Page 77 of Until

Ryan turns onto another street.

“What about you? Why did you lie to me? Who are you really?”

I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I’ve been needing and wanting to know more about him for months now.

He doesn’t respond. I replay in my head how I got into this mess and how everything erupted that day.

I have so many questions, but I suddenly don’t want to talk about any of this right now. I need to think. I need to figure out what happened.

Why was my mother there? What was that look on her face? Is Alex all right? I didn’t mean to hurt him. Did Ryan say he loves me that day? Did he mean it?

The car jerks over to the side as the traffic whizzes past.

“You’re going to get us killed,” I snap, crossing my arms in front of me.

“Please just listen to me. I know there’s something between us that can’t be faked. That’s why I told you to come with me that day.” He extends his hand out and places it on my crossed arms. “But you’re right; I haven’t been honest with you either. It’s time for me to change that. If we’re going to have a chance together, we need to stop all of this lying and tell each other the truth.”

I nod.

He turns the car back onto the road.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“It’s not much further. I’ll answer all your questions there.”

The skyscrapers come into view as he makes a series of turns. We enter the stop-and-go of New York City traffic, and I realize we’re heading toward Central Park, one of the wealthiest areas of the city.

He turns into a private parking garage under a tall building. We get out of the car, and I follow him to a private elevator.

“Wait,” I say as I turn to him. I put my hand on his arm, and he looks at me, then quickly looks away. “Why did you follow me there that day? How did you find me?”

“I didn’t follow you. I got an anonymous text,” he says. “It said I should see what you’ve been up to. With the way you left, I figured I would have nothing to lose if I found you there. Part of me even thought maybe you sent the text. The address in the text wasn’t familiar to me. I had no idea where I was going or what I would see. I just wanted to find you because of how we left things.” He reaches over and pushes a loose lock of my hair behind my ear. “I hadn’t seen my brother in five years. I had no idea where he’d been living or what he had been up to. I wasn’t even sure if he was still in New York.”

The elevator doors open directly into his apartment, which is sparsely decorated with modern design pieces. The exterior walls are glass from floor to ceiling. The windows in the living room look over Central Park.

“This is why you never invited me to your place. You didn’t want me to see this dump,” I say with a wave of my hand, not bothering to mask my awe. I walk over to the windows facing the park and look down at the people below.

“Exactly,” he says with a laugh. “I couldn’t bring you here or to my other home, an estate outside the city, and expect you to believe that I was still a plumber. I am a licensed plumber, though. That’s true; I didn’t lie about that. Like you, I was telling little white lies in the hope that when you found out the truth, you could see it in your heart to let those things go. At first, I was protecting myself, but as time passed, I didn’t know how to stop lying because I didn’t want to lose you.”

I nod. From the looks of this place, he was really well off. Maybe even a billionaire like his brother. But none of that mattered to me. I would love him even without a job.

“Do you know why Alex wanted me to break your heart?” I ask.

“To see if I have one?” he scoffs. “That’s his story to tell, but it’s a little related to my inheritance. When our father died, he left me everything and disowned Alex. On top of that, Father wrote into his will that if I didn’t get married within five years, I would lose my inheritance.”

“Do you think Alex thinks it’ll transfer to him?”

“He doesn’t want it. But it’s been a long time since I’ve seen him, so maybe he changed his mind.” He pauses as he looks out over the park, then wraps his arms around me and holds me against his chest. “I want you to understand why I kept all of this from you. And as much as I don’t want to give my brother an out because I’m upset about it, I think I understand why he did it.”

“So you’re not mad at him? Or me?”

“No, not really, not anymore. I think I understand why he did it. I think you’ll understand, too, once you hear my story. But for it to make sense, I need to tell you everything.”

CHAPTER 30

Ryan

TEN YEARS AGO

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