Page 34 of Four Love (Ever and Always 2)

“Because in some ways, my mom was right.” Trent could hardly think past the blinding fear and pain she’d planted in his core, reopening festering, never-healed wounds. “Our deal was money for fake marriage, and I might not be able to live up to my end of the bargain. I won’t blame you if you hate me.”

“Did you just call our relationship fakeagain?” Holly’s tone went up several octaves. “Because if so, maybe I don’t know you as well as I thought. Or maybe I was right the other night. You don’t see us the same way I do at all!”

“Holly, you’re mashing each other’s buttons.” Owen stood, holding his hands out as if trying to stop the disaster unfolding. “Stop and think about this.”

“No!” She glared at Owen, who sat back down. “First, he didn’t even consult us before making such a monumental decision, to give all that money to his black-hearted mother, who doesn’t deserve one penny when he was doing something good with it. So many people were going to benefit from it!”

“Including you?” Trent looked up at her, feeling beaten.

“If you insinuate one more time that I’m some kind of fucking gold digger, I swear, Trent…” She trailed off, her cheeks as red as when they made love to her. But then she stopped and blinked slowly before saying, “Except, I guess I am. I can’t give that money back. My mom needs it.”

She started to retreat one step and then another, dusting off Lorenzo’s arms when he tried to stop her.

“I would never ask you to.” Trent stood, holding his hands out to her, but she only backpedaled more, slipping through his fingers. “I understand what it means to you and your family. Let her file charges against me. The cops will probably be able to get the evidence to prove she was behind this and even if she can still sue me, we’ve got Ford, Brady, and Josh to help if they can put me on a payment plan. If all else fails, a few years of my life are worth sacrificing if it gets you what you need.”

“How can I choose between my mom and you? There has to be some other way.” Holly went pale.

“There isn’t.” He’d spent the past fifteen or so hours trying to brainstorm one.

“I won’t let you give everything up for me—your vision, your company, hell, yourfreedom. I won’t.” She kept reversing out of the kitchen and across the entryway until the doorknob jabbed her in the spine. “You’re going to change a hell of a lot of lives, like you’ve already changed mine. But only if you’re here to work on your inventions before your competitors do. I’ll figure this out somehow. I’m not worth ruining your future for, no one is.”

“I’m telling you, you are. That and more.” Trent held his hands out toward her.

“To me too.” Owen added, looking crushed. “I thought you understood that after last night.”

Holly’s gaze zinged between him, Owen, and Lorenzo, who was standing as still as a statue, his face frozen in horror as his worst nightmares were coming to life before their eyes. Her lip wobbled as her eyes filled with tears. She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I can’t stay.”

Owen cursed and rose as if to go after her.

“Let her go.” Lorenzo shocked them all, making Trent’s insides cramp. “If she’s going to bail, she doesn’t feel about us like we do about her. It’s better to know that now rather than later. Trust me.”

His bitterness kicked Trent in the nuts. He’d broken every person he cared for. He didn’t deserve any of them. “I’m just glad we had you for a little while.”

“I’m not going to stand here and watch her run away from us again. From what we have.” Lorenzo shot Holly a look so dead and devoid of the affection he always had for her that it chilled Trent to the bone.

This moment could ruin everything. As if his family hadn’t already taken enough, they were going to destroy this too. When would he fucking learn?

15

Holly felt sick. The room spun around her and she couldn’t make it stop, not with all this new information and the emotions shocking and freezing her as if she’d taken a snowball to the face. Owen’s betrayal, Lorenzo’s disillusionment, and Trent’s solemn acceptance bombarded her. How could she stay in the face of all that?

She just needed some air, space to breathe and think.

Lorenzo slapped his hand on his thigh. “I fucking knew it. Hell, maybe youwerein it for the money after all.”

He paused, staring straight into her eyes long enough that she could have denied it, but she didn’t. How could she when it was the truth? At first, all she’d thought about was her saving her mother’s life. If she denied that, she’d be lying even if they’d made it about so much more every moment since.

So he turned with a curse and stormed out the back door, letting it bang closed as Moose trotted after, too late to join him. The dog sat there, whimpering in Lorenzo’s wake.

Holly knew exactly how he felt.

“How could you do that?” Holly shrieked, her anxiety morphing into rage that she vented in Trent’s direction. “How could you listen to your mother? Let her get her way?”

“Holly, it was the only way to keep you safe!” Trent threw up his hands. “Don’t argue with me about this.”

“I’ll argue with you about any damn thing I please.” She crossed her arms. Wasn’t it only a few hours earlier that she’d convinced herself she could conquer the world if she worked problems out with them instead of bailing?

But that had been when she believed he cared about her opinions, when she thought he would consult her, Lorenzo, and Owen before doing something reckless that could endanger everything he’d worked for. When she believed he’d valued their relationship more than his family’s money.

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