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Rebecca / One Month Later / Late July

R ebecca held out her hand to Bethany Ann and helped her up off the mat.

“Damn, Starky. You have really gotten better, and you fight kind of dirty, not that it is a bad thing.”

“Thank you, my friend. I hope I didn’t hurt you. I pretended you were my brother. How about some sushi and bubble tea, or maybe something stronger? My treat.”

“Yeah, I’d love it. Should I round up the gang?”

“Yes, that would be great.” There were six ladies who liked to go out after class. Thankfully for Rebecca, they had pulled her into their clique after her first class. She had worked hard at her taekwondo and even hired a personal coach for a three-hour weekend session. It was starting to pay off.

A week earlier, Rebecca passed the Intelligence Fundamentals Professional Certification and received her CISCO Secure Virtual Private Networks certificate.

She also passed her exam for a Commercial Driver’s License.

She became a standout star at Donovan Security, not only for how quickly she’d passed the exams but also because she had such high scores.

Bruce hadn’t needed to worry. She was setting the bar very high.

Contrary to how he had treated her in the beginning, he was now in awe of her.

She was his golden girl. He liked to brag about her, which bothered her—unless he was saying it to Mitch, which she kind of liked.

She got home a little after nine that night and wondered if she’d missed Mitch, but he knew it was her night for taekwondo.

Besides, these calls could not continue.

He'd called her almost every night. In two months, he’d be married to someone else.

Then she’d have to deal with a broken heart.

She felt sorry for Lily. They should talk as easily as she talked to Mitch.

He should want to tell Lily about his day, not a woman he’d once had a lot of sex with over a two-week period six years earlier.

But damn it, she looked forward to these calls like nothing else in her life.

Codependent much? She had to pull the plug.

Despite all she had done, despite her accomplishments, it took little to make her cry.

She just needed to think of Mitch. The tears flowed easily.

Maybe she should be happy that she was currently in the shower because it masked how many tears she shed.

But she was still crying after the shower.

She didn’t know what to do. Should she fly to London and confront him in person?

At the end of the day, he’d proposed to someone else.

He was marrying Lily Donovan. And he knew Lily is wrong for him but wouldn’t break it off.

Rebecca was still crying when the phone rang at ten o’clock. It had to be her brother, great. She had come close to telling him about Mitch, but she didn’t want to hurt his relationship with his best friend.

“Hello,” she answered, trying to sound cheery.

“Hi,” Mitch said softly. At the sound of his voice, she started crying. It was three a.m. in London. This had to stop.

Mitch could tell. “Bex, are you okay? Darling, what is wrong?”

“You. You are calling me every night. You are calling me Bex. You are calling me darling. I can’t take it.

You are marrying the wrong person. Why can’t you see what is before you?

I’m here. Do you talk to her like you talk to me?

I doubt it. I’ve loved you for ten years, yet you are marrying some little girl because her daddy wants you to.

What is wrong with you, Mitch?” Then she did what she should have done weeks earlier.

She hung up on him before he could answer.

She stared at the phone for a long time, but he did not call back. She doubted she’d ever hear from Mitchell Wilder again.

***Mitch***

Mitch didn’t sleep. Becca said words he had said to himself, but she’d added a few that were hard to ignore. He kept running them over and over in his mind.

I’ve loved you for ten years …

It wasn’t one-sided. Okay, so he’d tried to forget the kiss in the Windsor bar.

Well, the more he wanted to forget it, the more potent it became.

He wasn’t wrong, but if he didn’t do something, he would be making, yet again, the biggest mistake of his life.

He knew what he needed to do, and he knew it would be the hardest thing he’d ever done.

He didn’t want to hurt Lily. She was innocent in all of this.

If anything, she was too good for him. He needed someone who was edgier, not so innocent. Someone like Rebecca.

If he didn’t do it now, there would come a day when he would do something that would compromise his vows. He would be true to himself and how he felt about Rebecca. He’d never forgive himself.

He called in sick to work the next morning.

He was an executive, but he didn’t care.

