Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
Esteban
She loves me.
She actually loves me.
The words echo in my head, louder than any punch I took today, louder than Noah’s voice shouting at me, louder than the sickening crack of my fist against Brandon Lowe’s smug face. Louder than the thud of the deal falling apart.
Because somehow, after all the chaos, all the pretending, Eva looked at me with tears in her eyes and said she loved me.
And I believe her.
We sit in the truck, still parked beneath the quiet trees of the little park near Town Hall, and I swear I’ve never felt anything more peaceful in my life.
She’s curled up against me now, her head resting on my shoulder, her fingers laced through mine like we’ve been doing this forever. Like we belong.
But the moment doesn’t last long.
Eva lifts her head. “What happened back there?” she asks quietly. “At the meeting?”
I sigh and run a hand through my hair. The moment she asks, the weight of it all starts creeping back in. “It was a mess,” I admit. “We were waiting in Austin’s conference room. Hunter showed up with his lawyer, and when I saw Brandon, I knew everything was about to fall apart.”
Her eyes widen. “He’s really working with Hunter?”
I nod. “Yeah. He looked surprised to see us too, but not enough to stop him from being a dick. He outed us before I even had a chance to say anything. Told Hunter he used to date you. Then said he saw us together at the coffee shop. That’s when Hunter put it together.”
I look down at our joined hands. My knuckles are still raw. “He asked if we’d been lying to him this whole time. And… yeah, I came clean. Told him it started out as a lie, but that what I have with you is real now.”
Eva doesn’t say anything at first. Her expression is unreadable, but she keeps holding my hand.
“Brandon made some comment about you,” I add, jaw tightening. “Something that crossed a line. So I punched him.”
Her eyes flash. “Good.”
I huff out a short laugh. “Yeah, well… Noah didn’t think so. He was already pissed about the situation, and once he figured out that we were actually together…” I pause. “He hit me.”
Her face falls. “I’m so sorry.”
I shake my head. “I deserved it. I broke his trust. I should’ve told him.”
She exhales and leans back a little. “So what now? What are we going to do?”
I blink at her. It’s not just the way she says we, like this is something we’ll face together. It’s the fact that she’s already thinking about how to fix it.
“We need to talk to Hunter,” she continues. “And Melissa. We can explain. Maybe if they hear it from both of us… maybe they’ll understand it wasn’t all a con.”
My stomach clenches at the thought, but I nod. “Yeah. That’s a good idea.”
She brightens a little. “I have Melissa’s number. I can call her and set something up. They’re still in town, right?”
“They should be,” I say, already fishing out my phone. “If not, we’ll fly back to Florida. I don’t care where we have to go—we’re doing this right.”
I find Hunter McNeal’s contact and press Call before I can overthink it.
The phone rings once. Twice.
Then he picks up. “Esteban.” His voice is sharp, unreadable.
“Hey,” I say, sitting up straighter. “I know things got messed up earlier. But if you’d give us five minutes—me and Eva—we just want to talk. Explain everything. Not the fake version. The truth.”
There’s a pause. Long enough for my heart to thump twice in my chest. Finally, he says, “We’re at the rental in Honey Springs.”
“Give us fifteen minutes.”
He doesn’t say goodbye. Just hangs up.
I turn to Eva. “He said yes.”
Her eyes light up with determination. “Then let’s go fix this.”
I nod, throw the truck into gear, and peel out of the park. For the first time since everything blew up, I feel like there’s a chance.
A chance to save the deal.
A chance to rebuild the friendship I ruined.
A chance to build something real with the woman I love.
And I’m not letting any of it slip away.
As we drive through Honey Springs, Eva’s hand stays in mine. Her thumb rubs slow, soothing circles on my knuckles, and I keep glancing over at her like I still can’t believe this woman beside me is mine.
“We’ll tell them everything,” I say, breaking the silence between us. “The full truth. What I did, why I did it. No lies. No spin.”
Eva nods. “That’s all we can do.”
We follow the GPS through a winding road tucked into the side of the mountain. The air smells like pine, and when we finally pull into the long gravel driveway, I spot the rental house.
It’s beautiful, one of those modern craftsman builds with big wood beams, a stone facade, and glass walls that reflect the mountain peaks behind it. The late afternoon sun paints the sky in soft golds and for a second, it feels like we’re walking into something sacred.
