A/N: Hello everyone! Thanks for waiting for this next upload. I had some computer problems last week, specifically on my word processor, so I was stalled for a few days but here you go. This is a scene that had people probably wondering whether it was ever going to happen or not. While this is at the very crux of the story, it isn't the entire story so while I had to have it happen, it's something that had to come after the more essential parts of the story.
If the formatting is a little weird, forgive me. It's just the new word processor I'm using. I'll try to fix it but you never know. Thank you! =)
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After an amazing and highly successful weekend, the Teaser grossing a seven-digit number in auction proceeds, Martin threw a small but extravagant lunch to celebrate.
Our friends from Cobalt Bay, having been acquainted with the old man as well for years, were invited to make it their last stop before they returned to California.
Of course, no one could say no to Martin.
The entire family came and close friends joined in.
Despite Brandon's reservations, I persuaded Nicole to attend with Zach.
Actually, I brought up the idea but didn't really think she would take me up on it. She caught me off guard when she contemplated for a long moment and suddenly said yes—but without Zach.
"I want to make sure I can trust Francis," was the reason she gave me, adding, "He's suddenly so adamant about being a part of our lives. I don't want to find out he just wants to take our son away to get back at me."
Things were still muddled between the two that Francis's motives were like mud on dirt. Good luck telling one from the other.
After I dragged Nicole away from that ugly confrontation with Francis, I'd tried asking her what he had demanded.
All that she'd told me was that there was mostly a lot of yelling about everything that had happened between them more than two years ago and all that she'd really understood from him so far was that he now wanted to claim his right to them.
She didn't trust him but as much as Nicole didn't want to admit it, I could tell that she clung to a small hope that Francis, for all the vile things he'd done to her and Zach in the past, was redeemable.
Fair enough, right? We love the savages despite their wildness because we hope that we can someday tame them. They can either leave us bleeding or beloved.
If Nicole's presence bothered Francis, when he arrived and saw her perched on a couch talking with Tessa, he didn't show.
He gave her a slight, courteous nod before glancing back and forth between me and Brandon, his expression inscrutable.
The others didn't really know Nicole except for the Maxfield sisters who vaguely recognized her, and Jake who used to hang out with her when she still ran in the same circles he and Brandon did.
I introduced her as a good friend of mine and Brandon's and if anyone thought it was strange that I dragged her along, no one said anything about it.
"Something going on that you want to tell me about?" Jake said when he came up to me at the wet bar where a variety of non-alcoholic mixed drinks were also served. "I haven't seen Nicole in years and the last time I did, she and Francis weren't so enthralled with each other."
I smiled, sneaking a glance over my shoulder to check on Nicole who was now in a small group with Tessa, Cassandra, Felicity and Aimee.
They were all listening with rapt attention to something Rose was animatedly telling them about.
Jake and I were in a quiet corner at the fringes of the group that no one was really paying us any attention.
"It's not my story to tell but I hope things will come to light pretty soon," I told Jake. "Speaking of things coming to light, have you had any progress with your lady love?"
If the word love bothered Jake, I couldn't tell because he merely rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I've never met a more stubborn girl. For the first time in my life, I let myself suffer the indignity of calling a girl and leaving a billion messages on her phone only to hear nothing back except for one polite voicemail saying I hope you've cured your guilt now. Have a good life, Jake."
I barely suppressed a chuckle. "Message-bombing someone may not be the best way to win them over. I thought you were smoother than that, Jake."
"I was," he said with a withering stare. "I've tried all the moves I know—flowers, chocolates, a casual invitation to coffee, a dinner date, a movie, a walk to the park—and I'm out of ideas. I'm trying so hard but nothing seems to have worked."
I refilled my glass with some fizzy cranberry drink and turned to look at Jake in thought. "Maybe that's the problem—you're trying too hard. Based on the message she left you, she might think you're desperate to apologize or make up for what she thinks you might consider as a terrible mistake. She might think you need to assuage your guilt asap so you could feel better and move on, and despite her nonchalance, that probably stings."