He wanted a day to himself, and he didn’t want to be bothered.

It was something he hadn’t done in six years.

He spent the morning walking in Kensington Park.

It was a warm day, and the park was filled with tourists, but he scarcely noticed. He ended up at a pub that afternoon.

His cellphone buzzed. Lily.

Shit. He sat on one of the wooden benches in the back garden area behind the pub and answered his cellphone.

“Hey, Daddy said you called in sick today. He couldn’t believe it. I can’t either. What is wrong with you? You have never called in sick. You’re an executive.”

He wanted to fast forward his life a few years to see how it came out.

“I just needed a day to myself,” he said.

“Really? That doesn’t sound like you. Usually, you tell me if you need to think about something,” she said, sounding concerned. “I’m a little upset you didn’t think of my feelings. Daddy really counts on you, and you just disappeared today. It is kind of embarrassing.”

“I’ll work for a few hours from home tonight. I just needed to think.”

“Whatever Mitchell. Sometimes, you are just too American, all into your feelings. Next, you’ll start doing yoga and going vegan. Sometimes, I wish you were more like Daddy. Or thought about someone else besides yourself.”

“Yeah, I’m a jerk. I’ll talk to you later,” he said and disconnected.

He had never felt worse than he felt in this moment. A small part of his brain announced, “Just wait.”

Lily tried to call him again, and he let her go to voicemail.

He had a lot of money in the bank. He had great work experience and a solid resume. He was getting a little tired of London. Maybe it was time to go home.

Later that night, he appeared at the Donovan’s house without an invitation.

He knew from past experience that they did not like to be disturbed in the evening, even if he was a future son-in-law.

The maid, dressed in a black dress and white apron, masked her surprise as she informed him the family was still having supper.

She showed him to the study and told him that “Miss Lily” would be in when she was finished with supper.

No wonder this hadn’t worked. They were still formal with each other.

They should have been so in love they had to be with each other every moment.

Hell, she should be living with him, but it hadn’t happened that way.

Ten minutes later, Lily bounded into her parents’ study, where he waited for her.

She was in a pink sheath dress and wore pearls.

She looked like she was late for a tea at the Ritz.

Scowling at his appearance, she didn’t approach him for a kiss, which made everything he was about to say much easier.

“Well, this is a surprise. Or did I forget we were getting together tonight? I thought, with your need to be alone, I wouldn’t hear from you for a few days,” she said, a little anger in her tone.

“No. I needed to talk with you, so I came over.”

“Alright. Would you like a drink? G&T?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Mitch said. Once he said what he had to say, she wouldn’t want him to sit back and finish a drink. He’d drink at home. With any luck, he’d get stinking drunk.

“You sound so serious. Should I sit, or can I stand? Mums and Daddy want to watch a movie at eight, so I don’t want to keep them waiting. Spit it out, whatever it is,” she said.

She didn’t invite him to watch the movie, which was not a big surprise.

But shouldn’t she want to spend that kind of time with him?

Come to think of it, they hadn’t done a lot of hanging out, just the two of them.

There was always someone else with them, like her parents. It was kind of shocking, actually.

“Lily, I think you should sit,” he said and looked at the elegant rug that perfectly fit the room.

“What is this? You are scaring me, Mitchell,” she said, the light and happiness gone from her.

Just wait , his brain screamed.

“I don’t know how to tell you what I need to say, but it is my hope that someday you will be thankful I did.”

“Oh my god. You don’t want to marry me,” she said.

He didn’t realize it, but he was subtly nodding his head.

“You are kind and lovely. I love you, but I think I’m in love with someone else.

Someone from my past. I can’t marry you when I have feelings for her.

I can’t do that to you.” He loved Rebecca.

He regretted his words immediately. A woman didn’t want to hear about the other woman in her fiancé’s life.

Why had he mentioned another woman? Well, he was constantly thinking about her.

“You bastard,” she spat. “You are ruining everything.”

