52. An Impossible Choice
AN IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE
Lorelei
A warm breeze sailed off the bluff, rustling through my hair.
I dragged my fingers through it and grimaced at the dark roots already starting to show.
Damn it. I stared at the brilliant diamond winking up at me, paralyzed at the front step of our summer home.
The elegant Cape Cod that we’d be forced to sell at the end of the summer unless some miracle happened.
And my dad thought this diamond was that miracle.
But it was all a lie.
Mrs. Vanderhart would need her wedding ring back before long. I couldn’t keep it forever.
Axel had only bought me some time, but there would be no grand dowry that came along with this fake engagement.
I blew out a breath and forced my hand to the knob.
I’d been summoned by the senator, no doubt to discuss the terms of my new engagement.
Steeling my nerves, I twisted the ornate handle and stepped inside, shoulders back and head held high, ready for battle.
“Good morning, Miss Lorelei!” Gisella appeared from around the corner, a warm smile on her face. “How are you? You never come to visit anymore.”
“I’m sorry, G. Things have been kind of chaotic.” I gestured wildly, and her gaze traveled to the glittering diamond.
“Oh, my goodness!” she squealed, throwing her hands up. “You’re engaged!”
She lunged at me, curling her arms around my neck and squeezing me against her chest. Her hugs were the best, warm and comforting.
The extra meat on her bones was like diving into a soft pillow instead of the cold embraces from my skeletal mother.
Not that she hugged me much at all. Or was ever around.
Even amidst the financial crisis she’d found a way to escape to some hot spring in Zurich.
“Congratulations, Lorelei, I am so happy for you!”
“Thank you.” I attempted my most heartfelt smile instead of wasting thoughts on my absent mother.
“It’s that Vanderhart boy, right?”
I nodded.
“I knew it. I could tell right away that night you brought him home to meet your parents. Ay, the way he looked at you. I could tell it was love.”
Unexpected heat flushed my cheeks as I took a step back.
Love. Was it though? Sure, Axel had chosen me over Cordelia, but did he love me?
Because I was butt-crazy in love with him, and it was scary as all hell.
I’d never felt so vulnerable. All the walls I’d built over the years crumbled when he was around, leaving me naked and exposed.
He literally held all the cards right now.
“Lorelei, is that you?” A deep voice echoed from across the foyer, and I barely restrained a groan.
“I better go, G. You know how the senator hates to wait for anyone.”
She smirked and squeezed my shoulder. “Yes, of course, little one. You will have to tell me everything about this boy later.”
“I promise.” With another forced smile, I marched across the great room to the sound of my father’s voice.
The sliding glass doors to the backyard were open, and my father stood at the edge of the bluff with his golf club in hand. All of Copper Cove stretched out below, glittering yachts at the marina, Stonewall University to the right and the white-capped waves of the open ocean beyond.
The views here really were the best on the coast. I could almost understand why Dad was going to such lengths to keep this place. Almost.
“Hey, Dad,” I called out right as he swung.
The shot went wide, sinking into the brilliant dark blue depths below. “Damn it,” he grumbled.
“So, what’s up?” I walked up behind him, and he dropped the driver, reaching for the bottle of water beside the bucket of golf balls.
He took a long sip, eyeing me over the rim. “Well, I suppose you’re expecting a congratulations?”
A knot of unease twisted my gut. “It would be nice.”
“As impressed as I am that you were able to trap young Vanderhart so quickly, I’m afraid it’s too little too late.”
Ouch. Also… “What, why?”
“Lorelei, our financial situation has become desperate. I needed this money yesterday, not a year from now or however long it takes for the wedding preparations to come together.”
“I’m sure I could talk to Mr. Vanderhart. Maybe he could give you a loan or something…”
“Never,” he hissed. “Our family’s disgrace is not for the public eye.”
“So what are you saying? I did everything you asked me to. I found a new husband, one that I can actually stand and one that has plenty of money to save us. He’s perfect. What more do you want?”
The whoosh of the sliding glass door sent my heart skyrocketing.
“It’s not what he wants. It’s what I want.” That voice had my skin crawling. I spun at the glass doors, and every muscle in my body tensed.
“What the hell is Brock doing here?” My head whipped back and forth between the two men dead set on controlling my life.
“I asked your father to coordinate this meeting as you seemed reluctant to take my calls.”
Hell yeah, I was. The psycho had been blowing up my phone since the other night at the gala.
