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Because I couldn’t lie to myself any longer. I wasn’t okay with Finn going back to Raven. I couldn’t honestly say that it didn’t bother me and that they deserved each other and I was better off. Instead, hearing Finn say that he was going to marry Raven made me realize that I was falling in love with him.
But I had to tell Lucy something. So even though I feel horrible about it, I lied. Well, kind of. I said that I had just found out that an ex-boyfriend was getting married and it was upsetting me more than I thought it would. That was close enough to the truth that I appreciated her telling me that my feelings were normal and I’d be okay.
Fortunately, I was able to change the topic pretty quickly. Being out with Lucy was a good distraction last night. But this morning, I woke up and remembered everything that happened, and felt sick.
Now, I walk into the office and, of course, immediately see Finn. “Good morning, Emma,” he says.
I look at him, a mixture of rage and frustration and pain boiling inside of me. “We need to talk,” I snap.
After making sure my office door is closed all the way, I whirl around and glare at Finn. “You’re marrying Raven,” I say. “What the actual fuck?”
His face grows pale. “How did you know?”
“You and your brothers are loud.”
“Emma, shit. I’m so sorry,” Finn says. “I didn’t want you to find out this way.”
“How did you want me to find out? Reading it in the newspaper? That seems to be your preferred way of informing me about your relationship status.”
“Let me explain, please,” Finn says. “I tried yesterday but you wouldn’t listen.”
“So this is my fault? You couldn’t explain something to me so you proposed to her? That makes sense.”
“No! That’s not what happened, or what I meant. Those two things aren’t connected. And I haven’t proposed to Raven, not yet.”
I stare at him, surprised. “But you said –”
“I know,” he nods. “I’m going to propose to her. And we’re going to get married, and then I’m going to divorce her.”
I gape at the sheer idiocy of those words. “What? That doesn’t make any sense, Finn.”
“Look, Raven has threatened to sabotage Devil’s Advocate unless I get back together with her,” he says. “And she won’t be satisfied with just dating me. She wants an engagement and a wedding.”
“And presumably a life with you,” I add.
“Right. If I marry her, I’ll get a cut of her inheritance. It’s a lot of money, Emma. Enough to buy the firm more than enough time to not only strengthen our reputation, but protect us from future sabotage.”
“So you’re marrying her for just long enough to silence her,” I say.
“I mean, that makes it sound like I’m going to kill her.”
“Fine. For long enough to take her money.”
“That doesn’t make me sound much better.”
“That’s because you’re being an asshole!” I cry. “And an idiot. Lord knows I’m not Raven’s biggest fan, and her sabotaging the firm to get back at you is many different flavors of fucked-up. I don’t deny any of that. But you’re still playing with her emotions.”
“She’s a siren. She doesn’t have emotions.”
“If that was true, she wouldn’t be doing any of this.”
“I think I know Raven better than you do, Emma. This is a good idea. I get the money, and Raven gets a wedding. And we’d almost definitely end up divorced anyway. This is just speeding up the inevitable.”
“Wow,” I say, shaking my head. “You are really cocky.”
“I’m not cocky, I just know that this will work. And we’ll all be fine!” he adds.
“This is a very stupid idea,” I tell him. “No one will be fine.”
