Page 61 of One Lovely Lie

“Well, I’m not marrying her,” I snap, swatting her hands away. “This is so fucked up. How could you do this to me?”

My father looks around quickly and pulls me closer to him. He places his hand on my shoulder and lowers his voice. I’ve never seen my father this way. He’s usually so relaxed, happy, and charming, not this stoic, serious man in front of me. “Let me be honest with you, son. The company…it’s not doing too great.”

“What?” I gasp, shaking my head. “That can’t be right. You told me we had a successful quarter.”

“I lied,” he admits, his blue eyes cold and unforgiving. “We haven’t been doing okay for a while, but I didn’t want you to know.”

“Why? What’s going on?” I ask, wanting to understand how my future has somehow changed so drastically without my knowledge. “Did you make bad investments? Lose capital? What is it?”

“It’s nothing like that, son. It’s just the natural food chain,” he responds in frustration and if I’m interpreting correctly—embarrassment. “Black Pharmaceutical, they’re beating us at every turn. To secure our future, we have to merge with the Duboit Corporation.”

“And this is how we do it?Marriage?” I ask incredulously, wondering how I’m the only one that sees how unreasonable this is. “What is this? The sixteenth century?”

“It’s business politics,” my mother adds matter-of-factly. “You know all about this, sweetheart.”

“It’s the best way to secure a permanent merger.”

“You’ll be helping us save the company.”

“It’s just marriage. Not everyone marries for love.”

ButIwas going to.Iwas going to marry for love.

I was going to go to Harvard with Magnus, live together, get engaged, and eventually marry. We haven’t talked about it, but I know we’ll want at least two children, a dog, and a house out in the country. We are supposed to have an incredible future together, the future I’ve yearned for, the future that I suffered for.

And it’s all going to be ripped away because my parents want to use me as a pawn?

“There has to be another way,” I say breathlessly. “This isn’t reasonable. I’m not doing it.”

“There isn’t another way, son,” my father says, looking a bit frantic at my refusal. “We’ve tried but the Duboits are traditionalists. Florence hasn’t been the easiest to match up—the poor girl isn’t that bright—and this is what they want.”

“I’ll walk away,” I threaten half-heartedly. “Magnus and I—”

My mother furrows her eyebrows. “What, sweetheart?”

“Magnus and I are together, Mother. We’re in love,” I admit, reaching out to hold her hands, hoping that she’ll have even an ounce of sympathy. “We…you can’t do this to us.”

She smiles softly at me as she cups my cheeks. There’s understanding in her eyes, the love a mother has for her son, and I think everything is going to be okay. She’ll show me that she has a heart, that they aren’t cruel, that this is just a nightmare I’ll wake up from. That I’ll wake up in Magnus’s loving, comforting arms.

“What about what you’ll do to us?” she whispers sweetly, rubbing her thumbs across my cheeks. “This is for the best. He’s moving on without you. It’s time for you to move on too.”

I shake my head as tears well up in my eyes. “I…”

“Please, son,” my father says, grabbing the back of my neck gently. “I’ve never asked you for anything, but I’m begging you to do this.”

And I don’t know what to say. I’m frozen in time. I hate the fact that a part of me wants to help them, but I can’t. I just can’t. I love Magnus more than anything. More than myself, more than my parents, and more than the company I was set to inherit.

All I know is that there isn’t anything I wouldn’t give up for him.

I pace nervously as I wait for Magnus to arrive. I texted him over an hour ago to meet me in the woods since Armory Prep is crawling with parents right now. He still isn’t here yet and I’m kind of freaking out. My mind just keeps replaying that horrified look on his face when Florence introduced herself as my fiancée. He went off with his father after that and I didn’t get the chance to ask them what they talked about. All I noticed was that when he walked away, he wasn’t the same Magnus from this morning.

The rustling in the trees draws my attention and let out a sigh of relief as Magnus appears. He looks disheveled, upset, and despondent, but he’s here.

“Magnus!” I shout, rushing up to him with all the need and desire in the world. I move to kiss him, but he turns his head at the last moment and my lips end up grazing his chin. I stagger back, shocked. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” he repeats, curling his lip at me as he shakes his head. “Everything is fucking wrong, Daniel. You’re getting married.”

“No, I’m not. What’s wrong is that we don’t have a plan,” I say, determined in my decision. I reach out for his hands and hold them close to my chest. “What are we going to do, Mag? I know your parents will take away your trust fund if you don’t go to Germany, but I think my parents will be more reasonable. Maybe we could—”

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