Jake gave me a bewildered look. "Maybe she should stop assuming how I really feel and give me a fair chance, don't you think?"
"Indignant, I see," I teased, wrinkling my nose at him before speaking in an overly dramatic distressed female voice, touching a hand to my forehead. "Oh, fate, what do I do? This man who has broken oh-so-many hearts and not lost any sleep over it, pleads that I trust him with mine! Oh, fate! Why is it so hard?"
Jake scowled at me for a good five seconds before his face broke out in a grin. "I get it, I get it."
We laughed for a moment before the humor in Jake's eyes faded into an expression of restless turmoil. He glanced in Tessa's direction and caught her eye for a second before she quickly looked away.
"I'm fresh out of ideas, Char," he murmured with a heavy sigh as he turned back to me with a weak smile. "For a moment, I convinced myself that maybe this was for the best—that maybe neither of us should take it farther—but that resolution lasted about ten seconds before I started thinking about her again. I've got to get through to her and I don't know how."
I put a hand on Jake's shoulder. "Maybe just ask her to talk—without a major production or any kind of expectation. No smooth-talk or grand gestures or the slick, heartbreaky-Jakey style-seduction."
He cast me a dubious look. "Do you think she'll take me up on it?"
"You won't know till you try and at this point, you don't have much to lose," I told him with a smile.
That got him to brighten up a bit, his eyes lighting up with inspiration. "A bullshit-free conversation. I see where this could be convincing."
"You two seem as thick as thieves, plotting the next big heist in history."
Jake and I looked up to find Brandon coming up to us, his brows furrowed in amused curiosity. "What's the big secret?"
The story of your best friend and baby sister having a one-night-stand isn't one you'd want to hear, I answered in my mind even though I flashed my husband a broad smile and shook my head quickly, mentally groping for some plausible excuse to give. "Nothing. We're just talking about one of Jake's, um, love interests."
Jake gave me a sideways glance before straightening up and shrugging casually. "Same, old boring stuff you don't really want me to tell you, Brand."
Brandon raised a brow at him. "You don't think I should hear it but you're telling it to my wife who's as innocent as a lamb?"
"Hey, I'm not innocent and definitely not wooly!" I protested with a weak laugh, smacking Brandon on the arm. "Besides, Jake's stories are simply for my amusement and educational purposes."
I didn't like lying, despite how good I got at it, and while I wasn't exactly lying outright to Brandon, I was certainly doing my best to avoid giving him an honest answer.
I caught sight of Tessa's slight frown over her brother's shoulder and my stomach churned slightly.
Since Jake and I got substantially louder when Brandon came, the way it happened every time people were caught off guard doing something they shouldn't be doing, she probably overheard our thoughtless dialog.
The last thing she needed right now was more proof that Jake was just as indifferent about women and relationships as he'd been his whole life.
White lies—a pristine backdrop where you could start bleeding when you hit a snag and tear the truth open.
In this case, a white lie was a risk I was willing to take over an assuredly bloody spectacle if Brandon learned the truth about Jake and Tessa's not-so-platonic status.
"I think I'll take full accountability of my wife's education about these things, Jake," Brandon said with a mock-glare as he put an arm around me possessively. "Don't let her curiosity slow you down from all that love you're spreading around."
I could see Tessa's expression tighten and I wanted to smack Brandon in the head for unwittingly making the situation worse.
She was clearly paying attention to us now and she wasn't liking anything she'd heard so far.
I caught Jake's eye and from the flicker of panic in his gaze, I knew he realized the same thing.
Slipping an arm around Brandon's waist, I expertly turned him around, signalling Jake with a discreet look to get away as I went. "Sorry to abandon you, Jake, but now that Brandon has made it clear he intends to look after my education, I'm assuming he's now willing to tell me all of his naughty past escapades."
"I said nothing about telling you any of that," Brandon argued with a laugh, oblivious to my steering as I guided us away from Jake who now had to figure out a way to dig himself out of that hole we just pushed him in head first.
I'd throw him a shovel later when Brandon wasn't around to pack the dirt in around him.
