“We believe Jill would be better suited to appease the De Vos family and make the bond between our families even stronger.”
I scoot my chair back. “Who else knows?”
My mother looks up at me, confused. “No one except you and us. We’re waiting to tell Jill until she’s ready.”
“What about the De Voses? Do they know?”
She nods. “The parents, yes. They will tell Liam and Luca tonight.”
Tears begin to stain my eyes, and I get up from my chair.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“I need some time to myself,” I say as I go up the stairs toward my room, but all I want to do is run.
Run away from this disaster I’ve hurtled myself into.
Escape from the trap I laid out for myself.
But most of all … I want to scream.
Present
* * *
If I’d known back then what I know now, would I have still made the same choice?
I hold my breath.
I can’t change the past. No matter how badly I want to.
I push the paper aside to read the next one.
‘We will always let each other have what we want. No matter the cost.’
My bloody fingerprint is right there, underneath those words … but so is his.
The left side of my lip curls up.
Maybe, just maybe, I don’t have to pick between my own needs and Jill’s life.
What if I could have both?
I get out of the car and open the trunk, where I take out some spare clothes I always keep on hand, like a pair of jeans, an extra pair of panties, a shirt, and a pair of sneakers. But there’s also a little black dress and pumps, which might come in handy now.
I slam it shut and pick up the box again, marching back to the cabin with my head held high.
Liam’s outside, violently chopping wood with his axe as though he’s letting out all of his anger on the stump in front of him.
My heart is going a million miles an hour. He doesn’t look even though I know he can hear me.
But I’m not about to come groveling back like some lost puppy begging for a second chance.
Oh no.
That’s his place.
“We will always let each other have what we want. No matter the cost.”