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Cooper instantly returns to the guy I don’t recognize.
This fight seems to be about me, about a lack of communication and trust. But it’s deeper than that and I can’t deal with it. I don’t want in on the drama.
“Let’s go.” I tug Sybil back to my side and we walk out of the party together.
This time Cooper doesn’t follow.
My aunt and uncle are already waiting in the Bronco as we climb in, the air conditioning on full blast despite the day’s heat fading. Maybe Amelia’s hot flashes are acting up but more likely they’re overheated from being upset. I feel like we arrived seconds after they finished a screaming match; the energy is too tense. Everyone is silent as we drive. I don’t know what to say, but maybe for once, none of them know what to say either.
I learned things tonight that I wish I’d never have known, but now the truth is out there and I can’t take it back. I try to study my uncle’s profile as he drives us home, but I can’t look at him for too long without imagining him cheating on my aunt. The fact that the family is still together is nothing short of a miracle. I’m sure marriage can be hard and sometimes cheating happens and spouses can forgive and make it work, but I personally can’t imagine forgiving infidelity. Especially not at that level.
This wasn’t a random hookup.
This wasn’t a drunken mistake.
This was a full-fledged affair with one of their best friends. I would never be able to let someone back in after a betrayal so deep and public. How much therapy have they gone through and is my aunt really okay with everything? She obviously hasn’t healed if tonight is any indication, but then again, I can’t judge. I have no idea what healing from that would even look like. Ethan and I were never together for real, never married, no cheating—and I still have miles to go before I’m healed from what happened.
Poor Amelia.
I can’t help but see their marriage through a whole new lens. Maybe they only appear to be perfect. The outside could be an illusion when on the inside they’re barely hanging on. They could be on the brink of divorce for all I know. So what would happen if they found out the truth about me and Ethan? Would it tip the scales too far in the wrong direction?
And that’s when the question hits me, the thought that cuts the deepest, that takes my world and sends it spiraling completely off its axis. Did Ethan know who I was the whole time?
Because not only did I look like his ex, but I was related to his ex. I was orphaned, working for them, essentially homeless, but I was cousins with the one that got away.
All this time I thought he wanted me because of my resemblance to Sybil but what if he wanted me as some sick game to get back at her?
And to get back at Gregory too.
Which would explain why Conrad wanted me to hook up with him in the first place and why Cooper wasn’t allowed to. Because Coop never dated or was engaged to a Laurence. My stomach goes hollow at these thoughts and suddenly I’m carsick and shifting my weight over so the AC is blasting on my face. I close my eyes and try to relax.
If this is all true, then it’s only a matter of time before the Kings tell everyone about what Ethan and I did. Because if they want to take down the already crumbling Laurence family once and for all, exposing my affair with Ethan could be exactly how they accomplish it.
Clank! Clank! I wake with a start, eyes popping open. I sit upright and peer through the darkness. Adrenaline ping-pongs through me as my inner alarms blare. I attempt to clear my mind, to wade through a fog of unsettled dreams.
Then I hear it again. It’s a light tapping on the glass door to my balcony. I should scream but I don’t. I should run away but I stand, my nightshirt dropping to my thighs, and pad to that door. With a slow breath, I slide the curtains aside.
The man standing there is a broken one.
Not a conniving one. Not one set on revenge or on destroying a family.
The expression on his face is of utter devastation.
Maybe it’s because I’m still half-asleep but before I can think what it means or talk myself out of it, I unlock the door and slide it open, stepping outside. “Ethan? What are you doing here?” I whisper.
He’s quiet for a moment. “Can we talk?”
“We already talked.”
A moment passes between us. There’s so much left to say and we both know it, but I can’t be around him without spilling my guts.
It’s been two days since the yacht club party.
Two days and I haven’t been able to get him out of my mind. He’s part of me now, under my skin and in my blood. Seeing him again made me realize how much I missed him and how angry I’ve been that he hurt me. The truth is that I fell in love with him. I didn’t even have a choice. And even now I still feel that love underneath all the hurt. I still feel forever connected to the man who calls me Juliet even though he shouldn’t.
It wouldn’t hurt if it wasn’t love.
And how is that fair? I don’t want to feel this way, so burdened by heartbreak every fucking second. I don’t want the memories. I didn’t ask for this.
