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“Did you try to pay him off?”
I nod at the same time she turns around. There’s nothing but hatred in her expression. No signs of love or any compassion even though I’ve just told everyone in this room I love her.
Her angered stare shifts to Wesley. “And, you so willingly accept that?”
Wesley tries to move to her but is stopped as she holds her palm up and demands he doesn’t take another step forward. Emerson bows her head, focusing on her hand, and removes the diamond ring from her engagement finger. She extends her hand and motions for Wesley to take it.
The tension releases from my muscles. The sudden lightness curing the doubt that washed over me only moments ago. Her ending their relationship for good in front of me means only one thing—she’s ready to commit and I can walk away and win our finals knowing the woman I love is waiting for me.
Wesley takes the ring from her silently with his shoulders slumped. His body shakes, again, his reaction to the drugs I know he takes quite often despite Emerson thinking he’s clean.
Finally, she meets my stare. I wait, holding my breath for her overdue smile and words to ease my insecurity. “I want you both out of my life.” She grits her teeth with an arctic glare. “I don’t care what happens with the rest of filming… I almost lost my sister today because of this mess. It’s not worth it. Neither of you is worth losing my family over.”
“Emerson,” I call, panicked. “I am your family.”
“You…” the fire burns in her eyes, wild and out of control, fueled by exhaustion and anger, “… especially you.”
“Don’t do this,” I warn her.
“You know what?”
she shoots back with a bitter stare. “You did this. Not me. I was looking for a friend that night at the lake. You took advantage of the situation. You had your fun, you played your game, and you won. Game over, Carrington.”
“It wasn’t a game, Emerson.”
“It’s always been a game with you. That’s what you do. You play, you aim to win. In this game, you’ve won. I call defeat.” Without any more words she walks to her bedroom and slams the door shut behind her. My chest is aching, desperate to follow her and fix us. But I know who I’m dealing with. Emerson isn’t one to easily forgive. She’s headstrong and determined. Chasing after her will only hurt me more right now. And she doesn’t realize she’s done just that.
I can’t stand being here a second longer. Without saying goodbye, I leave the apartment and head to the car downstairs. The paparazzi are animals, they have multiplied in those few hours that we’ve been here.
I drive the car out of the garage as they attack me like a swarm of bees. With my foot on the pedal, I rev the engine and get the fuck out of here hoping to never see this place again.
***
The last plane to Heathrow is boarding in twenty minutes. I fly through customs, avoiding the questions despite their need to pat me down like a drug lord fleeing the country, and run to the boarding gate with only minutes to spare.
Settling in my seat on the plane, I finally pull out my cell. Twenty-three missed calls from Ash.
It will be like pulling off a Band-Aid, painful at first but worth it in the end. Before the pilot warns us to switch our cells to airplane mode, I hit dial, dreading this call.
“What the fuck happened to my sisters?” he barrels through the phone.
“Ash,” I strain.
“No!” he yells, causing me to retract the cell from my ear. “You thank your lucky stars Tayla’s alive. But Emerson... I can’t fucking believe you. How dare you disrespect our friendship that way? And you lied to me. I’m your fucking best friend and you screw my sister over? You don’t think I know what you’re like? You manipulate women to suit what you want. But guess what, buddy? You messed with the wrong person.”
“Are you done?”
“Yeah,” he confirms with a baneful laugh. “I’m fucking done. Don’t come back to the apartment. Consider yourself gone from my life.”
And that’s what it takes.
A moment of insanity to make Emerson mine that turns into losing everything that’s important to me. Instead of realizing how lucky we are to have each other after Tayla’s brush with death, it broke us.
I’ve lost the two people who willingly took me in as if I were their child.
I’ve lost my best friend—my brother.
But most importantly, I’ve lost the woman I love.
