The Chosen One (24 page)

“Do you really think you can be with a girl whose mother was a whore?”

“She wasn’t a whore,” I spat.

“Mistress, whore, the other woman‌—‌none of it will look good. We’ve cultivated your narrative since before you were born, Ainsley. We’ve conducted focus tests on so many scenarios. Maya was never in the equation. There are plenty of other girls‌—‌respectable girls. I’ve already got my eye on three potential‌—‌”

“You can’t force me to love someone else!”

A bark of laughter exploded from her chest, surprising the hell out of me because I didn’t think she had that much energy left. “I’m not asking you to love anyone. Marriage and love…” She waved away the connection between the two like she was swatting away a bothersome gnat.

“What made you this way?” I asked.

My grandmother flinched slightly. “Don’t be impertinent.”

“I’m not. I want to understand. You’ve been controlling all of our lives for decades now. What gave you that power?”

Her smile suggested an evilness I hadn’t considered. “You don’t get it. I don’t need anyone’s permission, and you’re ignoring that this family would be nowhere without me.”

“Only if we let you.”

“What would you do without me? My connections? My money?” Her voice was getting stronger. I was clearly pressing the right buttons, or the wrong ones.

“And if I don’t want your connections or your money, what then?” I crossed my arms, not out of defiance, just to still my shaking body.

“Oh, you silly girl! You think you have life all figured out. You’re just like your father. He stood there once, telling me he was in love. He did as he was told.”

“I’m not my father. I’m not my mother. And I’m sure as hell not you.”

“But you are a Carmichael.” She stood shakily and ambled toward me, the tap of her cane accompanying each step. Stretching out bony fingers, she gripped my jaw. “You have a decision to make. Maya or me.”

I winced, surprised by the strength of her fingers, her nails digging into my flesh.

Then I smiled. She mirrored my smile, sure I was going to make the right choice. “I choose both.”

To her credit, Grandmother didn’t scream. She stood there, leaning on her cane, with a look in her eyes I’d never seen before. I wish I could say she looked beaten, but that would be a lie. Her wily brain was busily plotting against me, and I almost thumped my chest and said, “Bring it, old woman.”

“And how do you think that’ll work?”

“Because you need me as much as I need you. I’m the Chosen One, remember? I’m the one you’ve been grooming.”

“As simple as that, you think you can make demands of me?”

“I’d rather we work together. Times are changing, Grandmother. Wake up. People are coming after this family, and if we’re not smart, they’ll win.”

She cackled. “Little Ainsley thinks she’s holding the winning hand. When are you going to learn I can make you or break you? I don’t work with you or anyone.” She dismissed me with a nod of her head. “Think about it.”

***

Fiona stood outside Grandmother’s door.

“Have you been out here the whole time?” I straightened my shirt.

She nodded. “How’d it go?”

When she saw my face, she strode over, gave me one of her curt nods, and said, “Well, now. And then there was only us.”

I started to protest, saying this was my fight, but her palm in the air made it clear.

My cell rang. Ham. Before I could say hello, my brother said, “I take it I should come over to The Cottage.”

“That’s sweet of you, but I don’t think that would be wise. Grandmother is on the warpath.”

“Probably not. But I’m coming anyway. I have to meet this Maya.” I could feel the smile in his voice. “Besides, I have some information.” He hung up before I could register another complaint.

“Circling the wagons around the new leader,” Fiona said to no one in particular.

I didn’t like the sound of it. Ham wasn’t Grandmother, but he was still power hungry. And if Chuck had been on her payroll the entire time, what did that mean about Tess and Rita?

***

Ham arrived with more information about the Twitter-bombing of our family. Apparently, a website claiming responsibility had popped up overnight. According to the site, the Carmichaels were filled with dykes (me), heroin addicts (Rory), chinks (Mei), adulterers (Mom and Uncle Owen), druggies (Fiona), and my personal fave, witches. At first, I supposed they meant Grandmother, but the photographer had snapped an image of my sister in her judge’s robes and mistaken her for a practicing sorceress. Even my super-serious and uptight sister giggled when she heard that news. She wasn’t bothered enough by her Web image to consider flying home.

