He sits beside me. I lace my fingers through his and hold on, because once I say what I'm about to say, he'll never let me hold his hand again.
"I need you to listen. And I need you to understand. Okay?"
He swallows. Closes his eyes. Like he's making a deal with himself to hear me out before the walls go up.
"Some complications have come up in LA. I've got another part to play, and I can't back out of the deal."
His eyes open. "What do you mean? Complications?"
"I'm going to have to go back there for a while longer."
He squeezes my hand. "Okay. We can deal with that. We've already said we'll do long distance if we have to."
I take a breath. The deepest breath of my life. And I step off the edge.
"I'm marrying Hudson, Ace. I have to. It's the only way the company gets signed over to him. That's his father's deal."
He rips his hand from mine.
The absence of his touch is instant, like a door slamming in a room that was full of warmth a second ago. He's on his feet. Pacing. His fingers running through his hair, pulling at it, his breath coming fast.
"Can't he find another woman to marry? Why does it have to be you? Why do you give a fuck about his company?"
He's trying not to raise his voice. I can hear the strain.
"Because I told him I'd help him. I got Gianna her meeting with Hunter. I've protected the ranch with everything I have. And now I have to see it through, or it all falls apart."
He shakes his head. Back and forth. Like he can physically reject the words.
"We can protect the damn ranch, Harper. We don't need Hudson. We don't need the Italians. We don't need Gianna or anyone else." He throws his arms wide. "This is what we've been doing our entire lives. They murdered Paulie. You think we're not going to explode their world for that? We're going to take Carson from Gianna. We're going to torture him until he signs over the land. And then we'll burn every last piece of it to the ground with every single one of those fuckers inside and stand there and watch it turn to ash."
His voice drops.
"We don't need help. I just need you, Harper. I just need you."
My heart splits clean down the center. Two halves. One that wants to tell him everything. One that knows telling him everything will get people killed.
"Please, baby." He turns to me, his eyes are red. "Don't marry him. I can deal with most things. I've dealt with the fake engagement. The business deal. The lying. Sleeping alone while you sleep under his roof. I've dealt with all of it."
He steps closer. His hand reaches for my face and then drops, like he's not sure he's allowed to touch me anymore.
"But marrying him? For real? Taking his name. Walking down an aisle. Standing in front of people and saying vows to a man you don't love. Him kissing you after you say I do." His voice breaks. "Well, I fucking don't, baby. I don't. I can't give youpermission for that. I can't sit in this house and know that you belong to someone else, even on paper, even for a day. Because it won't feel like paper to me. It'll feel like losing you. Again. For real this time."
Tears are streaming down my face. I can't stop them. I'm not even trying anymore.
“I’m begging you, don’t do this. Don’t marry him. Please let me be the only man you walk down the aisle to.”
"I'm annulling it the second the company is his," I say. But my voice is small, a whisper in a hurricane.
He visibly flinches at my words.
"I never thought I'd have to say this, Goldie." He stops and takes a breath so deep it fills the room. "But you just found my hard limit."
The words land and nearly choke me.
"If you marry Hudson, we're over. There is no coming back to me after that."
My mouth drops open. The floor disappears. The room tilts, and I'm falling through it, through every plan I made and every lie I told and every sacrifice I thought I was making to protect him.
