Stealing Her (Covet 1)

I was prepared for war, but he’d given up immediately.

It still didn’t make sense, none of it did.

After quickly changing, I walked back into the kitchen, where I’d left both Julian and my cell.

He looked up at me, pain in his eyes, like he didn’t want me to do anything except tell him everything was going to be okay.

This wasn’t just different. It felt heavy with sadness, and I had no reason to feel that way. Neither did he, right?

I picked up my phone while he watched me.

And I dialed the number to Bridge Anderson.

The first ring felt fake, like I’d conjured it up somehow. The second ring was like a bomb going off in the apartment.

And Julian still didn’t move as he stared me down like he was waiting for me to ask the question that seemed ridiculous to even ask. His eyes were wide, his skin pale.

Why the hell did he have Bridge’s phone in the closet?

I felt like I aged ten years as tears filled my eyes. I slowly walked back into the master bedroom, and into the closet. There was an older iPhone 8 tucked under a few pairs of sweats.

I picked it up and held it in my hands.

I felt him behind me then.

In that too-small closet.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

I didn’t know what to think.

“I can explain,” Julian whispered.

“Why do you have his cell phone? Planning on suffocating your own brother at the hospital? I’m trying to understand, I really am, but you have to give me something.”

“He’s alive, you should be thankful for that.”

“Who? Your brother?”

“No,” he whispered. “Your fiancé.”

Slowly I turned around. “What the hell are you saying?”

He swallowed slowly and then said thickly, “My name is Bridge Anderson Tennyson. I’m Julian’s twin.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

BRIDGE

“Say something.” I gripped her by the shoulders, needing her to tell me that she knew the truth, that it was okay, that she felt the way I did, that this thing between us was real despite being based on lies.

She stared at me in stunned silence and then her voice cracked, breaking my heart in two. “You, you hit your head, Julian! You don’t know what you’re even saying. God, I’ll-I’ll get a shrink, a therapist, a—”

“Izzy . . .”

She wasn’t having it. She jerked away from me, tears in her eyes. “No, you listen! You’re the crazy one, you don’t have a twin brother. This is like something out of a soap opera! You just had a really bad accident, and now you’re trying to do right by someone else who’s suffering. It happens all the time, survivor’s remorse and—”

“Survivor’s remorse?” I let out an ugly laugh. “Really? You want to talk about guilt? I’m living his life!” I spread my arms wide. “Didn’t you ever wonder why the suits were too tight? Why I have tattoos that I lied to you about? Come on, Izzy! You’re a smart woman!”

Her nostrils flared. “No, I can’t . . . Why would you do this? Why would you pretend to be him?” Tears filled her eyes then streamed down her cheeks. “Why would you do this to me? Both of you? How could you be so cruel to give me hope that—”

My face softened as I reached for her.

“Stop!” She shoved at me. “Don’t touch me!”

“Izzy.” I reached for her again.

She burst into tears. “You made me love you again!”

Fuck. Me.

Even though she hit at me, I pulled her against my chest while she sobbed. I let her hate me, while I loved her, and in that moment I’d never hated my own father more in my entire life.

“Will you please just listen before you start saying things like I made you fall in love again when the entire time I was the one falling?”

She clung to me like I was hers.

And I held her like she was mine.

She went rigid in my arms. “How would I even know that’s true? You’ve been lying this entire time!”

“Lying to save a company, to save Julian’s position as CEO. The board knows I’m the stand-in . . .” I gulped. “In more ways than one.”

“What do you mean in more ways than one?”

I grabbed her left hand and lifted it between us. Her giant rock sparkled like the expensive diamond it was.

She let out a gasp. “You were going to marry me!”

I expected her to slap me.

She didn’t.

“Edward didn’t want you to know.”

“Ohhhh, Edward didn’t want me to know, fantastic! So you made a deal with the devil, why? Because you love your brother who never even talks about you so much that you’d take over his entire life!”

I inwardly cursed. “When you put it that way . . .”

She crossed her arms.

I let out a sigh and ran my hands through my hair. “Like I said, it’s complicated. Will you please just hear me out before you strangle me to death or shove me off the balcony?”