Chapter 28
RAQUEL
Last night, Theo had written me a check for fifty thousand dollars like it was nothing. Then he’d spent the rest of the night listening to me cry, rant, and rave, voicing every worst-case scenario that had been running through my mind all day.
We’d barely slept, but he’d been with me all night, just holding me and never once losing his patience. Every time I’d started catastrophizing about my dad’s condition, the shop, or our future, he’d simply listened, then calmly talked me back from the ledge.
Early this morning, I’d thought he would go to work and leave me to deal with the bank by myself, but instead, he was right there with me, driving me to their headquarters in Yuma County.
Honestly, he was a pillar of strength and stability the likes of which I hadn’t known existed in a partner until now.
Even so, I felt massively guilty about all this. I swallowed hard past the lump of burning guilt in my throat and looked at him. “I’m going to pay you back.”
His grip tightened on the steering wheel before he glanced at me. “No.”
“I will.”
“No.”
“It’s a lot of money, Theo.”
He snorted. “Sure.”
“Don’t make those rich-person snorting sounds at me. I will pay you back.”
He let out a soft laugh. “I don’t know what a rich-person snort is, but still. No. You don’t owe me anything.”
His hand found mine on the center console and I squeezed his fingers, but I was going to pay him back. Even if he didn’t want to hear it and I would have to find a way to be sneaky about it.
Either way, my stomach was in knots by the time we reached the bank, faced by a cold, glass-walled building that was much more imposing than I’d thought. I glanced at Theo as we parked beside the curb, but he didn’t seem intimidated at all and it made me wonder if he was used to this kind of place.
He’d actually taken everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours completely in stride, offering not only money but connections who were apparently specialists in this very odd field.
When he took my hand as we climbed out of the truck though, I stopped wondering what exactly his life was like back home and focused completely on what we were here to do.
Unfortunately, Avery was already there when we walked in, standing in front of the counter like he was waiting for someone. I caught the relief in his eyes when he saw me, but the moment he noticed Theo, his gaze darkened, his fingers rolling into fists at his sides.
It was the same look he used to wear before he’d get into a fight back in high school, and while I knew Theo wouldn’t know exactly what that look meant, he must’ve known Avery wasn’t happy, but he still didn’t back down.
Avery met us halfway across the lobby, stepping right into Theo’s path. “No. You’re not welcome here for this.”
“What?”
My brother pointed toward the truck parked across the street. “Get back in and go. Raquel can get a ride home with me.”
Theo let out a quiet, frustrated huff of laughter. “I’m not leaving.”
“Why not? You’re not involved in this, Westwood.”
“The hell I’m not,” he said. “And stop calling me that.”
As they stared each other down, the temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees. They were also starting to draw wary glances and I stepped between them, keeping my voice a low warning. “Avery, just let him pass please.”
“I’m not doing that,” my brother ground out. “He doesn’t belong here.”
Theo stepped forward. “Move, Avery.”
“No.”
“I said, move.” Theo took another step closer, the two of them now seemingly seconds away from killing each other. “Avery?—”
“I told you that we do not want or need your charity. Leave.”
“Can we please not do this here?” I asked quietly. “Please?”
Avery didn’t give an inch and neither did Theo, who now looked genuinely, truly angry, which was a first. He was always so easygoing and carefree that I’d struggled imagining him as a businessman in his real life, but not anymore.
“It’s not charity,” he seethed quietly. “I’m trying to help.”
“We don’t need your help.”
Theo threw his hands out to his sides. “For fuck’s sake, Avery. Your family is about to go under. Are you really going to let your pride stand in the way of getting out of this?”
“You’re right about one thing. It’s my family. I will handle it.” Avery looked about ready to explode. “We don’t need you swooping in like a millionaire on a white horse.”
“Just step aside and let me help.”
“Why do you even care?” Avery snapped, fuming as his chest heaved up and down. “There’s a whole world out there, waiting to fall to its knees for you. If you really want to help so bad, go find someone who actually wants it.”
“Why do I care?” Theo let out a quiet, humorless laugh. “I care because I love your sister and despite how you’re acting right now, somewhere along the way, I started seeing you as a brother. I care because you’re my family and I will never turn my back on family.”
As he said it, my world seemed to stop turning, my heart forgetting how to beat.
Avery was gaping at him too, but the fight hadn’t drained out of him yet.
It only took one look for me to realize that, while Theo might’ve knocked the breath clear out of my lungs, my brother was suddenly angrier than ever.
Theo didn’t seem to notice it, though, still going and gaining momentum, at that.
“I’m not going to watch this family lose everything and then drive off into the sunset pretending I couldn’t do anything to stop it.
There is no shame in accepting help, Avery.
Especially since there are no strings attached. I just can’t turn my back on you.”
Avery surprised the heck out of me when he laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s easy for you to say.”
Suddenly, I knew things were about to get worse, but Theo seemed genuinely baffled. “What?”
