What do you mean by that?” My tone was challenging.
“Clearly you want this situation to pan out a certain way,” she said. I gave her a pointed look. When did I ever not want something to go my way? Lyra shook her head and continued, “Lilith, I know you’re not doing this with Suzan’s best interest at heart.”
“Of course, I am!”
“You want Cristo,” she deadpanned. “I see you swinging like a pendulum when it comes to him, unable to decide your feelings. But honestly, your actions speak far louder. You don’t want to push him away anymore.”
I glared at her, trying to swallow my guilt and pride down because – sadly – she was right on the money.
She threw me a knowing look, “I just want to know what changed.”
Turning away from her, I pleaded with my body to calm the flashes of heat erupting under my skin. The morning he’d come around to talk, the way he stared at me so sadly, his fingers under my chin…that was all it took to bring those memories back that felt so far away before that. It felt like Cristo and I had been stuck in some kind of purgatory for years now, unrelenting and monotonous.
How did things get so bad between us?
It was clear that whilst I had been keeping Cristo at a distance, he had also sabotaged our chances in his own way. If I thought I had issues then Cristo’s were a minefield. And suddenly, things started to feel impossible. The warmth of his memory was replaced by a cold blast that had me wrapping my arms around myself, shoulders hunching as tears pricked in my eyes.
“Lilith,” she called to me gently as she got closer. “Hey now, don’t be so hard on yourself.”
“We…” I sniffled, “we’re just not going to happen, are we?”
“I can’t say I’m optimistic about it,” she said in a low, soothing voice, putting an arm around my shoulders. “What do you think keeps you from truly letting him in?”
“Just that…” my voice quivered, “he can’t even fight for himself so…he can’t possibly fight for me, you know? It’s hard to find someone that isn’t easy to leave or forget about.”
“And he’s the one you can’t let go of.”
I nodded. She held me tighter and placed her cheek on my shoulder, and it was the most comforting thing I’d gotten all week. “Get some rest,” she advised firmly. “We won’t know what moves to make until tomorrow, so you might as well save all the energy you can for it, yeah?”
I nodded and wiped my cheek of the lone tear that had trickled out. Lyra offered to stay the night, so I prepped the guest room for her and went off to sleep.
 
The next day was quiet. The lights were too bright as usual, and I stumbled around to pull the curtains together. My feet automatically led me into the kitchen where I made breakfast for two. Lyra washed up and sat on the kitchen island, still in her pajamas as she offered to do some of the work. I only shook my head.
“Think of this as me repaying you,” I said. “You take good care of me.”
“I know,” she smiled cheekily. “I like to think I would’ve been a good hospice nurse.”
“Yeah?” I chuckled. “I can imagine that. You’ve got the personality for it. How come you never went into nursing?”
“Being your secretary is better paid,” she said bluntly. I laughed and shook my head, but it was true. I did pay her a lot and kept increasing above the national average each year. Lyra worked just as hard as I did, if not more. Plus, she deserved the bonuses for keeping me sane. I just wish I could take her on a trip with me, but that would require having staff as competent as she was to cover us both.
We had a quiet breakfast with the occasional comment thrown in the air, and I felt calmer than I’d been in a long while.
I wished days like this could last forever. No men, no drama, just two friends hanging out together with nothing but their work to worry about.
“I’ve been stalling on this, so like…” Lyra drawled lazily waving a piece of her egg on her fork. “what’s on your agenda for today?”
“Too scared to touch my phone to check the messages, to be honest,” I sighed.
“You might want to because I heard it going off a lot in your room.”
“Give me a little bit longer,” I groaned and proceeded to stuff my face quickly. There was only so much I could do at once, and I was trying to stretch out this nice pocket of peace we were having. Lyra offered to clear the table and shooed me away.
I found myself on my bed, nervous and held in place by the bright screen. It had a notification from fifteen minutes ago.
We need to talk.
It was Suzan.
Knowing this wasn’t going to end well, I fled into the bathroom to wash up and get ready to leave. Lyra must’ve heard me bustling around because she peeked inside with an expectant look on her face.
“Should I go start the car?”
“Yeah, I’ll be down in a minute,” I huffed while applying my mascara. Whatever the emergency may be, I couldn’t afford to look disheveled as a matchmaker. Especially not with high profile clients like Suzan and Cristo.
I couldn’t afford to look bad, especially in front of Cristo. Not after the way he was with me yesterday. Something was in there. I wasn’t sure what, but I knew that he was willing to hear me out. I just needed to create the right environment for us without professional and personal compromise.
That meant that I needed to get Suzan to step out of this marriage of her own volition. I couldn’t deal with Blair right now because eradicating that problem would mean a smooth sailing for Cristo and Suzan to get closer.
He and I both knew that’s not what we wanted. As much as it sucked to be playing the hero for someone like Cristo, I was still willing to do it. It’s not like I hadn’t been other people’s cupids. If I could go to great lengths for my clients, then why not for myself?
At this point, there was nothing stopping me. I was getting sick and tired of all the games rich people played. It was too much to try to protect myself anymore without risking my sanity. Perhaps…
Perhaps I was ready to risk it all.
