"What do you mean they retracted their partnership?"

Mum was squeezing the life out of her throw pillow by now, tears falling down her face as she shook her head like she couldn't believe it. Dad paced from one end of the room to the other and I just stood there with a numb mind.

"The letter came in town days ago, signed by the CEO of Grants and Co." Dad drew out a bitter laugh, one I'd never heard from him before. "Ring a bell."

It did. It rung so many bells.

But why? How could James stoop so low? I thought we had a deal? I thought never go back on his words? Guess I didn't know this new him very well.

Mum looked up at me before her gaze flickered to my dad and back to me. "I thought we were fine. Now..." She drew a shaky breath, small sobs erupting from the back of her throat. "Now we've lost everything. Everything is ruined!" She said the last part in a small whisper that had my heart shattering.

How could he do this?

Dad ran a hand through his hair. He'd discarded his suit onto the table in the living room somewhere at the beginning of this conversation. Strands of greying hair stood out amongst the mop of brown on his head.

"ARCane is crumbling. In the past two days we've had to refund The Grants their money and considering the business was already dropping before they decided to help, this put us in a position that's way lower than square one." He paused and exhaled, swearing under his breath. Dad never swore. He was a pretty collected man. Until now, that is. "I should have never let you ask that boy for help."

"I thought he'd solve our problems for sure, but he went and made it a hundred times worse!" Mum had quickly gone from silent to shouting. A vein pulsated in her neck. "How dare he?"

"I'll go see him tomorrow. Give him a piece of my mind," Dad threatened, wagging his index finger in front of the both of us. "He thinks he's wrecked us, right? He thinks he's better than us. What does he even stand to gain from all of this?"

Mum got up from where she was seated suddenly, gaze fixed on me standing in the corner. "This is your fault, Avery. We asked you to talk to James in the first place to right the wrong you'd done."

I suppressed a gasp by biting the inside of my cheek. "And I did. That was until I found out that all he wanted all this time was revenge!"

"And what did you do this time? Huh?" She took a threatening step towards me, her deep frown in place. Like she was ready to fry me. "If not for you and your inability to stay faithful to him, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"This isn't my mess, mum," I seethed, glaring at her. "It's yours. And you tried to push your responsibility onto my shoulders in the name of family! I had to endure the worst kind of punishment for my actions and I've dealt with my own problems so far. Why don't you do the same and leave me the fuck out of it."

"Avery, do not use that tone on your mother," dad warned.

I turned to him sharply. "You never wished me happy birthday on any of my birthdays. Just sent gifts and expected everything to be fine! When my appendix ruptured, you got to the hospital ten hours after the surgery had been done. You never ask me how school was going. You're only concerned about my grades in business admin because you want me to take over the business after you. And you acted like I didn't even exist until ARCane began to crumble and you needed my help. And I did help. I talked to my ex just for you. Got into a fake relationship with him, endured the hurt and emotional trauma all over again all for the stupid business that you care about more than your own child!"

I stopped to draw in a trembling breath. My whole body shook with each inhale. "So don't tell me about all the things I've done wrong because I've suffered enough for them. I think it's time you owned up to your own shit for once like good parents."

There were tears streaming down the sides of my face. Both my parents stood speechless in front of me, stunned to silence. The only audible thing in the room was the sound of my unsteady breath and erratic heartbeat.

I averted my gaze from my parents, sniffling. Wondering if I'd taken it too far. My voice was croaky when I spoke. "I'll go see James tomorrow. I won't try to convince him to help ARCane again but I will give him a piece of my mind on your behalf, Dad." I caught Dad's gaze and held it. "I'm going to tell him that he no longer has control over me or my family. I'm going to tell him that he can go rot in hell for all I care.

"I have nothing left to lose anyways. He can do his worst."

Grants and Co. brought back many unpleasant memories, one of them being the real reason why James and I broke up. That was why I swore to never come in contact with the twelve-storey building ever again.

Yet, I stood in the reception of Grants and Co, eyeing the receptionist who kept giving me a suspicious look.

"Do you have and appointment, Avery?" she asked me.

"I don't. I was asked to come here," I lied with a straight face, using one of my sneaker-clad feet to scratch the other's shin. "By James-Jameson Grant."

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Oh, sure then. You can go right up. I'll inform him that you're here when he gets back from his lunch break."

"He's not in his office?"

"He just stepped back, he should be back soon though." She furrowed her brows at me but maintained her friendly smile. "You still remember the way to his office, right?"

I pinched my lips together and nodded. And with a small thank you, I dashed to the elevators, thankful for the work ethic that kept the worker's here away from each other's personal lives. The Grants called it the "parallel rule". It stated that you work and personal life do not mix.

But I was sure some workers still gossiped.

Whatever. I guess sitting at the front desk kept you away from the gist in the company.

The receptionist began saying, "oh. Miss Camden, there's-" but was cut off when the elevator doors rolled closed and the boring elevator music kicked up.

I rubbed my hands together wondering how it'd gotten so cold. Or maybe it was the jitters from what I was about to do. Confront James. Be in the same room as James.

Why was I doing this again?

The elevator dinged and the doors rolled open when we got to the last floor. I stepped out and headed towards my destination with sharp calculated steps.

The small voice in my head kept telling me how much of a bad idea this was but there was an even louder voice. The reassurance ran through my veins. It pulsated with each heartbeat. I wasn't going to keep running. I was going to tell James exactly how he'd wrecked my family. I was going to make him regret it. Maybe even land a punch or two.

I took an exhale, holding a hand over the doorknob to James office. It was the only one on this floor. The words "CEO" were engraved onto a golden tag and slapped onto the top of the door.

This was it. No more running. No more cowering.

I twisted the knob and opened the door, ready with my onslaught of curse words.

However, everything got stuck somewhere between my windpipe and lungs when I saw who was in the office. It wasn't James.

Mr. Grant's lips spread into a wide smile that I found very sinister. He stood up from where he sat on one of the sofas to the left of the room and started towards me. Slowly.

My blood boiled. The cause of all my problems. He was standing right in front of me.

"Miss Camden." His gaze zeroed in on mine and he stopped walking, tucking one of his hands into his pocket. His smile turned to a grin. "I didn't think I'd see you again."