That was the first time he’d ever heard Lily curse. He had a feeling she did a lot of things that would surprise him. Before Rebecca was hired, he’d have cared. Ironically, he no longer did.

“I am a bastard, but better now than at the wedding or the day before. And thankfully, the invitations haven’t gone out yet.”

“Oh, how kind of Mitchell to call things off before the invitations went out. Do you want some sort of award? Americans like to give awards for everything. Maybe I should give you a ribbon.”

“I’m sorry. I feel awful, and I don’t know how to explain it.”

“I bet she slept with you. Is that it? I need to let you screw me, then you’ll be in love with me? Huh? Answer me, you bastard.”

“No, Lily, it isn’t like that at all. But this woman is someone I thought I’d never see again. When I did see her, it was like I was overwhelmed. I can’t explain it. But if I was in love with you, the way I should be, I shouldn’t feel that way.”

“You are talking about that little Irish hotel slut, Rebecca Stark. Daddy told me all about her, with her green eyes and how she threw herself at you.”

“She didn’t throw herself at me, and she isn’t a slut.

I went to school with her brother. He is one of my closest, best friends.

He was going to be my best man. Their parents are like second parents to me.

Rebecca is a kind person. She didn’t want to do this to us.

In fact, she doesn’t know I’m here. She might not reciprocate my feelings.

” And where did Lily’s father get off talking about Rebecca as if being Irish was bad?

His last name was Donovan. And if Mitch remembered correctly, Donovan was an Irish surname. Stark was actually German and English.

“Oh, that would be so sad for you. Daddy hired her, and you can’t say no to her.

Maybe you should just screw her and be done with it?

Know this: If you do, I won’t be here when you come to your senses.

Husbands having lovers used to be the norm in this society, but I don’t accept it.

Well, maybe Daddy can just fire her, and all this confusion will go away. ”

“Maybe he should fire both of us,” Mitch said. “The bottom line is that I can’t marry you when I feel this way about her. And on some level, I’d think you’d like someone else for me to have sex with since it seems so repugnant to you.”

He needed to stop talking. Now he was just being an asshole.

“Save it, Mitchell. I had a fitting on my wedding dress today. I don’t need to hear about how you’re in love with another woman.

I can’t believe you’d walk away from all we could have for some old flame.

You’re so weak. I took you for someone with a brain, but I meant what I said earlier.

You are no better than a humping dog. How pathetic. ”

“I deserve that,” he said. Rebecca was his Kryptonite. He didn’t mind at all.

“Is sex all you want? Because if that is what she is offering, I’d like to throw my hat in the ring.

Come on, we will go up to my bedroom. I’ll pull up my dress, and we can be done with it.

I’ll let you screw me. Would that make it all better?

” That sounded about as passionate as a root canal.

And he didn’t want to touch her with a ten-foot pole. Not with Rebecca back in his life.

“Lily, please. I haven’t had sex with her in over six years. It isn’t about that. We kind of grew up together.”

“I cannot believe you are lying to me. You want to screw the hot slut over me. Do you know how many men would love to trade places with you?”

It all crystallized for him at that moment. He did want to make love with Rebecca, but it wasn’t all he wanted. He wanted everything with Rebecca. A life, children, heck, even a dog and the white picket fence, as long as he could come home to her every night.

“Well, I think you should invite one of them to date you because I don’t think I can give you what you need. There are a lot of men out there who would. I’m stepping aside so you don’t ruin your life on me. You deserve to feel the way I do when I’m with Rebecca.”

Poor choice of words. He was acting like an asshole. The heavy crystal glass barely missed his head as it sailed past him, hit the wall, and smashed into a hundred lethal shards behind him. It almost sounded musical.

He wasn’t as lucky when it came to her engagement ring.

It hit his forehead and one of the prongs made a small cut, which started bleeding immediately.

And although it was Mitch who was bleeding, it was Lily who screamed until her father arrived and escorted Mitch to the front door.

Mitch judged that Lucien really wanted him to put up a fight.

Anything so that he could hurt Mitch. But that wasn’t the way it went down. Mitch left quietly.