Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106806 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106806 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
She snorts. “Yeah. You and everyone else.”
“Well, we were right. Chuck came clean. Oliver paid him to lose that fight. He knew Nathan had bet on Chuck, and Oliver made Chuck an offer he couldn’t refuse so he could swoop in and save the day.” So he could buy me. So he could use me. “Ten grand. That was all it took for Chuck to throw me under the bus.”
Julie’s brows shoot up. “Holy shit.”
“I know. And then I fell for him.” I swipe at my tears. “I’m such an idiot.”
“No. I mean holy shit he gave Chuck ten grand and gave up his fancy-ass car all for the chance to get you under his roof?”
I can’t bring myself to tell her about New York. About Charles. About becoming a thief. What could possibly be in those envelopes that could be worth all this risk and calculation? “Talk about bought and paid for,” I whisper.
She leans back. “I don’t know, Sav. Did he ever treat you like you were something he paid for? Like you were an object or you owed him sexual favors?”
I shake my head. “No, but . . .”
She tilts her head, scanning my face. My tears. “But what?”
But I fell in love with him and now my heart is breaking. I fell in love with him and told myself he loved me too. My chest shakes and my tears pick up speed. Julie pulls me into a hug, and I cry into her chest.
It’s a week before I have the courage to go to his loft and give him a chance to explain, but when I get there, he’s already moved out.
Part Fifteen
PRESENT DAY
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
SAVVY
Istick around the reception for the hour after Oliver leaves. I dance with Alec twice and am sure to eat a piece of wedding cake, but then I sneak away to a little alcove of trees by the lake. It’s quiet out here, even with music drifting from the party not so far away.
I sit on the cool ground and wrap my arms around my knees, breathing easier as I watch the moon reflect off the water.
“You deserve the hero, Savvy. You always have. And for all my objections, there’s nothing that hurts more than knowing I finally convinced you that hero can’t be me.”
“Mind if I join you?”
I blink up to a tall blonde—the same woman I saw Alec leaving the reception with. I wave to the spot of dirt beside me. “It’s all yours.”
“Thanks.” Even in heels and a floor-length gown, she’s graceful as she lowers to the ground and extends her legs in front of her. She offers me her hand. “I’m Portentia.”
Portentia, Alec’s ex. Portentia, the first woman who came between the brothers. I swallow. “I’m Savannah. Nice to meet you.”
“Same.”
The silence, blissful moments before, is now awkward and loaded with potential disaster. What an unlikely pair we are.
“I know a little about how you’re feeling right now,” she says softly. “Well, that’s not quite true, but I know what it’s like to have them both love you. And I know what it’s like to not want to choose.”
I close my eyes and sigh. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Alec told me earlier that the engagement isn’t real—that he only wants it to be. He also told me you have a history with Oliver, though I would’ve guessed it anyway. I saw the way you two looked at each other tonight.”
“Oh.” I’m not quite sure what to say. But then I realize she might be right. She might understand how I feel in a way no one else can. “Did you believe it?” I ask, studying the way the moon’s reflection looks like an accordion on the rippling water. “That he loved you?”
“Alec or Oliver?” she asks.
I huff out a dry laugh. “Either, I guess.”
“But you’re really asking about Oliver,” she says. “Because if this were about Alec, you’d be with him, not sitting out here all alone.”
Tears heat my cheeks before I even realize they’re coming. “It’s been eight years, but I’m still as tangled up over him as I was the day I walked out his door.”
“Why did you leave?” she asks, and I know she’s not fishing for gossip. Despite the mistakes she made in the past, this woman cares about these men.
I sigh. “It was complicated, but I was angry. Angry about some choices he’d made and some secrets he’d kept. Angry that I would’ve done anything for him, and he couldn’t even give me three little words.” I close my eyes and let the breeze off the water dry my tears on my cheeks. “When I walked away, I needed him to come after me. I needed to know he did want me. And instead, he just left town. That was it. It was over. Until he thinks I’m engaged to Alec, and now? Now I’m supposed to believe he’s wanted me all this time? And that it’s not just about taking something his brother has?”