Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 97865 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97865 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
“Am I supposed to feel sad for you? Did you. . .?” I look down at the photos. “Are those photos—”
“I need you to hear me out. Please sit down.” I don’t want to, but my legs are shaking so badly I do. “Two years later, I returned home from Europe. My father called me into his office as soon as I landed, only to ambush me with those photos.”
I squeeze my eyes closed. How could he do something so horrible? “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because they’re a lie.”
“Pictures don’t lie, Theo. She doesn’t look very willing—”
His glass bangs onto the counter. “I’m not a fucking rapist. Those images are fake. I have no idea who that girl is. And I have never touched drugs.” My brows crease as I look at the images. “I don’t know how those were created or altered, but that shit never happened. I went to a hotel with Alana and woke up there. Without her or anyone else. The problem is, Alana claims otherwise.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It was her word against mine. She told her father I was messed up and ditched her at the party. That she was never at a hotel with me.”
“What? Why would she do that?”
“Because I think that was their plan all along.” He’s losing me again. “My father showed me those images with Charles Hill sitting there. I argued my innocence. Told them to check the hotel cameras, my credit card. But it was all wiped away. There was no evidence I was ever at the hotel that night.”
“How?”
“Because they had a plan. They told me they paid off the girl I’d supposedly raped, and Alana lied and said she was with me that evening. Those images would disappear, my name wouldn’t be ruined, and I would stay out of jail. . . with conditions. If I accepted their terms, I would have to play my part and marry Alana when the time came. ”
I don’t know how to digest this. It’s crazy. How can someone create such a disgusting scenario and cover it up? How can someone force. . . I shake my head. “I don’t. . . this is—”
“Crazy? Fucked up? I know. I’ve been living this nightmare for the past five years.”
He takes a step toward me, and I tense, stopping him. My denial of his touch hurts, but he doesn’t advance. “I was born and raised to be exactly who you pinned me as, an egotistical asshole. I would run my father’s company when he stepped down and take my place in a role already mapped out for me. When the time came, I would become CEO of Monroe Investment Corp, marry Alana, and together, we’d continue to build an empire.”
Hearing him say that out loud churns my stomach. Another tear falls. Ashamed, I turn my cheek and wipe my face. “I don’t want to hear any more of this.”
“I need you to. It was either marry Alana or lose everything. I never chose this. Or her. I can barely stand looking at Alana.”
“Theo, this isn’t the medieval times. Your father can’t force you to marry someone. It’s called saying no. If you’re innocent like you claim—”
“I am innocent.” He runs his hands through his unruly hair. “It’s not that simple.”
“How is it not?”
“Because it isn’t!” he snaps but regains his composure before speaking again. He turns back to me. “There was a point in my life where I only cared about power. Wealth. Money was my drug, an addiction I never wanted to give up. My father made me that way. He created a version of himself in me, knowing that’s what it took to stay on top. At first, I didn’t believe him when he presented me with these insane terms. You’re right; no one should be able to force someone into marriage. I would come to find out that it is possible. I wanted the whole mess to disappear and thought it would with time. So, I conceded. I shut that part of my life off, signed my life away, and buried myself in work. I knew, once that merger was ready to go through, truth or not, I would marry Alana.”
“And now it seems you’re engaged. Why did you bring me here?”
“I never proposed. That was my father’s doing. I want nothing to do with Alana.”
“Oh, give me a break. The perfect couple? Please. Are you seriously trying to tell me you’re not into her? That this is just a scam?”
“Yes. Because it’s the truth. I told you. We had that night in the hotel and a few other times that summer, but it was all meaningless.”
“What’s your point?”
“I haven’t touched her since.”
I shoot up from my chair. “I’m not here to be played. If you think I’m going to believe you, you have—”