“Lyra…” I breathed, clutching my phone as I sat inside the car, “I have a feeling you might need to start looking for a new job.”
She burst out laughing, “First of all, we’re not going down that easily. Secondly, I’ve saved up enough to live comfortably for a good few years. That’s plenty of time to build ourselves back up elsewhere.”
“You really won’t give up on me?” I smiled at her. She only rolled her eyes playfully.
“Trust me, there were plenty of times I almost did. I’m glad I stuck around though.”
With that, she stepped on the gas and we sped towards Suzan’s place.
 
For some reason, it felt loud. Like there were voices coming through the walls faintly, and it only got clearer as we neared Suzan’s door. There was a commotion going inside quite literally and even these walls weren’t thick enough to drown it out. Lyra and I gave each other a look of confusion before pressing the door-bell.
The butler answered, looking sheepish as the cacophony of voices grew louder.
“What’s going on?” Lyra whispered.
“We need an intervention,” the butler sounded panicked. “Suzan decided to pull out of the engagement. The parents on both sides are displeased and…and Mr. Cristo won’t do or say anything.”
I pushed past the doors and rushed into the living room, squaring my shoulders and setting a scowl on my face to ready myself for anything to be thrown my way.
“This is a hasty decision!” Mr Abrahms cried out. “Suzan, think about your children’s future!”
“I literally have no children,” Suzan pleaded with head in her hands.
Selene tutted, fingers on the bridge of her nose, “I don’t understand the sudden change in your mind when things were going so well! Why won’t you tell us the truth?”
“I don’t want to be with him,” Suzan stated firmly. “Is that not enough for anyone? Is my intuition not a good enough reason? Cristo and I…all of this, it’s just happening too quickly!”
“We’re not even making you sign the prenup!” John insisted. “Right, Cristo?”
“I don’t need anyone’s money in any kind of settlement!” Suzan sounded almost offended. “You’re getting us married all for the wrong reasons. I shouldn’t have been so naïve. This wasn’t about finding me true love, it was about money!”
“Now, Suzan, darling…” Selene reached out towards her with a delicate hand. Coming to rest on the young woman’s shoulder, Selene gave her a sympathetic look. “I promise you that once you have that security and peace of mind, love happens. After all, it is a privilege to have such a thing.”
“I would like all of you to quiet down and take a seat,” I commanded, my voice ringing throughout the room with so much power that I even surprised myself. The Abrahms and Alexakis-Carons turned to me, looking surprised and dumbfounded.
“Why can’t you be like her?” Mrs. Abrahms turned to her daughter.
I gasped, “How rude! Your daughter’s a perfectly wonderful person in her own right. Now, sit down!”
Lyra grabbed my arm and I could see her lips pulled into a line as she tried not to laugh at the elders scurrying around quickly to sit. I felt like a school principal walking into a classroom of toddlers.
“Now,” I breathed, “can someone please explain how we have found ourselves in this situation?”
“Suzan wants to end things,” Cristo said blankly. “Things are moving too fast.”
“Again, for all the wrong reasons,” Suzan clarified firmly, giving me a knowing look. I suddenly understood what this was really about.
I’d won.
“Mr and Mrs Abrahms, it’s against my policy to facilitate a relationship where any party clearly does not consent.”
Their mouths moved like fish out of water, “B-but we–”
“I do, however, guarantee full protection over a client under dire circumstances,” I threatened. “The world’s changed, people. And you all have enough money to live off on your own.”
“We’ll just find someone else to make this work!” Mrs. Abrahms announced. I only smirked at her, which elicited a look of intimidated discomfort from her.
“You think you can just waltz into any matchmaker’s office after you’ve graced mine?” I challenged her. “The best of the best are slated to work right under my gaze, Mrs. Abrahms. Just like you people, I’ve worked to not only become the best in my field, but also to exclusively work with them.”
Cristo finally looked up at me from his sunken daze, eyes wide with confusion, awe, and wonder as he tried to process what I was saying.
“You…you mean…” he breathed.
I nodded, “That’s right. We’re going to make sure the marriages that take place in future last in more ways than just money. And I’m sorry that even now your daughter isn’t enough for you, but her word is important to me. If she doesn’t consent to this marriage, I will ensure it will never, ever happen.”
There was silence in the air as everyone looked around, at each other, and then down at their own hands. There was only so much power people had, even with all the money they did. The power of having close ties with people was stronger, especially when the rich relied on people like us to shape the future of their genealogy and money.
“Very well…” Selene sighed and got up. “Perhaps it was too brash to force our son to marry someone within such short notice, anyway. I give up.”
John got up with her, wordless and just as deflated. It surprised me to see how easily they had backed off. It made no sense. Was this the first time they had experienced someone else stand up for their son? And that someone was not even in their elite circle.
How shallow. They really couldn’t risk their reputation as a respectable couple by acting any other way though.
Cristo followed after them, eyes glazed over in some kind of disbelief. He passed by me silently, his fingers reaching out to brush the back of my hand.
I shuddered at his touch, immediately craving more of him but I knew I had to keep myself together. The worst of it had just passed, but it wasn’t going to get better quite yet.