Getting out of the truck, we walk up the flagstone path, hand in hand. I ring the bell, my heart thudding harder with each second that passes.
The door swings open, and Melissa stands there, her expression calm and surprisingly warm.
“Hi,” she says, smiling gently. “Come in.”
She steps aside, and we follow her into the house. The air smells like fresh-brewed coffee and cedarwood. The living room is all earth tones and oversized furniture, with a big stone fireplace and windows that let in the fading light.
Hunter’s sitting on a leather armchair, a coffee mug in hand, his face unreadable.
Melissa gestures toward the couch. “Would you like some coffee?”
We both shake our heads no.
“Okay,” she says softly, and takes a seat on the armrest of Hunter’s chair.
I glance at Eva, then back at Hunter and take a breath.
“It started at the very first meeting,” I begin. “When you talked about family and how important it is to your brand. Austin and Noah started sharing stories, and I—I panicked. I thought… I don’t know, that I would look like I wasn’t serious enough because I’m single. So I said I had a fiancée.”
Hunter doesn’t react. His eyes stay fixed on me, so I keep going. “It was stupid. I know that. But once I said it, I had to stick to it. I figured I’d find someone to play the part. Then Eva offered.” I glance at her, and she nods, picking up the story.
“I had just come back from Florida. Brandon and I broke up for good. And I didn’t have much going on besides trying to rebuild my life here,” she says.
“I offered to help because I believed in what they were doing. But also… I was attracted to him. And once we started hanging out on our non-dates, as we called them, I realized it wasn’t just attraction. ”
“We were falling for each other,” I say, cutting in softly. “By the time we flew to Florida, we weren’t even pretending anymore. It was real. All of it.”
Hunter finally shifts, but he still doesn’t speak.
Melissa leans forward a bit, her brow furrowed. “What happened to your mouth, Esteban?”
I offer her a small, wry smile. “Noah happened.”
Her eyes widen slightly, and Eva stiffens next to me, but I keep my tone calm. “He found out about us in the office today, how we’d been seeing each other behind his back for real. He feels hurt, betrayed, and I don’t blame him. I took the punch. I deserved it.”
Eva squeezes my hand, and I feel her strength moving into me like a current.
“I knew exactly who she was,” I continue looking at Eva while I speak.
“That’s what made it so hard. I’ve known Eva most of her life.
I knew Noah would lose his mind if anything real happened between us.
He told me this was just pretend, that I wasn’t allowed to be with her for real.
And I agreed, at first. He’s always been protective of her, and I get that, I really do.
But no matter how hard I tried to stay away, I couldn’t.
It wasn’t just a crush. It wasn’t a game.
Somewhere along the way, the pretending stopped…
and real feelings took over. I fell for her so damn hard, and I’d risk it all again if it meant I get to be with her. ”
I take a breath, turning to look directly at Hunter.
“I know what I did was wrong. But I’m not going to apologize for falling in love with her.
Because I did. I have. And I don’t regret it, not for a second.
This whole thing started as a lie, but it gave me the best thing that’s ever happened to me. It gave me her.”
The silence that follows stretches out like a rubber band tight, fragile, on the edge of snapping.
Melissa is the first to speak. “I knew it,” she says, smiling now. “The way you two look at each other? That’s not something you fake. I told Hunter that when he came back from the meeting saying it was all pretend. I couldn’t believe it.”
Hunter sighs, finally setting down his coffee. He looks tired, but not angry.
“Thank you,” he says. His voice is quieter than I expected. “For coming here. For saying all this to our faces. That takes guts. And honesty.”
He looks at me a long moment, then at Eva.
“I’m still going to need time to think about the business side of things,” he says. “We’ll be in touch. But either way… I appreciate you telling the truth.”
Eva nods, her grip still tight on my hand. “Thank you. That’s all we wanted.”
Hunter stands, and so do we, offering me a handshake that I gladly take.
Melissa walks us to the door. “Whatever happens, I’m rooting for you two.”
“Thank you,” Eva says, her voice full of emotion.
We walk back to the truck in silence, hand in hand again, the tension bleeding away with every step.
We told the truth.
Now we need to talk to Noah.