“Because I don’t want to speak to you. There’s nothing left to say.” I flashed him the back of my hand, the diamond sparkling beneath the early morning sunlight. “I’m engaged to Axel. I’m marrying him. You lost, it’s over.”
“I don’t lose, Lorelei,” he ground out, stepping closer. Then he turned his shifty gaze to my father. “Do you mind giving us a moment of privacy, Grayson?”
Grayson. Not senator, not even Mr. Battenberg.
Clearly, Brock Haversham thought he held all the power here. Well, I was about to burst his little bubble.
“Of course.” My dad scurried away like a scared little rat.
Unbelievable.
I slapped my hands on my hips and glared up at the asshole. “What do you want, Brock?”
“I came to save you from making a grave mistake.”
“Oh, really and what’s that?”
A dark gleam flashed across his icy blue eyes. “I couldn’t in good conscience just stand by and watch as you married a murderer.”
For the second time in a span of minutes, my stomach hit the soles of my sandals. A whirlwind of images raced through my mind. That house we’d broken into. Axel acting shady. Vaughn’s veiled threats.
I drew in a breath and hardened my resolve. No, it couldn’t be. Axel would never.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I gritted out.
He crept closer, a sinister smile curling his thin lips. “I had a feeling you didn’t know… Your little golden boy isn’t quite as shiny as he would have you believe.”
“If you have something to say, just spit it out, Brock. I don’t have all day.” I was impressed with the calmness in my tone because my insides were twisted into a monster-sized knot.
He reached into his gray slacks and pulled out his phone, his smug expression almost too much to bear as he scrolled to a video and pressed play.
The bluffs appeared under a pitch sky lit up by a million stars. Hushed voices and wicked laughter echoed in the darkness, a few of them I clearly recognized. Killian, Slate, Gage and… Axel.
Goosebumps rippled across my flesh as I watched Axel push a drunk pledge close to the edge of the cliff.
“Don’t be such a pussy.” Axel laughed, the cruel sound sharp and biting, and nothing like the man I knew. He took a long chug from the bottle of vodka, swaying. “You want to be like us, right?”
I reached for the phone, needing to see the horror unfold up close.
A guy wavered in the darkness, a sickly pallor coating his sallow cheeks.
The kid teetered on the edge, and my heart kicked at my ribcage.
No… Axel moved closer, taunting and teasing, swinging the vodka bottle an inch from his face.
Ax took another step, and the kid staggered back.
Then disappeared over the cliff into the darkness.
No! I gasped, all the air siphoning from my lungs.
Brock snatched the phone back and shoved it into his pocket. “You can guess what happens next…”
“No, it can’t be.” My heart drummed out a rapid beat.
His smirk only grew more brazen. “It’s all right here, Lore, clear as day. Your fiancé is a murderer. He got that poor boy drunk and pushed him off the cliff.”
My chest was tight, my throat so raw I couldn’t swallow, let alone breathe or think. “That’s not what happened…” I muttered. It couldn’t be.
“That’s how any judge on the planet will see it.
” His cold eyes glimmered with delight. “So this is how it’s going to go.
You will break off your engagement with Axel, and we’ll announce ours within a respectable amount of time.
We certainly wouldn’t want scandal tarnishing my family name.
And don’t worry, I’ll give your father his money the moment I have your word. ”
Oh, hell, no. I would never marry this man. I’d rather die. “And if I don’t?”
He retrieved his phone once again and waved it an inch from my face.
“I’ll give this video to the police and your precious Axel will spend the rest of his life in prison.” He shrugged. “You’re a smart girl, Lore, I’m sure you’ll make the right decision.”
Fuck. This wasn’t happening. Living in poverty rather than marrying Brock was doable, but how could I risk Axel?
I should have been horrified by what I’d seen, but I wasn’t.
Whatever happened that night, it wasn’t him.
Ax was the kindest, most generous and wonderful man I knew.
He wasn’t capable of such a monstrous act.
My hand shot out and wrapped around Brock’s phone, yanking it from his hold. It slid through my fingertips and crashed onto the floor with a smack.
“Oops.” I threw him a cheeky grin.
“I guess I was wrong about you being smart, Lorelei. All you did was add to your father’s debt. I’ll take the cost of my new phone from the dowry.” He flashed me pearly white teeth before bending down to grab the shattered cell. “And as I’m sure you know everything is saved on the Cloud.”
A growl vibrated my throat as I stared down at the man who could cost me everything.
“So, what’s your answer, Lorelei? Will you be my wife or will you condemn Axel to life in prison or worse?”