Page 83 of Tied Up in Riches

“Hey, Brooke!” She smiles as I approach, then takes a bite of a Red Vine. “I can’t wait to hear about everything with—" Her eyebrows scrunch. “Are you okay?”

I nod. Then shake my head. I don’t have any clue. “Did you know?”

Her eyebrows scrunch. “Know what?”

“About Marcus’ money.”

“Oh. I mean, not really. It’s always been pretty clear to me he doesn’t have financial struggles, but I didn’t have even a guess at what that really looked like until Dean made us stop by his parents to get that tie before our flight last night.”

“A billion dollars.” I sigh. “That’s more than Beau’s entire family has. More than anyone I know at the country club–to my knowledge anyway. There’s like . . . less than three thousand known billionaires in the world. In the world, Maci.”

“That’s really impressive then. Don’t you think?”

“Yeah, it is . . . but.”

“But you’ve conditioned yourself your entire life to believe that money is bad.”

My heart feels like it’s actually thrashing against the inside of my chest. “That.”

“In the grand scheme of things, money can make up such a small factor.” Maci’s eyes wander to the corner of the room as she chews on her lip like she’s searching for the right words to help me process this. I reach for a Red Vine, biting off the end of it, having no idea how to work through this on my own. I’m reeling, my ears ringing as I try to work through the logic. It should be simple. It doesn’t matter that he’s rich. He’s a good man. A man that I’ve connected with in the past month. But how can I say that when I didn’t even know about one of the biggest parts of him?

“Remember the first time we hung out?” Maci’s voice breaks through my spiral. “In Thailand, when you invited me over and convinced me to share every detail of my dilemma choosing between Dean and Mack?”

“Yes.” I can’t imagine where she’s going with this. It’s a completely different situation.

“Our excuse is always that we’re protecting our heart, right? I mean that’s how it was with Mack. He was always the secure bet. He would have loved me until the end of time if I let him–no matter what problems we encountered. That was the risk in choosing Dean. He had never proven to me that I could count on him. For the longest time, I thought Mack was the safe choice because I could count on him. And I guess in a way, that is protecting my heart. That’s how it would be leaving Marcus behind, I think. Choosing the route that keeps you safe from a world you’ve had a bad experience with, the way Mack could have kept me safe from heartache. Choosing Dean was scary because it felt contradictory to what I thought I needed.

But sometimes we have to shift the expectations of what we have for our life. When we’re younger, we don’t know better. We don’t see all the options because our view of the world is limited, confined to whatever we’ve happened to experience. What has Marcus done that’s anything like Beau?”

Outside of his net worth, I can’t think of a single way he’s not the complete opposite of my ex. In replace of a response, I take another bite of Red Vine.

“Hasn’t he already proven there are exceptions?”

“Yeah . . . he has.”

“There’s this concept in psychology called mismatching experiences. The idea is that you free yourself from visceral emotional responses tied to prior experiences. You disconfirm your expectations by repeatedly matching them to its opposite. For example, in your relationship, Beau treated you like you were his assistant, or less than him, even outside of the office. What does Marcus do? In similar situations.”

“He gives me control, lets me take the lead.” Except in bed, I add to myself.

“And you’ve been thriving. Loving your work. Right?”

I nod. I noticed that too. My dad even said something about it.

“Your purple hoodie is the only thing from your past. Why’s that?”

I chuckle because it feels like she’s been preparing herself for this with how fast she’s shooting off questions. “Beau replaced everything in my closet one day. He said if I was going to be by his side, I needed to look the part. I tried to fight him, but he went on about the beauty of money and how I should appreciate it for things like that. I’d left that sweatshirt at Cam’s house that day.”

“Do you think Marcus cares about how you look next to him?”

“I’m pretty sure Marcus bought a bulk pack of black tees and cycles through them. He didn’t seem bothered when I went with him to the grocery store in my elephant pants and oversized T-shirt.”

“Did Beau even go to the grocery store?”

I shake my head with a chuckle. “Definitely not.”

“Didn’t you tell me once about how at a photo op Beau stood in front of you like you were just his assistant?”

“Yeah. He didn’t want people to see anything that could be considered PDA. He said it was unprofessional since I worked for him.”

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