“Do you want to know what’s worse?” he asked quietly, but his voice was taunting now, like he had Theo by the balls and he knew it. “Let’s talk about how his family would feel about him marrying a woman from a blue-collar family.”
Theo’s jaw turned to concrete. “Avery, stop.”
“No, she deserves to know this,” he said, then arched an eyebrow at Theo. “Raquel has no connections and the only thing she’s got to show for her life’s work so far is a severely overdrawn business account.”
The muscles in Theo’s neck visibly flexed. “That’s enough.”
I looked between them, beyond confused but knowing I was definitely, obviously missing something here. Yet we hadn’t come to the bank for this. “Avery, just stop. I don’t know what’s going on, but you’re getting way ahead of yourself. Theo and I aren’t getting married anytime soon.Ifwe ever even get far enough to start talking about it, then?—”
I cut myself off when I realized he wasn’t listening anymore, his attention firmly fixed on Theo. “Have you told her this at least, man?”
Theo looked ready to commit a felony, red streaks splashed across his cheeks and his muscles completely tense. “Not here, Avery.”
“God, you haven’t told her much of anything, have you?” My brother barked out a dry laugh. “Do you guys talk at all?”
“That’s none of your business.”
Avery snorted. “The hell it isn’t. She’s my sister, and since you’re inserting yourself into my family’s business, I figured it’s only fair for me to do the same.”
I let out a quiet groan,soaware that people were really staring at us now. “What is happening? Can we please just do what we came here for?”
Avery’s gaze finally cut to me. “Has he told you how dating works in his family?”
Theo’s eyes drifted shut, but I frowned, feeling like a bucket of ice was settling at the very base of my stomach. “What?”
“They do arranged marriages, Raquel.” He didn’t look away from me. “After I found out who he is, I looked them up and I’ve been doing some reading about the infamous Westwoods. They don’t even try to keep it a secret that they don’t date or marry for love. To them, it’s all about the money and all those fucking connections he keeps bragging about.”
“That can’t be true.” My jaw dropped. “Nobody does arranged marriages. Not in this country, anyway.”
My heart started pounding when I looked at Theo and realized he wasn’t denying it. Avery arched an eyebrow at him. “You’re hiding from it, aren’t you? That’s what the word on the street is, anyway. You were supposed to be next and you ran.”
I glanced back up at Theo, praying he’d deny that, at least, but the look on his face now made my stomach evaporate for the second time in as many days. “Theo? Tell me he’s wrong.”
Those eyes slid shut again for a moment before he turned to look at me. “He’s right. In my family and many others like it, arranged marriages are the norm.”
“Arranged marriages are the…” I couldn’t even finish the sentence, my voice tapering off as I struggled to comprehend what we were even talking about here.
Avery nodded at me, one of his hands lifting slowly to point at the door. “Go get in my truck, Raquel. This is over.”
“No. I want to talk to Theo,” I insisted, my mind racing but my heart refusing to believe it could be true. “Alone.”
Avery blew out a harsh, disbelieving breath but shoved his hands in his pockets and started backing away. “Fine. You have five minutes.”
My head was spinning faster and faster with every passing second, but I nodded. “Sure. Five minutes.”
My brother gave Theo one last warning look, then took off toward the door, obviously intent on removing me from these premises before he kept trying to solve our actual problem. Meanwhile, I felt like he’d just yanked the whole world from under my feet, let alone just a rug.
Everything felt wrong all of a sudden, but I turned to face Theo anyway, my arms coming up to fold across my chest like a shield. As I looked up into those electric green eyes, I wondered who he really was, not sure I knew him at all anymore.
I’d spent weeks falling for this man. I’d trusted him with my body, my heart, and my past. I’d let him hold me while I cried and told him every last one of my innermost thoughts, fears, and feelings. “Why didn’t you tell me any of that? Why did you keep it a secret?”
My voice broke, my heart threatening to follow. To his credit, Theo didn’t look away. He held my gaze, as steady and as calm as ever, but I saw the back of his jaw ticking and the hurt in his eyes. I just couldn’t worry about any of it right now because, if I had known, I would never have let things get this far.
CHAPTER 29
THEO
“Why did I keep it a secret?” I repeated quietly, then scoffed down a humorless laugh and shook my head. “I don’t know, Raquel. Maybe because I was afraid you’d react exactly the way you are right now.”