Brandon and I were intercepted by Vivienne and Oliver who swiftly solicited a promise out of us to come and join this big New Year's party that Vivienne was organizing for family and good friends.
While I heartily enjoyed participating in that conversation, I kept watch of Jake and Tessa in the corner of my eye, internally relieved when Jake finally managed to approach her as she got up to head out to the back porch.
The temperature was a little brisk today that most people were inside so when the two came back in fifteen minutes later, infinitely warmer toward each other based on the small, shy smile Tessa gave Jake before they parted ways, I mentally fist-pumped our swift recovery from that disastrous stumble off the track.
Things were going so well I was beaming and humming all to myself when I came down the stairs after checking in on Rose. She was now in one of the guest bedrooms upstairs after she drifted off on Brandon's shoulder when the adults had sat around for some after-lunch tea in the rec room.
Aimee was winning an intense game of billiards with Jake, Vivienne and Sebastian so I took the liberty of making sure the exhausted little girl was still napping soundly.
When I came back to the rec room, the game was still playing out with everyone seated around the billiards table, observing intently as Vivienne took her position.
Smiling, I stopped by the side table and was pouring myself a cup of tea when a tall figure loomed over me.
I looked up and found Francis glowering.
I picked up my cup and sighed. "What is it? I can think of so many reasons why you'd be giving me that look so you're going to have to help me narrow it down to a specific one."
"Nicole left. Brandon just hurried after her."
I choked on the warm liquid and spat some out back into my cup which I quickly lowered in hope to save myself and Francis some healthy anti-oxidant bath.
I swiped the back of my hand over my lips before narrowing my eyes at him, my anger instantly spurred. "And why would she do that when she was having such a good time ten minutes ago? I can think of only one reason and he's standing right in front of me, looking ridiculously righteous."
Francis's jaw tightened. "I was only asking to see Zach. I don't see anything unreasonable about that. He's my son."
"Being a sperm-donor doesn't make a man a father, you know?" I said acidly, my hands curling into tight fists at the truth of my own words, not just from Zach's perspective but from my own as well.
Fathers are supposed to care for you, protect you, teach you about life and the world. They're there to teach you how to ride a bike and how to pick yourself up when you fall. They're not supposed to neglect you or decorate your face and body with bruises and broken bones.
"Abandoning your child is the work of a coward, not a parent deserving of the privilege of being one. Just because you wish to be a father now doesn't mean you can just erase the years you weren't one to your son."
"I know that, Charlotte," he grated. "As unfortunate as that may be, it's a truth I can't change. But it won't stop me from doing what I need to do now and you have no right to get in my way. You can't rub my sins in my face when you're neck-deep in your own."
A short, sharp laugh of disbelief escaped my lips. "Oh, so because I'm not a saint myself, I don't get to do the right thing and protect the mother and son you left vulnerable when they inconvenienced you? What should I do instead? Sit back and enjoy the heartless-gutless-excuse-of-a-father-who-now-wants-to-be-the-world's-best-daddy show?"
No one saved me early enough. Even though I survived, I will always know the difference. Zach doesn't have to.
His blue eyes flared with a furious fire. "I doubt that my storyline would be half as entertaining as yours and Brandon's when the world finds out that the great, infallible Maxfield heir paid an ambitious yet penniless diner girl a million dollars to marry him and play house for a year. I still have your contract burning a hole through my desk, thanks to your housekeeper whose loyalties you should've paid extra for when you had the chance. The new yet highly-celebrated Mrs. Maxfield is no one special—just an extremely expensive, long-lease hooker."
Blood pounded in my ears and probably flooded my eyes because all I could see was red for a long time as I stood perfectly still, summoning all my will power not to land my fists on Francis's flushed face.
It was only when he broke his gaze from mine and looked around, the color draining from his face, that I realized the room had actually fallen silent despite the roaring in my ears.
With a suddenly dry throat, I blinked and slowly turned around, finding nearly a dozen pairs of eyes staring at me, rounded with shock.
If I ever had a moment when I wished the ground would open up and swallow me whole, this would be it.
I suddenly felt so sick to my stomach, the sharp, bitter acid of both my lunch and lies surging up my throat.
