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“Damn it, Derrick. I don’t love you!”
Derrick went pale and sank back into his chair.
Taylor felt guilty, but she pushed ahead, “And you don’t love me, Derrick. This whole thing is stupid.”
“I do love you,” Derrick said softly.
His declaration of love didn’t move Taylor because she knows what he was saying. “Okay, Derrick. You love me like you love Marty, but that is not good enough.” Taylor sighed and shook her head. She really should not have to explain this, but if it made it easier for him to understand she would. “I want someone to love me for me. Not because they like how I look, not because they want my money, but for me.Me, Derrick. Our parents had that,” she says, gesturing between them. “Why shouldn’t we get to have that too? Because of some ridiculous business decree created before women could even vote? No damn way.”
“I can make you happy,” Derrick said softly.
Taylor took a deep breath, “No, Derrick, you can’t, because this life will never make me happy. And I will never find someone who will love me for any other reason than because I am Taylor Preston. Or I will never know if their intentions are pure at least.”
“Well, I know you, and—”
“And you want me because of who I am. So, point proven,” Taylor pointed out.
“No, Taylor, that is not the reason I want you,” Derrick countered.
His voice, the thickness, it made Taylor blush. “Derrick, you don’t know what you want because you are doing what your father has told you to!”
“I know what I want, Taylor!” Derrick shouted. “Look, maybe I’m not a bearded beatnik with a guitar, but I am a good guy.”
Taylor’s eyes grew wide, and she held her breath.
Derrick sagged. The movement betrayed that he knew he had said something wrong and that the repercussions were going to be epic in a very bad way.
“Why would you say that?” Taylor asked softly.
Derrick looked down at his hands folded, and refused to meet Taylor’s glare.
“How do you know about him?”
Derrick didn’t speak. He didn’t move.
Now Taylor’s missing pants were the least of her concerns. She stood in front of Derrick, “Look at me,” she said through her teeth.
Derrick slowly raised his head, hesitantly meeting her eyes. His apology was written all over his face, but Taylor was way past caring or feeling compassion. “Answer. Me.” She spat the words at him.
Derrick opened his mouth, but Taylor cut him off as she pieced it all together, “You found me, didn’t you? It was you who tracked me down. It was you who brought me back here? Wasn’t it?”
Derrick just stared at her, clearly conflicted.
His silence enraged Taylor.
“Wasn’t it?” Taylor shouted at him. She wanted an answer; she wanted to hear him say it.
“Yeah,” he said, standing. “It was me. I found you, Taylor.”
Taylor slapped Derrick’s cheek so quickly she not only surprised Derrick but herself as well. His head flipped to the side like a page in the wind.
“Why did you do this to me?” she asked in a whisper. Her hand was killing her, but her chest hurt worse from trying not to cry. “You knew I didn’t want this life. You knew that was all I ever said. I could have been happy. I could have found something different, something better—”
“What, living a lie, Taylor? “ Derrick shot back. “And then what? Huh? What would you say to all the people in your new life when you revealed who you really were? Or would you live the rest of your life behind your wig and contacts, pouring coffee?”
“At least I would be happy!” she shot back, burned by the reality of Derrick’s words.
“No, Taylor, you wouldn’t,” Derrick said, shaking his head sadly. “Eventually you would have heard about Preston Corporation’s decline, and you would have had to come back, to intervene. Because you and I understand the responsibility we have, that we were born into. And that guilt would have eaten you up. I just brought you back before it was too far gone.”