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In walked Logan, who was clearly on a mission to harass her again about Payton and some scheme he cooked up to coerce her to help him with.
*
Finally in herroom, Payton allowed herself to begin to try to put all the information together. Once again she listened to her sister’s two messages, trying to read between the lines about what the problem was. She realized that the message did say ‘don’t leave town’, but she knew better. Lilly was too cautious and if her first thought was to leave, then that was what she was going to do. It was then it dawned on her that Dixon would be waiting for her at his place for their dinner date. How she longed for him to be with her in the hotel room, holding her tight, saying she was overreacting as he kissed her tenderly. Maybe he would even draw her a bubble bath. Debating back and forth on whether she should call him or her sister, she decided to give him a quick call from her cell phone.
“Payton?”
“Dixon, I’m so happy I caught you. I’m so sorry but something has come up, and I can no longer make it to dinner. I’m really sorry.”
“You have some nerve calling me.”
In the background, Payton could hear Dixon’s should be now ex-girlfriend saying, “Manipulative bitch.”
“What? I’m not following you. Are you in the middle of breaking up with Devon?” It was the only reason she could fathom for her being at his place.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t find out? Or were you just hoping you could take me for even more?”
Totally lost, Payton replied, “I have no idea what you are talking about. I think you need to spell it out for me, so I can assure you that you are off your rocker.” Payton might have been in love, but there was no way she would ever let someone talk to her like this. Dixon was going to be getting an earful if he did not start treating her correctly. What had changed since this afternoon?
“The cops were here asking questions and looking for you. They have informed me that two of my purchases are fraudulent and that I may be out the money, unless you return it.” Dixon’s anger was evident through the phone; she could practically hear him spitting out the words.
Payton nearly dropped the phone. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. All of a sudden, the buzz from the clock, TV and noises outside went silent. She felt like her world was collapsing around her. She was in the middle of something much bigger than her and she needed to figure out what. As she spoke, her mind kept turning on the problem.
“No, Dixon, this is a mistake. I wouldn’t do this to you; please, you need to believe me,” she pleaded.
“Yeah, well, it seems you had a lot of people fooled, especially me.” And then he hung up.
Lying back on her bed, she puzzled over how something like this could have happened. She needed a lawyer—she needed her sister.
Well, this was turning out to be a bigger mess than she thought. She still had no idea how she was implicated in this thing. How could she steal Dixon’s money and not know about it? Lying on her bed, looking at the stucco on the ceiling, she thought back to her dealings with Dixon. Nothing seemed out of place. What did the dealings have in common? They were great deals, but she was usually able to secure great deals for her clients. She wanted to play dumb, but who was she kidding. This was not something she could sweep under the rug and forget about. Jack had to be in the middle of this ordeal, as he was the only common denominator.
Her head was beginning to pulsate with a headache from the extra stress put on her. It made it difficult to think straight and focus on the details of Jack and the property purchases. If she were home she would have liked to go through the paperwork herself to look for any small error that could have occurred. Knowing she needed sleep to think clearly she allowed herself drift off to sleep. Promising herself that she would call Lilly as soon as she woke up and they could talk out the problem to fix it. She clung to the hope that Lilly would fix this, like she seemed to fix most of her problems that have happened to her.
*
Back in thebustling city of New York, Lilly sat with a warm cup of hot chocolate at Ryan’s place. She had just finished telling him everything about her relationship with Jack, or rather, Donald Hess. She knew that tomorrow morning she would have to go in to her firm and tell them everything. She was mortified. Just thinking of having to tell them that her boyfriend is a fraud was causing her to feel like a failure. But to also have to mention that her sister is screwing her boyfriend—screwing her—made it even worse. If only she could go back a few days when she just thought that being pregnant was her biggest problem. Now she would be a single mother whose child’s father would be in jail and her only sister would never be spoken of again. Even her career and reputation could be affected due to her relationship with Jack.
Lilly began to feel her eyes swell up with tears. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself down to try to keep the tears at bay. Breathe in, breathe out. She continued to blink to attempt to wipe the salty liquid away. The harder she tried not to cry, the more she began to feel the emotion take over the rest of her body. Her lips began to tremble and a sob bubbled up her throat. There was no stopping it, she was completely overcome with emotion. Tears began to flow down her cheeks. Maybe a good cry would help her feel better and make her feel like her problems were not as bad as they felt right now.
Ryan sat on the couch, not saying a word but keeping his arm around her in comfort. Without thinking, Ryan put his lips to the side of Lilly’s head and whispered, “Everything is going to be all right.”
That put Lilly over the edge. Turning around, Lilly replied, “Ryan, you’re a smart guy, but come on!” She took his arm and unwrapped herself from it. “Both you and I know this is bad. Let me spell it out for you—first, my only sister is a whore slut who is sleeping with my boyfriend.” Lilly was now standing, pacing the room, allowing her tears to run down her face, not caring to wipe them away. Her voice slowly rising as she attempted to control the urge to cry out load. “Then my boyfriend is a criminal who cheats on me and is going to go to jail, with my sister. I am pregnant with that asshole’s baby. Finally, I am going to lose my job because of my whore of a sister and asshole boyfriend. How is any of this okay?”
He stood up from the couch and took Lilly’s hand as he spoke. “Lilly, this is going to be okay because we are going to find out what really happened and, if necessary, prove your sister’s innocence.”
“You hate my sister.” Lilly interrupted.
Ryan continued. “If need be, we will start our own firm.”
Lilly interrupted again. “There is no us.”
Putting his hand over her mouth, he continued. “We are going to raise that baby, and I plan on making you my wife.” Getting down on one knee, Ryan continued. “Lilly O’Neal, I have never stopped loving you. Will you do the honor of marrying me?”
This made Lilly’s eyes swell up with more tears; she was like the Niagara Falls. “Ryan, get up.” There was no stopping the sobbing now. “I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me but myself. Especially you. I can’t handle sympathy from you. It’s just too hard.”
“Lilly, I mean everything I said. Wait until this whole mess is over. If you feel the same way about me as I do about you, then marry me.” Giving Lilly a kiss on her forehead, he said, “Why don’t you take my room, have a good night sleep and then we will focus on what to do first.”
*
