Page 162 of Say Yes to the Nemesis

“Then I went home.”

“Did he try to talk to you?”

“No.”

“Did he call you?”

I hesitate. Those three question marks flash through my mind again. “No.”

“Wren.” Calla’s voice is gentle but firm. “Sit down. Please.”

I don’t want to sit down. I want them to leave so I can go back to my Simpsons marathon and my denial spiral. But something in Calla’s tone makes me sink into the armchair across from them.

“Talk,” she says.

“About what?”

“About what really happened. Not the version you’ve been telling yourself. The real version.”

I stare at her for a long moment. Then something inside me just breaks. All the hurt and anger and confusion that I’ve been stuffing down for the past week comes pouring out.

“Ryan told me he was in love with me. He said we should be together after the show finished filming. And then… the producers pulled him aside right before the rose ceremony. When he came back, he was all angry looking. And then…” I cut off the flow of words, tears pricking my eyes.

Calla strokes the back of my hand. “What happened?”

“He picked another girl! Sent me packing. I was just… stunned.”

Calla looks over at Jennifer. “What do you make of that?”

“Seems like the producers made him eliminate you. They do that pretty frequently, you know. They say, ‘oh, the final decision is ours, per your contract’. They want surprises. So let’s say a bachelor obviously favors one bachelorette… Elena will swing in and force him to choose another contestant or lose all the money from the show.”

I suck in a breath. Money is a huge motivator for Ryan. He will do almost anything to make his account balance grow bigger. Even if it hurts him. Even if it’s not what he wants.

“It doesn’t matter,” I say, but even as I say it, I can hear how weak it sounds. “If he loved me, he would have fought for me.”

“Maybe he did fight for you,” Calla says quietly. “Maybe he just lost.”

I stare at her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that Ryan called Jay at two in the morning, Wren. He was desperate. He said he needed help finding you because they wouldn’t let him contact you directly.”

“They wouldn’t let him?”

“Contract stuff. Legal stuff. I don’t know the details, but Jay said Ryan sounded like a man who was crawling. And let me tell you, I’ve never known Ryan Haart to crawl for anyone.”

My heart starts beating faster. “That doesn’t change what happened.”

“Doesn’t it?” Jennifer starts pulling makeup brushes out of her kit. “You think he sent us here for fun? You think he’s orchestrating some elaborate plan to humiliate you further?”

“I don’t know what he’s doing.”

“He’s trying to get you back,” Calla says simply. “And he’s using the finale to do it.”

“What?”

Jennifer grins. “Honey, you are going to look so incredible tonight that the producers are going to need to bleep Ryan’s reaction.”

“Tonight?” I shake my head. “I’m not going tonight.”