“I mean it, Marie. This isn’t a joke.”
“No, it’s just another attempt to bribe me.” I set my coffee back on the table. “The job. The trip. The bonus. It’s all been a way to manipulate me, whether it’s to get me away from your brother or just keep me for yourself. Those gifts, by the way, are completely inappropriate.”
He tipped his head. “So, you did get the knives.”
“You mean the ones that could buy an entire apartment in the Bronx? Yes, I got them. And I sent them back. This is exactly what I’m talking about, Lucas. Stop trying to buy me!”
“What else do I have to offer, then?” he demanded with movement that shook the small table and made our cups clatter in their saucers.
“I don’t know, now, do I?”
It wasn’t true. Lucas Lyons had so much more to offer than his wallet. He was thoughtful. Loyal. Secretly but unfailingly kind.
Or maybe those were just things he wanted me to think.
God, it was so confusing when he looked at me like he was desperate for my forgiveness.
We sat there, sipping our coffee and glaring at each other over the table.
“I could put in a word with?—”
“No,” I cut him off. “I do not need you buying my way into a restaurant here. Or in New York. Or anywhere else, thanks.”
He scowled. “Fine. Have you at least reached out to Xavier? He has restaurants here, so I’m sure he could?—”
“I want to find my own way,” I snapped. “Not everyone wants to depend on connections. Some of us just want to make it on our own merits.”
At that, he looked genuinely surprised. “Why in God’s name would you want to do that?”
I rolled my eyes. “Because not everyone depends on nepotism and bribery to get by in the world.”
“Then they’re idiots,” Lucas said plainly. “And if you think people ever make it without connections, you’re just being willfully naive.”
I glared. “I am not.”
“You are, Marie. Success doesn’t just happen with hard work. The American dream of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is a myth. I promise you, literally anyone who has ever accomplished anything has had to combine their work ethic with some amount of luck. Call it connections. Call it nepotism. Call ita system stacked against you. But it’s still a break, no matter how it shakes out. And you, sweetheart, have connections that other people would kill for. A restaurateur magnate who’s in love with your sister and a billionaire investor who is in love withyou.”
By the time he had finished his speech, my mouth was practically on the ground. I stopped mid-bite, my croissant suspended halfway to my mouth. “I—you’re—what?”
Lucas’s eyes didn’t stray once they met mine again. “That would be me,” he said before taking a quiet sip of his coffee. “In case it isn’t clear.”
There it was. A simple, devastating declaration that made my carefully constructed defenses crumble like week-old bread.
“I—you—don’tsaythat,” I sputtered.
“Why? Because you don’t believe me, or because you do?”
The dove in my chest flapped her wings again, hard. She wanted to fly.
I kept her in her cage.
“Because it doesn’t matter. Not after everything you’ve done.”
Was it a lie?
I wasn’t sure.
Part of me wanted to take him back. No, wanted to do much more than that. Wanted to kiss him, hug him, even love him back if he’d let me. That part was crying, battering the inside of my mind like a child in a time out.
