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“Do you love her?” I asked.
His eyes shifted to me. I could see he was going to deny it. But only for a split second. Because then his eyes softened and he looked coy. “How long have you known?”
I thought about the moment I’d found out about my best friend and Victoria. How I’d come home from an early gym class and sat in the garden with a glass of lemonade and my favorite Stephen King book, Dolores Claiborne. How I’d heard the soft moans drift over to me from the pool house. How I’d seen his face buried between Victoria’s thighs when I’d peeked in through the side window. How she’d arched her back as he made her come with his tongue.
I sat up. “Are you kidding me? I’ve known for weeks. You may think you can hide the fact that you’re all giddy over a woman, Jacob Campbell, but you can’t hide it from me.”
His handsome face broke into the boyish grin I was sure won a thousand hearts. “You don’t mind?”
I took his hand. “You know how much I love you. I just want you to be happy.”
“But what about Alex…”
I shrugged. I loved Alex. But I knew he could be difficult and ruthless. It was no surprise he was onto his fifth wife. I had never seen him be mean to Victoria but I’d heard her sobbing in her room one night when she didn’t know I was home. When I’d asked her about it the next day, she had denied it. Said it must’ve been Emilia, the housekeeper, and then chided me for eavesdropping. When I heard her sobbing a few nights later, I knew better than to bring it up again.
I knew she was unhappy. But it wasn’t always like that. In the beginning, she couldn’t keep her hands off my godfather. She was always laughing gaily, always touching him with affection. But they all started out like that. All of his wives. I never knew wife one, because she was gone before I came along. But wives two, three, and four, all got sucked into the darkness after a few years of marriage.
Victoria was nice. I liked her. She was much younger than the others. And she always treated me kindly. I figured if Jacob made her happy, then who was I to stop it? I also knew if Alex found out about it, there would be hell to pay. I didn’t see the fairness. If Alex was allowed his dalliances, why couldn’t Victoria?
“You didn’t answer the question,” I said, poking him in the ribs.
“Yes. I do.”
I laughed at him. “Well, well, well. Jacob’s got himself a lady friend,” I teased, poking him some more.
“Can you keep a secret?” he asked.
“Haven’t I already proved that? I’ve known about you and Victoria for weeks.”
“Good point.”
“What’s the secret?”
He looked around us, checking to make sure no one was about. He had nothing to worry about. Apart from Victoria inside the house, and a couple of security guards at the end of the driveway, we were alone.
“We’re running away together.”
I straightened. “You’re leaving?”
A weird sensation tightened in the pit of my gut. My best friend was leaving me.
“We need to get away from here.”
“But I’ll never see you again.”
“You’ll be okay,” he said gently. “You’re the toughest person I know.”
I looked away. Tears welled in my eyes and it was the strangest feeling. I wasn’t a crier. Hell, I wasn’t even sure I had all the emotions other people seemed to have. But now, sitting here with my best friend and hearing him tell me he was running away, I felt like crying.
“You could come with us,” he said.
I laughed through my sadness. “Yeah, being a third wheel sounds super appealing.”
His smile was weak. “We have to get away from here.”
“I know.”
“And you and Noah should too.”
“And leave all of this,” I said, gesturing to the immaculate gardens and the sprawling estate that had been my home for the past eight years.
Jacob’s eyes were gentle. “Is Alex still talking about marrying you off to Jean-Paul?”
A tiny coil of anxiety began to unfurl in my stomach at the mention of the arranged marriage between me and Jean-Paul.
He was the eldest son of one of Alex’s closest business partners, and recently Alex had gotten the idea in his head that our families should unite in marriage.
But I didn’t want to marry him. Hell, I didn’t even like Jean-Paul. He walked around like he was the most important thing on God’s planet. A gift to women. Rich. Powerful. All because his father was a well-known crime lord.
But Alex knew I would do anything for him and pushed me on the idea.
He assured me that the marriage would be a business arrangement, that it would strengthen ties between the families.
I could handle marrying Jean-Paul if it was a marriage of name only. But there was no way I was letting the arrogant jerk put his hands on me.
