Page 93 of Stolen Moments

Right?

“Lex, where’s Lizzie?”

“I’m sorry.” He looks away in shame, his body caving in on himself. “Forget I said that.”

“You’re keeping something from me. Where is Lizzie?”

“She-She’s gone. She left me, and I’ve gone too far. There’s no way to back out of this. My parents won’t allow it.”

My chest caves in at his admission. I’m a horrible friend; I should have seen the signs. They were all there—Elizabeth’s mysterious absences, the dark circles under his eyes, the stupid suits. None of this is Lex. His meeting with my father makes everything clear. He put the company first and signed the papers.

Idiot.

No wonder Elizabeth left him. I love my friend, but when it comes to his parents, he’s a spineless coward. I feel for him, I do. But when you come from families like ours, getting what you want always comes with strings.

“You promised me that we would get out of this arrangement and it would never come down to us actually getting married. How could you hurt me like this? How could you hurt Mason? He didn’t deserve that, and neither does Lizzie. The woman you love. Remember her?”

“Of course, dammit! I know, okay? I said I’m sorry. I assumed he knew, like she did.”

My shredded heart flaps lifelessly in my chest, reminding me that I was the one who lied. I kept Mason in the dark—something Lex never did with Elizabeth.

“Well, he didn’t, Lex. I didn’t want to bring him into this mess. I kept him out, like Chris. I never thought you’d change the script and try to marry me.” My voice cracks, a sob breaking free, and my knees buckle.

“Shit.” He catches me and wraps me up in a hug—my head on his chest—rubbing circles on my back, soothing me. “It’s going to be okay.”

“You’ve ruined everything, you know,” I mumble into his six-thousand-dollar Tom Ford suit. I rub snot over his lapel and hope it and my makeup ruin this ridiculous get-up.

He chuckles. “I know.”

“He’s never going to forgive me.”

“If he lovesyou, he will.”

“Doubt it.” Stepping back, I take a breath. My eyes fall on the path Mason took. He couldn’t run away fast enough. I glance back at my friend, and he has enough sense to look ashamed. “Lex, I need to know. What changed? Why do this now?”

He runs his hands through his hair and tugs. “Fuck. I-I’m tired, Emmy. So fucking tired. I’ve wanted to take over the company since I was a kid and went with my grandfather to work.” He turns away, dropping his chin to his chest.

“I know.” Reaching out, I place my hand on his shoulder in comfort.

“Everything started to unravel at work. My father wants to retire, but you know he refuses to hand it over while I’m still unmarried. I brought up Lizzie to him and told him I was ready to marry her. But he shut it down. He said he would rather die than hand over the company to me if I was” — he uses his fingers to quote his father — “with that gold-digger. I was shocked. I figured, with time, he’d let our arrangement go. Lizzie begged me to stand up to him. We got into a huge fight. She said if I didn’t put my foot down with my father and put us before the company, she was done. I didn’t. I couldn’t. I’m so close to having everything I have ever dreamed of.”

“How’s that working out for you?”

He laughs at the irony. He’s not happy; I can see it in his eyes. “I fucked it all up, didn’t I?”

I nod. “Yeah. But if she loves you, she’ll forgive you,” I use his earlier words against him.

The difference is, Lizzie might forgive him. She might not come from as prominent a family as ours, but she’s a part of this world. She understands our way of life, his struggles, and the pressure he’s been under.

“I love her so much.” His voice breaks, and his shoulders shake.

While he might have just blown up my love life, I can’t help but comfort my friend. My heart aches for him. Pulling him in for a hug, he drops his head on my shoulders and cries.

“I know you do.”

Lex’s parents are as bad as mine, if not worse. The way they have treated Lex’s longtime girlfriend is appalling. She’s one of the smartest, sweetest women I know. She’s kind and compassionate. Who wouldn’t want a doctor with the biggest heart as their daughter-in-law?

Yeah, but she doesn’t come with a dowry in the name of Rhodes Publishing.

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