Page 141 of The Cinderella Arrangement

Stung, I looked into his eyes, which were hard.

“I took nothing from your dad. You can ask him that yourself.”

Jerk.

He sighed and the unyielding look vanished from his face. “Why are you here, Natalie? Didn’t I hurt you enough?”

“I’m here because I care. You’re in this mess because of me. I want to make it right, so why won’t you let me?”

The emotion in my voice affected him. He gritted his teeth and looked down. “I wanted to do this alone.”

“Why do you have to do it alone?”

“Because it’s my cross to bear.”

“I won’t say anything. I’ll just be there with you.”

A little smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “I wish I met you years ago.” Then he turned around and walked to the living room.

What does he mean by that?

I jumped as someone pounded the door and I peered through the hole, recognizing the two reporters. “Let us in!”

“Shit.”

Will reappeared in the foyer. “Who is it?”

“The reporters your dad hired,” I said in a quiet voice.

“What?” He whirled around to look at him. “Dad, what is she talking about?”

Mr. Pardini looked unconcerned with the menace in Will’s voice. “Yes, I hired them to clean up this mess.”

“No,” he roared. “I won’t have them following me around when I do this. This is my problem.”

“It’s my company! It’s my name!” Mr. Pardini shouted back. “Do you think you’re the only one affected by all of this? Your mother and I have tried everything to make you happy. I’m done! I’ve had enough of you. All you’ve done for me is make my life difficult. You embarrass me. I am through cleaning up after you.”

Mr. Pardini’s thin frame shook; flecks of spit flew from his mouth as he screamed at his son. William’s eyes widened, and he took a step back.

Wow.

But he still wasn’t done. “You’ll never make CEO of this company! I let you believe that you had a chance because I wanted you to focus on something in your life, but it didn’t work.”

“Wow.”

“Will—” I stopped as they both looked at me, surprised that I was still there. “It won’t be as bad as you think. You’ll get to meet them like you wanted, and the public will stop hounding you for retribution. If they see the families forgive you, they might leave you alone.”

“I don’t care about any of that. This was supposed to be private.”

“It stopped being private a couple weeks ago, son.”

William looked at me for help, but I shrugged and grimaced.

“Fine, but you’re staying here, Dad.” He nudged his head toward the door.

Mr. Pardini gave me a small nod as Will waited for me at the entrance. My heels clicked on the wooden floors and my heart hammered as I stood beside him and heard his fast breaths. He was scared to leave his quiet sanctuary. His hand twitched by his side and I lifted my hand to grab it. It was the first time we touched in days and my blood heated in response. I wanted to tell him how much I missed the feeling of his hands around my waist, his lips pressed against my face. I missed being around him, but all I did was try to squeeze some of those thoughts into his hand.

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