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“What? Why?”
I’m wondering that myself.
My hands gripped the splintered edge of the crappy kitchen table. “I didn’t want him to lose his fortune. He shouldn’t have to choose between me and five billion freaking dollars.”
“Are you telling me he turned down the money for you, and you rejected him?”
Fury smoldered from Natalie’s eyes. “Well, yeah.”
Her hand whirled across my vision as she slapped my head. “Are. You. Completely. Mental?”
Jesus.
“It’s not just the money, Nat. It’s his job. Probably his house, too. He’s—”
“He’s perfect for you, you bleeding idiot!”
I’d never seen her so upset. She slammed her fists in the kitchen table and shook her head, gazing at me like I was something under her shoe.
“I know he is. He was the best thing in my life. When we first started out, I thought he was just going to be a typical spoiled rich boy, but he’s not at all like that. Luke made me feel like I was normal. He made me feel cherished, and I’ve never felt that.”
“Then why the fuck would you ditch him like that?”
“His dad called and demanded that he stop seeing me, or Luke would never see a cent of that money. He wouldn’t leave me. S—so I left him.”
She stared at me, slack-jawed with shock. “I don’t get it.”
“I can’t live knowing I’m the cause that everything went to shit around him.”
She looked up as she heard the tremble in my voice. “How are you holding up with all this?”
I covered my face with my hands. I tried to shrug it off, but my breath choked and Natalie’s warm hand touched my shoulder. It hurt. A lot. I wanted him more than anything in my life—more than I wanted to breathe.
Is Natalie right? Am I going to regret this forever?
“I told him I didn’t want him if he was broke.”
She made a small gasping sound. “Jesus, Jessica.”
“I had to!” I said, lifting my head. “If I wasn’t a complete bitch to him, he would have never let me go.”
And I love him too much to see him grow to resent me.
I thought of the old saying, “Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
Whoever came up with that was full of shit.
It was far worse to have a brief taste of true happiness, only to have it ripped away forever.
Ignorance is bliss.
Natalie’s gripped my shoulders and hugged my back. “You need to talk to him. Tell him you were talking out of your ass.”
“No, I won’t.”
“Yes, you will. He’s not a guy you throw away!”
“What’s the point? He would’ve tossed me aside to marry ahigh-society girl, eventually. You know I’m right.”
