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“But who are you?” I asked. “And who is he? Are you him or is he you?”
By now, Victoria had walked over to the elevator. She looked from me to whoever was holding the elevator open and back to the exact-looking person across the room.
“I’m Victoria Hawthorne,” she said, walking into the elevator to stand in front of me. “It’s always been very difficult to tell them apart, until they spoke, that is. Please come back inside so we can figure this mess out.”
There’s a mess?
Victoria went back inside the penthouse. I looked to the one holding the elevator open. He looked like the same one I’d met in a different elevator. He had the same sweetness in his eyes. Then I looked to the other one. He looked exactly the same, except when he looked directly at me, it was a blank stare, like he didn’t know me. I had no idea what to do.
She said mess. Oh no! How do I keep getting in situations with men? What is wrong with me?
My cell vibrated, making me jump. I didn’t need to look at. It didn’t matter anymore who was messaging me. My mind raced. I wanted to run, I needed to run, but where?
“Imogen, I know you must have a lot of questions. Starting with why didn’t I tell you I had a twin.” August said.
“Your mother said fix this mess. What mess Asher?” I demanded. “Wait are you Asher?”
“No, I’m August Hawthorne, but I’m the one who has been with you this whole time.” August said never taking his eyes off of mine.
“So you were tricking me all this time?” I swiped at tears pooling in my eyes. “This was a game of some kind?”
“Not a game and not tricking you on purpose. Well that’s not true, but not tricking you to be mean.” August tried to explain. “Can you come in so we can explain the whole thing?”
“Please let me go,” I said quietly to the one who claimed to be August. “I need to think.”
The fourth setof eyes finally made his presence known. He walked to the elevator, but stopped before entering. Maybe he could sense my carefully checked, barely holding on, hysteria.
“Imogen, I won’t invade your space, and I’ll remove him from the doors so you can leave, if that is truly what you want,” he said casually, standing with his hands in his pockets.
“Who are you in all this? Are you another brother?” I asked, not moving from the back wall.
“The name is Sawyer Hawthorne. I’m their cousin from the Hawthorne side,” he said, not moving and not leaving. “I had nothing to do with this.” Then he pointed to the twin inside the room. All I did was give him a place to hide out for a few weeks.
“So, you knew they were tricking me and did nothing to stop it?” I asked. “My feelings in all this didn’t matter to all of you?”
“Imogen, that’s not what happened. I wasn’t supposed to get close to you, and he was supposed to switch back a long time ago,” the one by the elevator said.
“Who are you?” I asked, knowing it was the man I loved. “You’re not Asher Hawthorne.”
“No, I’m not. I’m August Hawthorne. I only did this switch to blindly help him out,” August said, throwing his head back against the open doorway in disgust. “Everything, except my name, has been the truth.”
“You proposed to me, but it wasn’t for you,” I mumbled, working it all out. “So, which Asher or which Hawthorne am I engaged to? Am I engaged?”
“I guess you’re engaged to me, but I didn’t personally ask you. It was the plan my mother, here, implemented,” the real Asher said, with his hip on the back of the couch. “I promise you I didn’t plan this, nor did August.”
I looked to Victoria for some clearer answers. She shook her head in exasperation. The real Asher didn’t look like he was very upset by things, and clearly he was used to smooth-talking his way around things, whereas my Asher…August, had mental anguish all over his face. My mind raced through album after album of minutes, hours, and days spent with August, falling in love.
“Imogen, please come in and have a tea, and let’s talk this out,” Victoria smiled with warmth that went all the way to her eyes, just like August. “Nothing has changed. You’re still engaged to Asher Hawthorne, you’re still getting the money, and you’re still free to go when you want. But it would be helpful to me if you could give it a year.”
“Victoria, I appreciate all the help you gave me getting away from Brice, and I want to help you, but this,” I waved a hand toward the twins, “this is unbelievable. And if I don’t get out of here right now to think, I’m going to go troppo.”
“I understand, dear. You go take the time you need to think,” Victoria said. “We’ll be here waiting to talk it out.”
“Imogen, please let me try to explain this to you,” August begged as the elevator doors tried to close, but couldn’t with him holding them. “How can you think it out if you don’t know the details, the why?”
“I told you not to lie to me. That’s all I cared about,” I said, calmer than I felt. “I don’t know if I can believe anything that you said to me all this time.”
“I’m in love with you. I’ll say it in front of everyone, including reporters, and blow this story out of the water if it means you will believe that I love you, and I never meant for this to happen,” August said, turning from holding the doors with his back. “Can we go to my penthouse and talk, please?”
