A Vow of Deception, A Vow of Revenge novel Chapter 84

Winona picked up the phone, her tone distant. "Mr. Clarke."

"Winona, finally! I was starting to think you'd never answer. Hope I'm not catching you at a bad time?" Marcus's voice was all forced cheer.

Winona let out a cold, mirthless laugh.

If he really cared about disturbing her, he wouldn't have called right back the second she declined the first call.

"Mr. Clarke, Tyson and I have broken up," she said, her voice icy. "Please stop calling me by that name. In fact, there's no reason for us to stay in touch at all."

"Wait, what?" Marcus sounded genuinely thrown, but quickly backpedaled. "No, come on, Winona—Miss Thorne—look, we've known each other for years. Even if you and Ty have split, there's no need to cut the rest of us off, right?"

"We have nothing to say to each other," Winona replied, not missing a beat.

She'd always suspected Tyson's friends knew more than they let on about him and Celia. Thinking back, whenever she'd been at their gatherings and Celia was mentioned, the room would go weirdly quiet. Someone would avoid her gaze. Someone else would shoot Tyson a sly look.

She'd never let herself dwell on it before. Now, she didn't care to. Whether they'd known or not, she had no interest in sorting it out—and even less in letting herself get tangled up with Tyson's crowd again.

No more loose ends.

"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" Marcus persisted, trying for camaraderie. "Come on, Winona, we're all friends here. If Ty did something to hurt you, we can totally take his side and give him hell for it—uh, maybe not the time for that joke. Anyway, my birthday's coming up in a few days. I'm getting everyone together—why don't you come out and join us?"

Before Winona could answer, Marcus rushed to add, "Ty said he's not coming. He's busy, so you don't have to worry about running into him."

"Mr. Clarke, I think I've made myself perfectly clear," Winona replied, irritation creeping into her voice. "There's no reason for us to speak again, and I won't be coming to your birthday."

Someone who'd loved Tyson as much as she did—just how badly had he messed up to push her this far?

Not that it mattered now. If he couldn't get Winona to show up, there was no way to smooth things over with Tyson.

With a resigned sigh, Marcus dialed Tyson's number. "Hey, man. I just called Winona—uh, Miss Thorne. Invited her to my birthday thing, but she turned me down. She says she's not even in Seastone City anymore."

"What did you say?" Tyson's voice was sharp, panicked.

He shoved Celia off, ignoring the way she'd been clinging to his neck.

Celia landed hard, her knee slamming against the coffee table. She stared up at Tyson in disbelief, pain and confusion twisting her face.