Page 68 of Falling for the Wrong Billionaire
“I know you’re hurt, Liam,” Bryan says quietly, “but you’re not seeing it clearly. You’re assuming she meant to hurt you, that she used you. But maybe, just maybe, she didn’t know how to tellyou. Maybe she didn’t know how to explain what she was going through.”
“Don’t,” I snap, cutting him off. “You don’t understand. You weren’t there. You didn’t see the way she looked at me. You didn’t see the way she shut me out without a word. How on earth could I ever trust her again?”
I lean forward, rubbing my hands over my face. “I don’t even trust myself anymore. I was stupid enough to fall for someone who clearly didn’t care.” I laugh bitterly, shaking my head. “I’ve spent so much of my life pushing people away, avoiding love because of what it does to you. And then, of course, I go and fall for the one person who can break me.”
Bryan and Nate sit in silence, and I can feel their eyes on me. They’re waiting for me to stop. To breathe. To let this all go. But I can’t.
“I don’t want to be this guy,” I continue, my voice shaky now. “I don’t want to be the guy who believes in something, only to have it ripped out of his hands. I’ve always been afraid of that… but I let myself fall for her. I let her in. And now, I’m paying for it.”
I pause, my voice lowering. “And I can’t stop thinking about her. I can’t stop wondering why she couldn’t have just been honest with me.”
Nate sighs, leaning forward a little. “Liam, you know you can’t control what other people do. You can’t make someone open up to you if they’re not ready. But that doesn’t mean you have to shut yourself off from love. You’re not beyond redemption.”
“You can’t push everyone away just because of her,” Bryan adds. “You deserve to be happy. You deserve someone who will give you the same love you give them.”
I scoff. “Love? What’s the point? She didn’t even care enough to explain why she did what she did. How can I trust anyone again?”
“You’ll find a way,” Nate says, his voice steady. “But you have to let go of this anger. Let go of the idea that everyone’s going to hurt you. Because if you keep holding onto that, you’ll miss out on something real.”
I clench my jaw, my fists tight at my sides. “I don’t know how,” I mutter, my voice barely above a whisper. “I’m tired of being afraid of being hurt, but I’m even more afraid of loving someone who’s just going to leave me.”
I sit there in silence for a long while, the weight of everything pressing down on me. I can feel my chest tightening again, that ache in my heart growing worse by the second.
Nate stands up, clapping me on the back. “I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. But you have to let go of the past, Liam. You have to stay open for love. I know it’s hard, to believe in it. I just want you to be happy, Liam.”
I nod slowly, not entirely convinced. But there’s something in their words that makes me think it’s worth a shot.
I grab my coat and head out with them, my mind still swirling with everything that’s happened. But one thing is clear — I don’t know how to stop thinking about her. And I don’t know if I can ever truly let her go.
Chapter twenty-two
Lucy
I can’t breathe.
The weight of everything feels heavier than it’s ever been before. It presses down on me like a mountain, suffocating me with every step I take.
Liam’s face haunts me. The way his expression shattered when Theo introduced himself as my fiancé. The rawness in his eyes — the pain, the betrayal. I can still see it as clearly as if it happened yesterday.
I try to push it away, but it lingers. The look in his eyes — so full of confusion, of hurt. I never meant to hurt him, not like that. But I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t stop any of it.
How do you explain something like that?
How do you explain that you’re stuck in a life that’s already been planned for you? A life you have no control over? A life where love doesn’t come into the equation?
I’ve never felt more trapped than I do right now. And it’s not just the engagement, the wedding that’s waiting for me. It’s the fact that everything I’ve wanted — everything I feel for Liam — is slipping through my fingers.
I hate myself for doing this. For letting it get this far. For hurting him.
But how could I have known? How could I have known I’d fall in love with him?
I glance at my phone, the screen dim as the notifications pile up. Another message from my father asking about the wedding preparations. He’s anxious, as always even if he is miles away on some business trip. He doesn’t understand the pressure he’s putting on me. But that’s how he is — he’s always been that way.
I can’t bring myself to reply.
Instead, I push the phone aside, trying to shake the feeling that everything is slipping through my grasp.
I hadn't even gotten a chance to say goodbye because my so-called fiancé decided to come a week before I was supposed to return. Apparently that man Mr. Fernandez who Liam introduced me to is one of my father’s associates, and he had told him about seeing him with a man. My father thought the best line of action was to speed things up by sending Theo to get me without prior notice.
