“I’ll give you my card,” Ezra says before Noah can utter a word.
Noah keeps quiet, letting me decide if I want to accept the offered help. I slightly shake my head, so he pulls a wallet out of his pocket, takes out a black card, and passes it to me.
“Give her my card.” The jerk keeps talking, but we both ignore him.
I take the card with a quiet “Thank you.” He just nods with a loud sigh and twists in his seat again to face Ezra.
“I’ll drop you off at the hotel and then drive Maeve to wherever she needs.”
“She goes to the same hotel,” Ezra orders through his teeth, using that commanding voice from the coffee shop.
I jump in my seat and face him. “Stop telling everyone what to do! I don’t want to be on the same planet with you, let alone a hotel!” I point my index finger at his face. “I don’t want to see you. It was just the island, right? No backstories, no attachment. Just passing time and trying to survive, right?” I start laughing at the end of my speech, and somehow, even my laughter is pathetic.
“Maeve.” His breath hitches. “I said I was going to tell you tomorrow, but he showed up before I could say anything.”
I sneer at him like a wild animal—I can’t believe he’s blaming his brother for showing up and preventing him from telling his fucked-up story.
I raise my fist in the air, imagining shoving it into his mouth so he can’t say a word. “Shut it.” When I turn away from him, I say, “You had plenty of time to tell me everything, and yet you haven’t. I have to see my family. I don’t have a choice. It was supposed to bea reunion. I’m already crawling to them with my tail between my legs. And you just took my tail away!”
Noah swallows. “I heard.”
My head whips toward him. “I see. I bet it was a good story.”
He winces. “Not particularly.”
“What the fuck is going on?” Ezra pushes his face between the seats, but neither of us gives him a response. I’d like for him to know how it feels to be left out of the whole story. Just like I feel right now. And betrayed. I want him to feel very betrayed.
“Are you sure you want to do it now?” Noah’s eyes shoot to the back seat for a moment.
I sink back into my seat. “No, but I don’t have a choice.” I shake his card in the air. “I’m keeping this though. I’ll pay you back.”
He waves his hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. We’re almost family now.”
We both wince at the reminder of it.
The work talk is forgotten, all of us go back to our own thoughts, and the driver turns up the volume of a cheery song higher. It’s an old song I used to love, but now it will always be associated with this miserable experience in my life where I just found out that the man I love belongs to my sister.
25
Ezra
My chest aches. I think I’m about to get a heart attack. Why the fuck did my brother open his big mouth and spill what I began suspecting all along? I knew something was wrong. And he knew too. The more he looked at her, the more I knew.
I saw how all the blood drained from her face. I knew this was the moment I lost her. She detached herself from me more effectively than I’ve been able to detach myself from reality the moment my brother showed up in our little paradise. Spending these days on the island with her was the best thing that has ever happened to me.
Me begging for her to look at me did nothing. And even if she did, what the fuck would I say? Yes, I’m an asshole who slept with you while I knew I was going to get married in a few days. I haven’t even seen the bride. Not once. Let alone kiss or fuck her, but it doesn’t matter now. It’s her sister, andshe’ll never forgive me. I don’t even know if I want her to forgive me. What will it change? A chance of making her my mistress after?
What are the odds of them being related? I must have done something really bad in my previous life if fate has done me this dirty.
I felt so alive. I don’t even remember when I’ve had a similar feeling before, and like an addict, I couldn’t say no to it. I knew she’d be the one to get hurt in the end. I knew I’d have to go through with the deal. It’s the only way to save our company. Something that has been in our family for four generations. Something I’ve spent my life rebuilding and prospering. We have almost doubled our profit and employees for the past five years. And yet, my company is about to be ripped away from me.
I should have told Maeve everything yesterday, right after we had sex, and explained that it was an arranged marriage, and I didn’t have a say in the matter.
But the day was too good to ruin.
And now, everything is ruined.
I wish I could blame my brother. I wish.
