Chapter 26
LOGAN
It was my wedding day.
I was supposed to be grateful. In just a few hours, I’d be engaged in a legally binding publicity stunt that would fix everything. It would save my career and cause the press to sing my praises.
So why did it feel like I was walking to the gallows?
A sharp knock on the door yanked me out of my downward spiral.
“Open up,” Mick barked. “You have to be vaguely presentable for the cameras in an hour, and we both know that’s gonna take work.”
I groaned but stood, dragging myself over to the door.
Mick strode in like he owned the place, which, let’s be honest, he probably could have if he wanted to.
The man was a walking lesson in aging like fine whiskey.
He was broad-shouldered, effortlessly put together, the kind of handsome that got sharper with time.
His tux was already on, but he hadn’t bothered with perfection.
His tie was loose, his top button undone, like he’d been in a black-and-white GQ photoshoot and walked straight into my disaster of a morning.
He eyed me for half a second, then shook his head. “You look like a man on his way to a root canal.”
I scrubbed a hand down my face. “Yeah, well. That’s about how I feel.”
Mick sighed and sank onto the couch, stretching his arms behind his head like this was just another Tuesday. “Alright. Let’s hear it.”
“Hear what?”
“Whatever stupid reason you have for sitting here looking like you’re about to fake your own death instead of just saying what we both know you’re thinking.”
I turned back to the window, the sight blurred by the weight pressing down on my chest, jaw tight.
Mick waited.
And waited.
Then, finally, I said, “It’s Elizabeth.”
Mick snorted. “No kidding.”
I shot him a glare.
“What?” He held up his hands. “Dude, I’m not blind. I see the way you look at her in every meeting. Heck, I see the way she looks at you.” He frowned. “But I didn’t think it was… this bad.”
I hesitated. Then finally, I said it. “I think I’m in love with her.”
Mick blinked. Once. Twice. Like he needed to reset his brain. Then, slowly, he shook his head. “Well.”
I stared at him. “That’s it? ‘Well?’ I just told you I think I’m in love with Elizabeth Bailey.”
Mick let out a short, disbelieving laugh, rubbing a hand down his face. “What do you want me to do? Fall out of my chair? Clutch my chest? Gasp?”
I scowled. “A little more shock would be nice.”
Mick shook his head again, still looking at me like he was re-evaluating everything he thought he knew about the universe. “I guess I just didn’t realize that you knew it.”
I frowned. “What does that mean?”
“It means I’ve known you a long time, Logan. And I’ve seen you with a lot of women.” He gestured vaguely. “And by with, I mean mostly near, because let’s be honest, you don’t do relationships.”
I crossed my arms. “Thanks.”
“My point is,” he continued, ignoring me, “you already look at Elizabeth like she hangs the moon. But I didn’t think you’d let yourself admit it. To yourself, let alone to me.”
I swallowed hard, feeling like the ground had shifted slightly beneath me.
Mick huffed, shaking his head like he was still wrapping his brain around it. “So the question is… what are you gonna do about it?”
I dragged a hand through my hair. “I don’t know.”
Mick rolled his shoulders like he was preparing for battle.
“Let’s go through the options.” His tone turned all business.
“Option one: You put on that stupidly expensive tux, go down that aisle, marry a woman you don’t love, and spend the next six months pretending you’re living the dream while secretly pining for Elizabeth. ”
I clenched my jaw. Elizabeth and I had a plan. One that required patience. Discipline. We were supposed to play the game, let the optics do their job, and wait until the timing was right. I told myself I could do that. I told myself I could fake it long enough to make it real.
But lying never came easily to me. I wasn’t built for pretending. I never had been. I was real. Messy. Unfiltered. I wore my wounds on my sleeve. It was the only way I knew how to breathe.
And yet, there I was. Putting on a mask. Telling the world a story I didn’t believe in.
I was doing it for Elizabeth. That was the only reason I could stand it. But each day I spent smiling next to Sophie, each headline we carefully crafted, each photo op I endured, chipped away at something in me. And I didn’t know how long I could keep at it before the resentment took root.
I exhaled. “Option one sounds terrible.”
“It is. But hey, you’ll have great photos.”
I shot him a look.
Mick smirked. “Option two: You blow up the wedding right now, tank your career, and send Sophie into a spiral so dramatic, the tabloids will eat for months. You talk to Elizabeth. Right now. Before you make the biggest mistake of your life.”
I swallowed hard. Because I already knew what she’d say.
She wasn’t choosing this—she thought she had no other choice.
My chest tightened. “And if she tells me I have to go through with it?”
Mick didn’t even hesitate. “Then she tells you to go through with it. But before she does, you need to make sure she knows exactly how you feel.”
The words lodged in my throat, caught somewhere between what I wanted to say and what I knew would happen if I said it.
I rubbed the back of my neck. Elizabeth had spent her whole life making sure nothing slipped through the cracks. She had sacrificed too much and carried too much, and she wasn’t going to drop it all just because I stood in front of her and told her I loved her.
And yet—
What if she didn’t have to lose everything?
The thought struck me hard, breaking through all the doubt and all the fear.
I’d been so focused on how impossible this situation felt for me, but maybe I was missing the bigger picture.
Perhaps this wasn’t about whether I was willing to walk away from the charade.
Maybe it was about whether she should have to walk away from everything she’d built.
Because her stakes? They were heavier than mine.
She wasn’t just risking her name; she was risking her brother’s health, her entire career, everything she’d clawed her way to the top to achieve.
So maybe this wasn’t just about loving her. Maybe it was about showing up for her and carrying some of that weight, for once. Making sure she didn’t have to be the one who gave everything up.
I had money. I had power. I had influence. And yeah, I didn’t like using those things. I’d spent my whole life fighting against becoming the kind of person who throws his weight around.
But for her?
For Jake?
I’d burn the whole industry to the ground if it meant she didn’t have to choose between love and family.
She was trying to protect me by pushing me away.
But what if I could protect her, too? There had to be another way: a different connection, a different angle.
I could call people, pull strings. I had to.
I wasn’t just going to stand at that altar and let her throw everything away because she thought she didn’t have another option.
Mick crossed his arms, observing me. “Look, if you go to her and lay it all out, and she still tells you to marry Sophie? Fine. Then you do it. At least you’ll know you didn’t leave anything unsaid.”
He hesitated, then added, voice softer, “But if you don’t? If you stand at that altar without making sure she understands? You’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”
I let out a slow breath, my thoughts still spinning, still landing on the same answer.
Mick clapped me on the shoulder. “And for the love of all things holy, stop making me say sappy stuff.”
I huffed a quiet laugh, shaking my head. “Thanks, Mick.”
He waved a hand. “Yeah, yeah. Now go make an absolute mess of your life. But, you know, in a way that ends happily.”
With that, he strode toward the door and disappeared into the hall, leaving nothing but silence and the sound of my pulse pounding in my ears.
Mick was right. I had to tell her. Not because I needed to say it, but because she deserved to hear it. Even if she still told me to go through with the wedding.
Even if it changed nothing.
If there was even a chance that she thought she had to do this alone, then I had already failed her.
And I wasn’t about to fail her now.