Page 148 of The Worst Best Man

“Stop talking, Aiden! Christ. I’m a regular person. Regular people don’t have photographers following them around or rich assholes trying to destroy their relationships. Regular people don’t use love as a weapon.”

“What do you want me to do? Tell me, and I’ll do it,” Aiden demanded.

“I want you to let me go,” Franchesca shouted.

“No!” He would do anything for her. Just not that.

“You don’t get to decide to keep us together. You hurt my friends. You hurt me. And you didn’t tell me yourself. I had to hear it from your creepy brother who was waiting to pounce outside my office. Everywhere I go, there’s a Kilbourn telling me I’m not good enough.”

“Elliot is my problem. I’ll handle him.”

“He cooked this up. He and Margeaux. I’d bet your big fat checking account on it. Pru and I saw them when we were out to lunch. I thought they were dating, but they were plotting.”

“Elliot wants me to buy him out of the company. He said he’d tell you about Pru and Chip if I didn’t close the deal.”

“So why didn’t you?” Frankie demanded.

“I thought he was bluffing.”

“Wrong fucking answer, Kilbourn!”

“It’s the truth!” Aiden roared.

“Iknowit’s the truth! That’s the problem! I can’t deal with this, Aiden. I don’t want to spend my life being outmaneuvered or lied to or constantly threatened or used because of your last name. I want apartnership. That’s not what we have.”

She made a move toward her duffle bag, and he stopped her, grabbing her arm.

“We can have it. I swear to you, Franchesca.”

“You said you’d give me everything I wanted,” she said, looking at him accusingly.

“Anything and everything.”

“But you couldn’t even be honest with me. Tell me, when Elliot came to you with what he knew, did it even occur to you to come clean? To tell me? To take your lumps and hope for the best?”

Had he considered it? Or had he just decided to handle it?

“Everything is a power play to you,” she said quietly. “And I’m done being played.”

She tried to free herself from his grip, but he just held on tighter.

“You’re hurting me.”

“You’rehurtingme, Franchesca. Let’s talk about this. Let me fix this!” If she walked out that door, he knew she’d never be back. It was like holding back the tide, but he’d be damned if he didn’t at least try.

“I’m not lying when I say I love you. I really felt it and knew what it was at my mother’s house. I looked at you in the audience, and you’re all I saw. You’re all I want to see every day for the rest of my life. Please don’t let this break us, Franchesca.”

“You’ve known you loved me for how many weeks now, and you didn’t think to tell me? Like an ace up your sleeve? Your get out of jail free card? Do you see how fucked up that is? Do you think that’s what I deserve?”

“No, of course not. I’ve never been in love before, Franchesca. So excuse me if I don’t know how to process it. It took a battle just to get you to date me. I didn’t know what it would be like to say those words to you and hear nothing but silence in return. I wasn’t ready.”

“Who said there would have been silence, you idiot?” Temper and tears glistened in her eyes. “Who said you were the only one who felt those feelings?”

He gripped her arms. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying I loved you, too. You ass!”

Loved? How could it be past tense just like that?