Page 19 of Billionaire's Promise

"No, you did the right thing," she says in a hard voice. "If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have realized that Edward’s friend is as unfeeling as he was."

"I have no idea why you’re jumping to that conclusion."

"Oh?" She chuckles. "You just show up out of nowhere and don’t tell me you know Edward?"

"I know it seems odd that I was there at the very moment that Edward left—"

"Odd?" she snarls. "Of course, not. Why should it be odd that as Edward leaves my life, his friend enters it? Then pretends he is concerned about me."

"I was—am concerned about you."

"Then appears to take care of me—"

"I did take care of you." I set my jaw, "I want to take care of you."

"Why?" she says in a low voice. "Why the hell would you want to do that?"

"Because Edward asked me to."

6

Ava

"Excuse me?" I shake my head. "What the hell did you say?"

"I said," he draws himself up to his full height, "that Edward asked me to watch over you."

"Hold on." I hold up a hand, and take a breath. "He asked you to look out for me?"

He nods.

"Edward knew he was leaving, so he called you and asked you to be there when I fell apart? He knew I’d fall apart. Of course, he did." I drag my fingers through my hair, then begin to pace again. "He knew I was weak. Knew I was in love with him, that I was falling for him and—"

"You were in love with him?"

"Yes, of course, I was." I pause, stare at him over my shoulder. "Why else would I collapse in such theatrical fashion when he decided to take off?"

"You didn’t know him that long…"

"How do you know that?" I frown.

"When Edward called me, he gave me the highlights of, uh, how you guys met."

"He did, did he?" I fold my arms around my waist. "Geez, like this isn’t weird at all. The man I fall for, not only is he a priest, but before he breaks his vows and takes off, he calls up his best friend—"

"Not his best friend"

"—to come by and take care of the woman he fucked—"

"You’re more than that to him."

"—before he decides to take off without a word of explanation."

"He had a good reason."

"Oh, so now you’re defending him?" I slap my palms on my hips. "Of course, you are. You men stick together, regardless of the fact that he and you—" I stab my finger at him, "are in the wrong."

"I am not defending him, and he is in the wrong."