Edward Gibbon didn’t stop with the living Carmichaels, either. A litany of accusations about deceased Carmichaels and questions about Uncle Liam’s disappearance had been published on the site as well. Pretty much every Carmichael disgrace had been smeared all over the Web. I cringed at the thought of how many people were viewing the Cassidy video, which was prominently displayed on the home page.

The name of the website was clear:
The Fall of the Carmichael Reign.
Given the amount of dirt they’d dug up, the title wasn’t far off the mark. But why now?

My mind skittered to Maya and Eckley.

Chapter Twenty

Pat pulled up in front of The Cottage in his beat-up Volvo with a bewildered-looking Agnes and Maya in the back. What would they think of me and of my family now? All they’d wanted was to fly under the radar, and today Maya’s photo was smeared all over the Internet. I sighed. Fiona rubbed my back before shoving me out the door to greet them.

“Thanks,” I told her over my shoulder, “for keeping it real.”

She smiled sheepishly. “Right now, it isn’t about you. Remember that.”

I dipped my head in shame. She was right, as usual. No feeling sorry for myself. Now that Maya’s photo was out there, investigative journalists and bloggers wouldn’t let her be. The truth would come out. Maya would never be a nobody again, and it was my fault.

Agnes stepped out of the car first, grinning when her eyes landed on me. “There you are!” She embraced me, and all the tension melted from my body.

Maya, still in her work clothes, was standing next to her, but she gave no indication she was relieved to see me. “Shell-shocked” was the word that came to mind when I stared into her glassy gray eyes.

“It’s going to be okay,” Agnes reassured us both.

“You aren’t mad?” I asked.

Agnes waved the idea away. “You can’t control the nutjobs in this world. The only person you are responsible for is you. Remember that, or you’ll drive yourself crazy.”

Oh, how I wished Grandmother had heard that. She, of course, would have wholeheartedly disagreed.

Out of the corner of my eye, I observed Pat whisk Fiona into a hug, clearly putting their relationship woes aside. She bent her head and snuggled into his chest, relieved to be in his arms. Witnessing the tenderness between the two of them made my heart ache. I could see them always having each other, while Maya and I…

I returned my gaze to Maya, but I was again met with no emotion.

Since 2003, Maya had done everything right. She had avoided the Internet and social media and she didn’t have a cell phone‌—‌she’d made it her life’s mission to go unnoticed. Then I’d entered the picture, and now she’d never be free again.

***

Fiona grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the kitchen in The Cottage. Ham had transformed the house into the headquarters for damage control. “You have to talk to them.”

“I was just talking with Agnes when you manhandled me out of the room.” I massaged my arm.

“No, I mean you have to tell Maya and Agnes that you know.”

“Know what?” I feigned innocence, but the meaning behind her words hit me like a tsunami. My throat closed, and I gasped for breath.

“If they hear about it from someone else, it won’t be good.”

“Who here would tell?” I knew the answer, but I couldn’t admit it to myself.

Fiona cocked her head and then shook it in disbelief.

“Okay, okay. I’ll tell them.”

“Now! You need to tell them
now
. I’ll send them to you in the library.” Before I could stop her, Fiona left. Within moments, Maya and Agnes entered the room where I was nervously flipping the pages of a dictionary on a stand.

Maya looked even more perplexed and angry than she had when she’d arrived, and Agnes… well, she looked like Agnes‌—‌full of love. I watched her take in the wall-to-wall books, the fancy library ladders, and plush leather chairs and couches. It was a paradise for booklovers, and it made her eyes widen in amazement.

“Hiya!” I wanted to kick myself for being such an ass. Like that would that make everything all right.
Come on, Ainsley. Pull it together.

From the look on Maya’s face, my hiya had definitely hit the wrong chord.

“Why don’t the two of you have a seat?” I motioned to a leather couch. They sat facing me, not speaking. Even Agnes’s smile had been replaced with a befuddled frown. Standing behind a couch opposite them, I felt farther away from Maya than I would have if I were talking to her by phone‌—‌from Egypt.

“I think it’s time I confess something.” I let out a puff of air and stared into Maya’s eyes. “Do you remember the first time we kissed?”

She turned bright red, and I realized that probably wasn’t the best way to start, not in front of Agnes. Now that it was out, though, I had no choice but to keep plugging along.