“That was a hell of a speech coming from a guy whose family made billions buying businesses and tearing them apart.” Avery turned to me. “I’m sure he’s told you by now that he’s rich, but has he mentioned how his family made their money?”
“Avery,” Theo said, but my brother ignored him, his eyes firmly locked on mine.
“He hasn’t told you, has he?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, but I had a sinking feeling that it did.
Theo had told me his family was wealthy and that they were in business. He’d mentioned acquisitions, takeovers, and other corporate-sounding lingo, but I’d never really given any thought to what it actually meant.
Avery seemed perfectly happy to fill me in, though. “The Westwoods are prolific, Raquel. They buy up smaller, weaker businesses, like ours, tear them apart, and then they sell off the parts.”
I blinked slowly. None of that sat well with me, but Avery wasn’t even done yet. He snorted as he glanced back at Theo a few long seconds after he’d dropped that bombshell.
“Do you want to know what’s worse?” he asked quietly, but his voice was taunting now, like he had Theo by the balls and he knew it. “Let’s talk about how his family would feel about him marrying a woman from a blue-collar family.”
Theo’s jaw turned to concrete. “Avery, stop.”
“No, she deserves to know this,” he said, then arched an eyebrow at Theo. “Raquel has no connections and the only thing she’s got to show for her life’s work so far is a severely overdrawn business account.”
The muscles in Theo’s neck visibly flexed. “That’s enough.”
I looked between them, beyond confused but knowing I was definitely, obviously missing something here.
Yet we hadn’t come to the bank for this.
“Avery, just stop. I don’t know what’s going on, but you’re getting way ahead of yourself.
Theo and I aren’t getting married anytime soon.
If we ever even get far enough to start talking about it, then?—”
I cut myself off when I realized he wasn’t listening anymore, his attention firmly fixed on Theo. “Have you told her this at least, man?”
Theo looked ready to commit a felony, red streaks splashed across his cheeks and his muscles completely tense. “Not here, Avery.”
“God, you haven’t told her much of anything, have you?” My brother barked out a dry laugh. “Do you guys talk at all?”
“That’s none of your business.”
Avery snorted. “The hell it isn’t. She’s my sister, and since you’re inserting yourself into my family’s business, I figured it’s only fair for me to do the same.”
I let out a quiet groan, so aware that people were really staring at us now. “What is happening? Can we please just do what we came here for?”
Avery’s gaze finally cut to me. “Has he told you how dating works in his family?”
Theo’s eyes drifted shut, but I frowned, feeling like a bucket of ice was settling at the very base of my stomach. “What?”
“They do arranged marriages, Raquel.” He didn’t look away from me.
“After I found out who he is, I looked them up and I’ve been doing some reading about the infamous Westwoods.
They don’t even try to keep it a secret that they don’t date or marry for love.
To them, it’s all about the money and all those fucking connections he keeps bragging about. ”
“That can’t be true.” My jaw dropped. “Nobody does arranged marriages. Not in this country, anyway.”
My heart started pounding when I looked at Theo and realized he wasn’t denying it. Avery arched an eyebrow at him. “You’re hiding from it, aren’t you? That’s what the word on the street is, anyway. You were supposed to be next and you ran.”
I glanced back up at Theo, praying he’d deny that, at least, but the look on his face now made my stomach evaporate for the second time in as many days. “Theo? Tell me he’s wrong.”
Those eyes slid shut again for a moment before he turned to look at me. “He’s right. In my family and many others like it, arranged marriages are the norm.”
“Arranged marriages are the…” I couldn’t even finish the sentence, my voice tapering off as I struggled to comprehend what we were even talking about here.
Avery nodded at me, one of his hands lifting slowly to point at the door. “Go get in my truck, Raquel. This is over.”
“No. I want to talk to Theo,” I insisted, my mind racing but my heart refusing to believe it could be true. “Alone.”
Avery blew out a harsh, disbelieving breath but shoved his hands in his pockets and started backing away. “Fine. You have five minutes.”
My head was spinning faster and faster with every passing second, but I nodded. “Sure. Five minutes.”
My brother gave Theo one last warning look, then took off toward the door, obviously intent on removing me from these premises before he kept trying to solve our actual problem. Meanwhile, I felt like he’d just yanked the whole world from under my feet, let alone just a rug.
Everything felt wrong all of a sudden, but I turned to face Theo anyway, my arms coming up to fold across my chest like a shield. As I looked up into those electric green eyes, I wondered who he really was, not sure I knew him at all anymore.
I’d spent weeks falling for this man. I’d trusted him with my body, my heart, and my past. I’d let him hold me while I cried and told him every last one of my innermost thoughts, fears, and feelings. “Why didn’t you tell me any of that? Why did you keep it a secret?”
My voice broke, my heart threatening to follow.
To his credit, Theo didn’t look away. He held my gaze, as steady and as calm as ever, but I saw the back of his jaw ticking and the hurt in his eyes.
I just couldn’t worry about any of it right now because, if I had known, I would never have let things get this far.