I opened my mouth to speak but the only sound that emerged was a shaky gasp as my heart recovered from its momentary paralysis and started hammering against my ribcage as eager as I was to get away from this all.
My eyes darted around until they locked with a pair of bright blue ones, with corners that wrinkled with time and laugh lines—except that he wasn't laughing now.
Martin. He knows now. He knows what a scam you are.
My vision suddenly watered but I quickly blinked the moisture away, opening my mouth at another attempt to speak again but I was interrupted by the slow swish of a door closing.
"What's going on?" Brandon's voice rang out clear in the dead-silent room.
I turned my head toward him and my heart took a dive straight into my gut where the guilt was slowly burning me from the inside.
He can't be a part of this. All these people love and respect him. He's got so much to lose while I had none to begin with.
"Francis just said that... that you paid Charlotte a million dollars," Anna answered slowly, her beautiful face creasing into a confused frown."You paid her to be your wife. I mean... I... What's he talking about, Brand?"
Brandon blanched as his gaze swung back to me, his hazel eyes alarmed, and took a step toward me.
"No." The word was loud yet hollow as it left my lips but it effectively stopped Brandon in his tracks.
"Why don't we ask Francis to expound on his statement," Martin spoke up in a soft, even voice that arrested everyone's attention. "Francis?"
The man beside me snapped out of his frozen state and I could hear his ragged breathing as he took a long moment before speaking.
"I have in my possession a contract that states a business arrangement between Brandon and Charlotte worth about a million dollars in payout," Francis explained, surprising me when he sounded pained, like a man who was shooting his foot with every word that left his mouth.
I glanced at him and realized that he was actually not enjoying a single moment of this.
Apparently, Francis doesn't like playing Judas. I mean, he hung himself to death later in the story, didn't he?
"The terms are for them to join in marital union for a year, each clause in the contract summing up to what is essentially a marriage in name only," Francis continued and I could see Brandon flushing so deep a shade of red, he was going to catch fire any second. "At the conclusion of a year, the two parties are going to dissolve the marriage, Charlotte walking away with a million dollars total after four quarterly pay-installments and Brandon a free man once again, his fortune intact due to a pre-nup."
The cold, business-like nature of my marriage with Brandon sounded like fingernails on the chalkboard but they were the black and white facts no amount of gray area was ever going to completely cover for good.
The more complicated the lie, the harder it was to untangle your way out of it.
"But why the hell would they do something like that?" Jake demanded. "People don't just strike up a bargain to get hitched for a year for no particular reason."
Brandon came forward. "I can explain—"
"No, I'll explain," I interrupted, swallowing the lump in my throat and thrusting my chin up to face up to the truth we could no longer run away from.
"Martin gave Brandon an ultimatum—marry me or give up the CEO position to Francis," I confessed, glancing at the old man whose expression betrayed nothing despite the collective gasps in the room.
"I'm not sure why I was picked the candidate or why Martin came up with the idea but Brandon's initial offer had been simple—that I convince Martin to change his mind," I continued, ignoring the voice in my head warning me that to tell another half-truth, half-lie concoction to get out of another lie wasn't going to get me ahead at all.
Forgive me, Brand, but I can't cost you every person in the world you care for. You can't be the bad guy. Too many people need you to be the hero.
He must've understood what I was trying to do because he suddenly looked stricken and reached out as if to grab me."Charlotte, no. Don't—"
"But it was the chance of a lifetime and I was smart enough to know what I could get out of it," I went on in a loud, firm voice that warned away any interruption. "I was attracted to Brandon, and I could certainly use some of his cash so I gave him a proposition where we all win—Martin gets what he wants, Brandon makes his Dad happy and gets to keep the CEO position, and I get to have a million dollars. Our marriage has become a bit more real than the original one we stated in the paperwork but that's the truth behind our mad rush to get married—and to each other, of all people, when it was quite clear to everyone from the very beginning that were very wrong for each other. There was no Cinderella story where the prince met the pauper and fell in love. We cooked that publicity up. It was all business in the beginning. I'm so sorry that we lied to you but it wasn't our intention to hurt anybody."
