Page 99

“And, what? Working for you was meant to be the incentive? How?”

“Because I was meant to be a dickhead.” I stare at her. “I was meant to be such a bad boss that you would welcome the vacation.”

“What?” She blinks at me. “I don’t understand how…”

I let out a deep sigh. “When Skye, your best friend, got the job at the firm, he realized it was the same firm that I did business with.”

“Wow,” she says, “I guess that’s my fault for telling him about Skye’s new job.”

“It’s obviously not your fault, Elisabetta, but once he realized that she was then dating one of the partners and the firm very much valued my business, he and I came up with an idea to try and see if I could get you to work for me. He said that you loved Skye like a sister, so I wanted to ensure that working for me was the worst job she’d ever had and that, hopefully, you would take her place.”

“How the hell would you know that was going to happen?” she says, shaking her head. “That doesn’t even make sense. I only volunteered because I was there the day that you were trying to get them to work for you again. What if I wasn’t there? What if…”

“There were a lot of what-ifs. There were obviously plans that would have been followed if this didn’t work.”

“Like what?”

“Like I was to ingratiate myself in Skye’s life and perhaps date you for a little bit. Make you so upset that you’d run off.”

“So, what? It was your plan to fuck me and hurt me?”

“I never would have slept with you,” I say honestly. “I would never sleep with someone for business.”

“Oh, but you’d marry them? Really? You think that I’m going to believe that, Liam?”

“I can understand if you don’t want to believe it, but I am wholeheartedly telling the truth. When I saw you and realized how beautiful you were, what a spitfire you were when I talked to you, I started to grow to really enjoy your personality. I knew that you were someone that I wanted to be around, that I wanted to do things with.”

“Oh, okay, so what? You saw me and said, ‘Oh, yeah, I wouldn’t mind fucking her, so I’ll continue?’”

“That’s not how it went. Please, Elisabetta, please just believe me.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Elisabetta

Liam has some gall to expect me to forgive him after everything he’s admitted to me. I feel like a fool that has been taken for a ride. Everythingabout my time with him has me confused and conflicted.

I lie in bed, and all I can think is that this was not how I'd expected our first night on this island to go. When Liam told me we'd be traveling to the Caribbean, I fully pictured us making love every single night. I wanted to be with him. I thought he was hot and funny, and he challenged me in ways that men normally didn't.

It wasn't that I thought he was the love of my life or that he was something so spectacular that I'd be sad if I didn't get to sleep with him, but there was chemistry, a connection that I thought was something real. Even if it didn't mean that we were going to be together forever or fall in love, I thought it at least meant something.

I’ve always craved connection. I've always wanted to meet someone who would make me feel like I was special, like I mattered. And I know that not every connection is a soulmateconnection or one that leads to marriage, but it doesn't make it any less special.

"You're a fool, Elisabetta," I whisper to myself as I lie there. I can hear the TV in the living room. I wonder what he's watching, but I'm not gonna go out there and ask or look. He tried to talk to me over dinner, but I had no interest in entertaining anything he had to say if it didn’t relate to business.

I still can't quite believe it. He arranged with my father to marry me. Why on earth would he do that knowing how much I didn't want to get married, knowing how much I hated that I didn't have a choice? A part of me understands that he is trying to make things better for me, but it isn't better, especially knowing that the entire job was a farce in the first place. The only reason he even came to New York was to do my father's bidding, so ultimately, it doesn't matter if he came to marry me because he still came because of my dad.

I pull out my phone and call Skye. I know she'll be shocked and possibly hate him, but I just don't care. I need to speak to someone. However, when I call her, she doesn't answer. She's probably somewhere with Kingston, doing something fun, laughing, and enjoying life.

It is weird. She's been so close to me for so many years and we were both single, commiserating about our love lives, so I never fully expected that either one of us would actually get married—that we’d finally be in a relationship. And yet, there she was in love, and here I was in hate.

I decide to call Romeo, and I half expect that he's not going to answer, but I'm pleasantly surprised when he does.

"Hey, sis. What's going on?"

"How was the runway show?" I ask him, wanting to talk about him first because I know once I get to me, I'm not gonna be able to change the subject.

"Oh, it was absolutely fabulous, darling."