Chapter 2: The Truth No One Wanted
Chapter 2: The Truth No One Wanted
"I never loved her."
Maverick's voice was barely audible.
No one believed him.
Including me.
"So all these pictures are fake?"
"They're real."
"Then explain."
He closed his eyes.
"My father."
Everyone looked at him.
"My father owns half the company."
"He threatened to destroy everything if I refused to keep seeing Victoria."
"The investors...the contracts...our employees..."
My father exploded.
"So you cheated to protect your business?"
"No."
"I was trapped."
"You had choices."
"I know."
His voice cracked.
"And every choice I made hurt Amy."
Penelope stepped closer.
"I found everything by accident."
"I confronted him."
"I gave him one last chance."
"He promised he'd tell you before today."
She looked at Maverick with disappointment.
"But this morning..."
"...he panicked."
"He wanted to go through with the wedding."
I stared at him.
"You were really going to marry me."
"...while another woman believed she still had you."
He couldn't answer.
Because the truth already had.
I quietly removed my engagement ring.
Months earlier, Maverick had slipped it onto my finger beneath a sky full of fireworks.
Now...
I placed it in his palm.
"This belonged to the man I thought you were."
I closed his fingers around it.
"I don't know the man standing in front of me."
Then I turned to Penelope.
For several heartbreaking seconds, we simply stared at one another.
Finally she whispered,
"I was willing to lose my best friend..."
"...if it meant saving her life."
I stepped forward.
And hugged her.
She burst into tears.
"So did I."
Behind us...
Maverick quietly sank into a chair.
Completely alone.
May you like
For the first time all day...
I felt strangely free.
