Chapter 13 #2
“Fuck off with that shit. You changed your name so you could fool everyone into believing you’re someone you’re not so you can sneak around and get your revenge, but I did nothing to hurt you. I did everything I could to help you.”
My voice cracks. Eight years’ worth of humiliation well up within me and shake my foundation. I cover my face with my hands and breathe.
Hard arms wrap around me while harder thighs pin my legs to the back of the car.
“I’m sorry, Hilary. I never meant for this to happen.”
“You never meant for me to find out or you never meant to string me along?”
“Both,” he murmurs into my hair.
His admission infuriates and deflates me. The combination oddly allows for calculation.
I need to get away from him to clear my head and harden my heart, even if only for a few hours, so I slip my fingers into his pocket and steal his keys.
“Why?” I ask.
“I never meant for it to be a one-night stand.”
“So, what, you were going to keep fucking me after you hired me?”
“I was going to marry you, but you put up boundaries and never once looked back.”
His tortured tone strikes deep in my heart, but I’m not ready to forgive him, so I stomp my heel onto his foot and shove my way out from between him and the car.
“Well, you turned into the biggest, meanest bosshole and terrorized me for eight goddamn years, and you expect me to forgive you after that explanation?”
I twirl his key fob on my finger and enjoy the darkening of his eyes.
“Fuck off, Mr. Pen,” I snarl before dropping into the driver’s seat and locking the car.
Fully aware he could unlock—or even turn off—the car from his cellphone, I start the ignition and peel out of the parking lot without adjusting the settings. Once out of range, I pull over, fix the seat and steering wheel, and continue onward.
It isn’t until I pull into the underground parking deck near my apartment building that I realize I chose a destination.
I stomp into my apartment, lock the door behind me, and stomp toward my room.
Aisha rises from the couch while Momo stays bundled in her blanket.
“Did you recognize him too?”
What? Who?” Aisha asks.
“Connor Pen. My boss. When he delivered groceries,” I snarl.
“We spoke to him on the phone, but he dropped the stuff in the hall and left. We never met him.”
“That’s not true,” Momo says. “We took turns watching through the peephole. I thought he looked familiar but you just said he was hot. Remember?”
“Oh. Right. Why are you so mad, Hils?”
“Connor is Heath.”
I should stop shouting, but the shock must’ve broken my volume control. Aisha and Momo stare at me like I’ve grown two heads. I throw up my hands and huff, intending to stomp away, but their gasps whip me back around toward them, searching for a threat.
“OMG, that thing is huge,” Momo shrieks.
Aisha grabs my wrist and sticks my hand in her face.
“This can’t be real, right?” she says.
Fuck. The ring is still on my finger.
“Oh, it’s real. I can tell from all the way over here. It’s from your boss Connor slash Heath, isn’t it?” Momo laughs.
I sigh.
“You said yes to a man then found out he’s the little boy you saved forever ago, and that’s why you’re mad, right?” Aisha asks.
She’s not mocking me. She’s trying to make sense of it.
“That’s the gist of it, yeah,” I say.
“I mean, you have every right to be mad that he kept it from you for so long, but also… it’s kind of sweet, isn’t it?” Momo giggles.
Double fuck. I signed a contract. They’re supposed to think my engagement with Connor is real.
I sigh again and rub my head.
“Yeah, maybe. I’m tired. Help me get a little break from him, please? Don’t let him in the apartment. And don’t ask him to deliver things either. He’ll barge in,” I warn.
“What did you do?!” Aisha asks in alarm.
Deciding to rip the bandage off all at once, I turn and call over my shoulder as I stomp to my room.
“I told him we’d move in with him tonight—yes, all three of us—then stole his keys and stranded him at Hannah’s.”
Momo chortles then breaks into full belly laughs. Aisha scoffs and shakes her head. Neither argues when I shut my bedroom door between us.
With the lock secured and my mind a mess, I drop my purse on the nightstand and flop onto the bed.
I don’t know how to even begin processing everything I’ve learned in the last twenty-four hours, and with no stimulation, I expect to run in mental circles, but instead I drop like a stone into deep sleep.
In a few hours, my sisters and I will move to Connor Pen’s townhome. Connor Pen is Heath. I’m marrying the boy I saved at the orphanage, but the marriage isn’t real.
Even with my mind trapped in endless darkness, tears flow down my temples and soak my pillow.
A door slams in my dreams. Drunken yelling lifts the hairs on my nape. My stepdad punches my mom.
Horror descends.
My soul cries out for Connor Pen. Not my boss.
Not the boy I saved. But the man who took my innocence and opened my world to the brightest colors.
The man who kept me by his side and entrusted me with parts of his business he refused to allow anyone else to touch.
The man who worked me to the bone but also ensured my pay covered all my sisters’ needs.
The man I’m going to marry.
The man I’ve secretly lusted over for eight years. The man I refuse to admit I love.
Connor Pen.