Page 157 of Say Yes to the Nemesis

Instead, I turn my phone off and lean my head against the window. The tears come then, finally, hot and angry and full of all the hurt I’ve been trying to hold back.

I let myself cry for the boy who made me believe in fairy tales. For the girl who was stupid enough to think she deserved one.

By the time we reach the airport, my eyes are red and swollen, but I feel empty. Hollowed out. Like someone scoopedout everything that mattered and left me with nothing but the shell of who I used to be.

The flight home is mercifully quiet. It’s late enough that most of the other passengers are sleeping, so no one bothers me as I stare out the window at the darkness below.

I keep thinking about that text.Wait for me.What does that even mean? Wait for what? Wait for him to change his mind? Wait for him to decide he made a mistake?

I’m not going to wait. I can’t. I’ve spent too much of my life waiting for other people to choose me, to see my worth, to decide I’m enough. I’m done waiting.

But even as I tell myself that, I know it’s not entirely true. Because despite everything that happened tonight, despite the humiliation and the heartbreak and the complete destruction of everything I thought I knew, there’s still a part of me that wants to believe that text means something.

There’s still a part of me that loves Ryan Haart, even though he just broke my heart on national television.

And maybe that’s the worst part of all. That even after everything, I still love him. Even after everything, I still want to believe there’s a reason.

But what if he just smashed my heart into a trillion tiny shards?

forty-four

RYAN

I throwopen the door so hard it slams against the wall.

“What the fuck was that?”

Rich barely looks up from his phone. He’s sitting behind the desk like he owns the place, which I guess he does. Elena lounges in one of the leather chairs, sipping from a crystal tumbler full of what looks like whiskey. She doesn’t even blink when I storm in.

Wren didn’t cry. She didn’t scream. She just looked at me like I’d done exactly what she’d expected all along. That’s what gutted me the most.

“That,” Elena says coolly, “was compelling television.”

“I didn’t want to eliminate her.”

My voice comes out low and tight, but I can feel the rage building underneath. My whole body feels coiled, dangerous, like I’m seconds away from throwing a chair through the window or putting my fist through the wall.

Rich finally glances up, twirling a pen between his fingers. “Well. You did.”

“I didn’t have a choice.” The words come out sharp, bitter. “You cornered me. You set the whole thing up. She wasn’t even supposed to be in the bottom two.”

Elena’s smile doesn’t change, but her eyes go flat, like shutters slamming down. “You always have a choice. But if you’d like to discuss breach of contract…”

“Don’t,” I snap.

She raises one perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “You think this is about you? This is about her. She’s ours now too.”

Rich leans forward, folding his hands like we’re having a casual business meeting instead of me confronting them about destroying the woman I love. “You agreed to this. Every piece of it. You signed on to be the Bachelor. You signed on to play a part. You agreed to let us guide the arc.”

I start pacing in front of them, my hands clenched into fists. I feel like a caged animal, trapped and furious and looking for something to destroy.

“You didn’t guide anything,” I bite out. “You railroaded me. You ambushed her with that fake cheating footage, then told me it would be ‘bad optics’ if I kept her. And now she’s gone.”

“Not gone,” Elena says lightly, taking another sip of her drink. “Just… offscreen.”

The casual way she says it makes my vision go red. “She looked devastated.”

Rich doesn’t even flinch. He checks his watch like this conversation is keeping him from something important. “She looked great. That mascara tear down her cheek? That was gold.”