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)
“I know she was with you first. I know you let us all believe you’d seduced her when in truth you’d done nothing wrong. I just can’t believe that you let me think something so terrible about you.”
“To be fair, you never asked. You assumed. It was easier to let you continue assuming.”
“You spared her everyone’s judgment.”
“I wanted to think of it that way at first.” I smile at the waitress as she places a mug in front of me and fills it with steaming coffee. “But I’m a lot older now, and I know that was only part of it.”
“And what was the rest?”
I hold my brother’s gaze longer than I ever have, see the kindness and empathy there that I never wanted to see when I was younger. “I wanted you to hate me for something I didn’t do so I had an excuse to hate you in return.”
He sits back. “Well. I guess that’s good to know.”
“But I don’t,” I say in a rush. “I want to, given that you have somehow won over the woman I love—the woman I’ve never been able to let go—but I don’t. You may be Charles’s son, but you are so much better than him. Savvy wouldn’t be marrying you if that weren’t true.”
“I appreciate that,” he murmurs, but then he grimaces and shakes his head. “Shit. I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
I frown. “Sitting here instead of knocking me out? Yeah. Same.”
“Savvy and I aren’t getting married. It was all pretend. She needed me for a job, and I needed her to get Mom off my back.”
Relief is a wave that hits me in the face. If I weren’t already sitting, I might fall down. I take a big gulp of my coffee and burn the roof of my mouth. “I was right.”
“Say what now?”
“I suspected something, but she denied it and I didn’t believe her. That’s the only reason I went to her yesterday—the only reason I tried anything. I was so sure you two weren’t really together. Between the shit car she drives and you not knowing her family legacy—it just didn’t add up.” I shake my head. “But then, somehow, she convinced me otherwise.”
“She did that for me, Oliver. I asked her—begged her, really—not to tell anyone the truth. Including you—especially you.”
I drag a hand through my hair. The hope creeping over me is almost as terrifying as walking away. “But last week? That morning she was at the house?”
Alec turns toward the windows and stares out at the lake for so long I think he might be done talking. Finally, he says, “That was exactly what you thought it was. I was so pissed that you showed up when you did because I’d convinced myself I had a chance to make it real. I’d convinced myself that you’d ruined it.” He turns back to me, grief pulling at his features. “But Savvy was never all in with me. I wanted to think she was, but she always held back, and once she told me about everything between you two—about how it all unfolded—I realized it was because she’s never gotten over you. I wanted something from her that she no longer had to give, and that would’ve been true whether you showed up that day or not.”
I cup my hands around my coffee mug and stare into the dark contents. “Looks like we’re both screwed, then. She thinks I only want her because I want to take something from you.”
Alec arches a brow. “Then I guess you better find a way to prove her wrong.”
“Did she tell you about Dad?” I ask. “About what I asked her to do for me back then?”
He nods somberly. “What was in there? What did you have her take?”
“Remember the day before high school graduation when I destroyed the China cabinet?”
“Classic Oliver moment. Who could forget?”
“Do you remember why?”
He shifts uncomfortably. “I never agreed with him destroying that stuff. I couldn’t believe he . . .” His eyes widen. “He didn’t destroy it? And you got it back?”
“Savvy got it back for me.”
“Well, damn. I’m glad. I mean that.”
I stare at my coffee. “It only worked because he picked her for you. I knew he would, but there’s a small part of me, even now, that can’t help but wonder if he was right. If you two could’ve been good together.”
“Does it matter?” Alec asks. “Does it matter who our controlling father planned to match her with? Is that enough to keep you from fighting for her?”
“No,” I breathe. “It isn’t.”
“Oliver, I won’t sit here and pretend I wouldn’t snatch her up in a heartbeat if she’d have me. But after Portentia’s confession last night, I realize that maybe I’ve never bothered to see you for who you really are. If you’re the man who can make Savannah happy, if you’re the one she wants, then I won’t get in your way.”