Page 19 of A Possibility of an Unexpected Second Chance

“I’ll pay you. How much do you want?”

He gaped at her. “Seriously? You’re offering to buy me off?”

“How much?” She pulled a checkbook out of her purse. “I can write a million-dollar check.”

A coldness gripped his stomach, and he wanted to throw up. No wonder Lana felt suffocated. With money like that to toss around, Gail could get anyone to do anything she wanted. But not him. He swallowed. “I don’t want your money.”

“Two million.” She held her pen as if she were going to write the check. “Just leave Lana alone.”

“I’m not going to take anything from you. Money isn’t everything, you know. And I’m sad for you that you think it is.”

She slowly lowered her hands. “You’d give up two million dollars to stay with Lana?”

He squinted at her, unsure of why she couldn’t understand. “Lana is everything to me,” he said, his voice breaking, emotion closing his throat. “I would give up my life for her.”

“Do you really love her?”

“Yes.” He knew it. He hadn’t stopped loving her, even when they were apart.

“Then I’ll stop interfering.” Gail took a step toward him. “You’ll have my blessing.”

Hayden stumbled, his legs suddenly weak. “I don’t understand.”

Gail let out a breath. “I’ve been married five times—none of them successful. All of them were conniving money grabbers. I don’t want that for my daughter.” Her gaze traveled over him. “But you just turned down two million dollars. That says something to me.”

His head spun. “So, you broke us up five years ago because you thought I was a gold digger?”

She shrugged. “Lana’s net worth is more than mine. If she dates a wealthy man, I know he’s not in it for the money. But you…” She gave him a once-over. “You have nothing. You can’t blame me for trying to protect her.”

Ouch. He wasn’t going to argue, though. He had a nice job, but his wage was modest, and the cost of living in L.A. was high. She wasn’t wrong. He didn’t have money. “You didn’t protect her. You ruined a budding love.”

“If it was love, I knew it would stand the test of time.”

Hayden wanted to tell her off. To scream at her and tell her how she’d messed up the last five years of his life, but he held his tongue. It wouldn’t do any good. She would never understand. Maybe she’d been burned too many times to have any feeling left.

He turned from her. Lana and Brent were replaying the proposal scene. He watched them in silence.

“You may think it cold of me, but I did what I did for Lana,” Gail said behind him.

“I think Lana is capable of making her own decisions.”

“Maybe.” She sighed. “I made a lot of bad decisions when I was young.”

He glanced at her, and for the first time saw pain etched on her face. Gail Wentworth was rich, successful, and powerful. But at this moment, he saw through these things. He saw the hurt in her life. “You’ve brought up Lana well. Don’t you trust her to make good choices?”

“You don’t know what it’s like. Loving someone who breaks you. It’s soul crushing.”

“Would you have listened if someone had told you who you could marry?”

Gail let out a bitter laugh. “No. Probably not.”

A breeze picked up and the director yelled, “Cut!”

Gail stared out at the ocean, the sound of the sea drowning out the silence. Finally, she said, “Everything I do, I do for Lana.”

Hayden exhaled, knowing in her own way, she was right. She just didn’t know how much her interference hurt Lana. “I know.”

“Hello,” Lana said behind him, and he whipped around. “What’s going on here?”

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