Agnes seemed amused by my discomfort and Maya’s embarrassment, so at least there was one friendly face in the room.

“After we, uh, kissed and you freaked out, well…”

Maya and Agnes stared at me, dumbfounded.

“That was when I started… And then we had dinner with Agnes, and the pieces started to fall into place.”

How could I explain this properly? Started what? Unearthing the secret they wanted to protect at all costs? I couldn’t say that.

Sugarcoat it some, Ains
.

“I know who you are, Maya. And Agnes, I know about you.”

Their expressions told me I hadn’t added nearly enough syrup to the intensity of my words.

Maya cleared her throat. “Would you mind telling us what you think you know?”

I blinked, and then fluttered my lashes several more times, thinking.

Maya watched me carefully, and I wondered how much our future depended on how I responded at this moment.
No pressure. No pressure whatsoever.

“Well, you see, Chuck…”

Maya and Agnes exchanged a look that suggested I was certifiably crazy. Maybe I was. Maybe that was the true Carmichael curse‌—‌being power mad.

I closed my eyes and blurted, “Maya, I love you. I never thought I would find someone like you, and when I did, well, it changed me. You changed me. All of this”‌—‌I waved to the room‌—‌“none of it matters anymore.”

She remained stone-faced.

I had to get to the point or I would lose her‌—‌if I hadn’t already.

“I know your real name.” I looked at Agnes. “And I know you aren’t Maya’s birth mom.”

Both of them exchanged a worried glance before squaring their shoulders.

“I’ve known for a while now. I’m so sorry.”

“Who’s Chuck?” asked Maya.

“A hacker,” I said, immediately covering my mouth as I heard how that must have sounded to a non-Carmichael.

“You hired a hacker?” Maya jumped off the couch.

“I…” I slowly backed away.

Maya turned to Agnes. “We need to go.”

“You can’t,” I said.

They both raised their brows.

“I’m not the only one who knows,” I blurted without realizing this statement would do nothing to alleviate their fear. “No, I mean…” I rubbed at my eyes. “This isn’t going well. I’m not trying to frighten you. I wanted to be honest.”

Maya snorted. “And that’s supposed to make me feel better? You spied into things that were none of your business. That’s your definition of honesty? Do you remember when you asked me to never dig into your past? Never read Susie Q’s blog? I stuck to my promise, and all along you were digging into mine.”

“I know, and I’m truly sorry. I thought you were going to use me or something.”

Maya staggered backward several steps.

“I know how awful it sounds… It’s happened to me before, and after that kiss, I feared the worst. I had to know more about you to protect myself.” I added, “For us.”

“You stuck your nose into my business to save our relationship? Puh-lease. You’re a Carmichael, through and through. I was a fool to think differently.” Hardness steeled her eyes.

I stared back, stunned.

“Before or after?” she demanded.

“Before or after what? The kiss?”

“Before you slept with me? Did you know everything?” She crossed her arms.

My cheeks flushed, and Agnes glanced away, giving us some privacy. “Oh, Maya, it’s not like that. It really isn’t. I didn’t know everything until very recently. There wasn’t much to find out until I realized your birth name.”

She stared at me with the coldest of gray eyes. This conversation couldn’t have gone any worse.

Fiona popped her head in. “You’ve been requested.”

I turned to Maya. “Please don’t go yet. I’ll be back as soon as possible, and we can discuss this.”

Fiona cleared her throat.

“I’ll be right there!” I snapped. “Grandmother can wait.”

Fiona’s face whipped back like I’d smacked her. No one had ever insisted Grandmother could wait.

“That’s not what I meant,” Fiona said. “All three of you have been requested.”

“What? Why?” I crossed my arms defiantly, even though resistance was futile. Fiona knew as much as I did, and she wasn’t forcing my hand. My last name controlled all of my actions. I’d been stuck in a trap since birth.

Maya stared at Fiona and then turned to Agnes, who shrugged, suggesting the game was up. She didn’t lose her smile, but she no longer oozed confidence. Maya refused to meet my eyes.

“Fine, we’ll see your grandmother, and then we’re leaving.” Maya stormed out of the room.

Agnes waited for me. I couldn’t tell whether she was being polite or whether she felt sorry for me, but I was betting on the latter.