What he wanted was a portrait worth several million dollars that his grandfather created before dying. Lucas has to marry soon-and for a year-in order to inherit. And it's the same for his siblings as well.
I just happened to be a gullible, easy-to-impress target.
I clench my teeth as nausea roils through me. I'd rather slit my wrists than throw up and show him how he's gutted me.
A silly little fool, that's what you are.
He must be inwardly laughing his ass off about the Lexus. I chided him for overindulging me with a car when all this time I've been helping him get something that's worth millions.
Suddenly I'm grateful I didn't tell him about Mia. It would've been a disaster to have her in the middle of this mess. I don't doubt for a moment that he'd use her as leverage to force me to do what he wants.
The skin around my eyes feels hot with tears. "You son of a bitch."
"Ava," Lucas whispers. He clutches his own phone in one white-knuckled hand, his face bloodless.
I raise my phone, screen facing him. "It's all true, isn't it?"
He doesn't answer. He reaches for my mobile, but I step back quickly. I'm not letting him touch me or blind me to the truth.
"Isn't it?" I yell. I need to hear him say yes. I deserve that much.
"It's not like that. Nobody is expecting me to get married."
I shove a fist against my mouth to stifle a sob. He doesn't have to say more. I'm smart enough to piece things together.
Slowly and carefully as though he's reaching for a wounded wild animal, he extends a hand. I stumble back, not wanting him to touch me. If he does, I might crumble and humiliate myself. "You're despicable," I choke out.
"Ava, please. Listen to me-"
"I'm not interested." I gesture wildly at Faye, who's watching with an unreadable look on her face. "Why didn't you ask her to marry you? After all, she was your first choice when you needed to go out in public!"
He's shaking his head. His expression beseeches me, but that too is a lie. "Ava, don't. That's not-"
"We're done." The past ten days … all lies.
I steel myself against him. I slash the space between us as though with that simple action I can sever everything. "Don't follow me. I know my way home."
Then I turn around and run as fast as my legs can carry me.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Lucas
Ava disappears rapidly down the road. Soon she makes a turn, and I can't see her anymore.
That, more than anything else, jolts me out of my paralysis. I can't let her go like this. I can't repeat the last two years again, this time with no end. The weekend showed me what Ava and I can have. I'm not giving that up without a fight.
I start to move forward.
"Lucas, we have to talk."
I shrug Faye off, not bothering to look at her. "Not right now."
She wraps a hand firmly around my wrist. "Before you go after her, you need to think about what you're going to do next. She's not the priority. Everybody knows about the deal between you and Julian. And if that's not bad enough, they know what happened between Elliot and your third stepmother. Some tabloid published all the sordid details."
That makes me pause. "My third stepmother?" I didn't see anything about her in the article I just skimmed on the phone.
"I guess she's technically your second stepmother. But your father's third wife. Annabelle Underhill."
What the … ? "What about her?"
"She and Elliot had an affair. They apparently were … dating before she married your father and they had a … reunion of sorts at the wedding. Who knows how many other times they cuckolded Julian."
I close my eyes and run a rough hand over my face. I love my twin. Despite the fact that our mother clearly preferred him, he himself has never purposefully done anything to hurt me. It wasn't his fault that Betsy loved us unequally.
But this? This makes me hate him. It's obvious the scandal that exploded between him and Wife Number Three is what's motivating Dad, who doesn't exactly embody magnanimity or great fatherhood. There's no doubt in my mind that Dad's the one who leaked the deal to the press to purposely humiliate us and make our lives more difficult.
"I know how much you loved your grandfather," Faye begins, letting go of my wrist and coming closer to put a hand on my chest. "And I can help out. I don't mind marrying you for a year so you can get the painting. That girl who just ran away? She's not the type who would understand."
If this were any other time and if this were before I reconnected with Ava, I might've welcomed her suggestion. But now things are different. I can't go back. I can't imagine a life without Ava and I can't marry Faye, even if it's only for a year. If I do, there will be no redemption for me in Ava's eyes. Zero.