“What truth? I thought I heard everything that needed to be said,” I said.
Adam laughed.
“There’s a reason I never tell the story. It’s still a bit of a bitter pill to swallow. But I’ll tell you how things really went down.”
Adam walked in and started sifting through Zach’s kitchen, preparing a couple of things to eat while talking.
“We both fought over the same woman, but really there wasn’t much of a fight. She was my high school sweetheart. I was about to propose to her before this gentleman here decided to woo her away from me. It’s a funny thing, isn’t it? He has that soulful and vulnerable attitude when it suits him.
“So, when I finally fight for her and win her back from Zach, he starts pushing me out of the company. When I finally start pushing back, I get a note from her saying that she regrets leaving Zach in the first place. I was devastated for a second time.
“I was glad when Zach turned her down. It just let her see herself for what she truly was. Isn’t that right, Zach?”
Zach stood there, silent. I was so ambivalent.
“Adam, you are the worst person I know. You found yourself attracted to your own stepsister, and only a day later you were sleeping with her. Don’t turn this one on me because it didn’t go in your favor,” Zach said.
“Yeah, well, don’t think I’ll let you get away with ruining another girl’s life with your emotional shortsightedness,” Adam rebutted.
I’d had enough of listening to their fighting.
“Both of you, shut it,” I said.
The stopped shouting at each other and turned toward me. I felt like an idiot. I felt used, and most of all I felt drained, both emotionally and physically.
I grabbed my heels from the floor and straightened my black dress from the other night.
“You two deserve each other,” I started. “And would you like to know why? You’re both terrible people. You feed off the emotions of others and sow discord. That’s always been my problem with people that have too much money and not enough brains.
“This girl you guys fought over made her own decisions. She loved both of you and couldn’t make a choice. I should know how that feels, because I just spent the last two days in the exact same situation.
“Two incredibly gorgeous men were entertaining a girl, whom until this point hadn’t really felt like much. I’m the result of enough failed relationships ending poorly, and for once I thought something might work out. Then I realized that you’re both my new brothers and that there’s absolutely no way this could work out in the slightest.
“I love you both, but I can’t deal with your bickering and attempts to one-up each other. Your old girlfriend and fiancée made her choice, and in the end she found it best to just leave both of you for good. You’re both poison. And if either of you could see that, then maybe you’d realize that she made the right choice.”
I stormed off toward the elevator. Neither of them made any attempt to stop me, even when I stood there for a moment, awkwardly waiting for the elevator to arrive.
I had business with their father, and he had to know what was going on with his sons. I felt it was only right that he should hear it from his new daughter.
7.
I rushed to the office after taking a moment to straighten myself up at my apartment. I knew Tom wouldn’t want to wait long for me to speak my piece.
I caught up with him in the lobby of his head office, surrounded by more than one assistant trying to shuffle papers into his face for him to sign.
“Liz!” he shouted, pushing past his group.
He reached out and pulled me into a fatherly hug.
“How was your weekend? I heard you spent some time with your brothers,” he said.
I let out a laugh of embarrassment. If only he knew.
“You said you had some paperwork for me to look over,” I said, changing the subject.
“Of course.” Without looking, an assistant shoved a stack of papers into his hand, which he handed straight to me.
I took them and looked over the contract. From my initial investigation, he appeared ready to pay me a rather sizeable sum to do the job. I wanted to sign right there and start right away, but something nagged at the back of my mind.
I thrust the papers back at him.
“Can we talk in private for a little while?” I asked.
Tom held a hand up, and the crowd around him dispersed.
“Let’s talk in my office,” he said.
He led me down the banks of elevators to the private one in the back. It thrust us straight to the top of the building and his personal office.
“Tell me, what’s on your mind,” he started.
“I really want this job,” I said, “but I can’t work with Adam and Zach.”
He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.
“Why is that, if I may ask?”
“I got to know them this weekend,” I said.