I turned to Martin pleadingly. "And please don't hate Brandon. He only wanted to make you happy and he was willing to pay whatever price it cost him."
I hastily turned away before I could see every damnable thing I did reflected in Martin's usually kind eyes. The man had been more of a father to me all these years and the shame that I'd kept at bay since this whole masquerade started finally crashed into me like a tidal wave.
I wanted to run, and keep running.
"My wife takes on the blame I have more than an equal share of," Brandon spoke up, striding forward and slipping an arm around me before I could react, drawing me away from Francis and pulling me close in a protective stance.
Oh, Brand. Why burn with me?
"It was all my idea and Charlotte wanted no part of it," he continued, levelling our audience a look that challenged anyone who wouldn't believe him. "But her circumstances were dire and like the businessman that I am, I used them to convince her of what she would gain if she went along with my idea. While that weakened her defense, it didn't persuade her. So I used her regard for my father to talk her into it. She loves the old man and would do anything to see him happy and I convinced her that marrying me for a year to satisfy Dad's plans should do the trick."
"Brand, don't do this," I whispered to him, my head lowering in shame.
Whether he heard me or not didn't matter because he kept going like a man determined to drag himself home on one leg, clutching the bleeding wound where he'd hacked off the other one. "She fought me all the way to the altar, and while I can't deny that the motives that prompted our union were purely selfish and wrong, my marriage to Charlotte became as real as it could be from the moment I first met her. I love her—I might have since the day she nearly smacked me on the face for accusing her to be a teenage gold-digger who manipulated my father into becoming a pawn in her money-making scheme. Dad's ultimatum just became an easy excuse to justify why I suddenly wanted to marry the girl I hadn't even wanted to be saddled with in the first place, and who I was prepared to pay off to be rid of."
I sagged against Brandon, grateful for his solid strength because I was about to fall apart—both from the guilt and relief that despite all the people I may have lost forever today, I still had him, at least—until I eventually give him up once it became clear just how much he'd lost because of me.
"I love her, and she's my wife. She'll be my wife for the rest of our lives, the contract be damned. If anyone has a problem with that, you can take it up with me."
Brandon's last statement issued a challenge that left the room completely silent save for the sharp breaths I was sucking in to hold it together.
I couldn't bear to look at anyone—not at the people I'd started counting as my own family. They were people who, at some point, had put their trust in me and took me in despite how awkwardly I fit the shoes I was never meant to wear—people I'd betrayed from the moment I signed my name on that dotted line, whatever the reason may have been.
It didn't matter that Brandon and I had fallen in love—we still fed them a lie and smiled our way through it.
Suddenly, I felt like I was as small and worthless as an insignificant speck of dust—the kind you brushed off and left behind.
"I'd be the first person to say that my methods were completely selfish and antiquated but I can't say I have regrets with how I've acted."
I looked up a second after I realized it was Martin who'd just spoken.
"I knew of the crush you'd nursed for my son over the years, Charlotte," the old man continued calmly. "And I knew how you were struggling to keep your head above water after you came back from Paris at your father's death."
Brandon's arm tightened around my waist but he said nothing.
"I knew of Brandon's cycle of dating women who understood and accepted his rules about commitment or lack thereof," Martin said. "I knew that if he kept dating the same kind of woman, he would never make the effort to look for one he could love, marry and spend his life with."
Martin's eyes swept back and forth between me and Brandon, a glimmer of a smile in them. "I'm an old man with little time left in the world. I thought I could do something for two people I deeply cared about."
"You were matchmaking them, Dad?" Tessa asked, her eyes wide with shock. "Are you kidding me?"
The old man smiled a little. "It was a risky bluff—one they could've both called me out on. I know them both well enough that if they really hated each other once they've met, they would come to me to demand that I drop my outrageous ultimatum—and I would've. But I got Brandon's call saying he was bringing Charlotte to brunch and when I saw them together, I realized just how well my plan worked out."
"Didn't it occur to you to maybe just invite them both to dinner or something? Did you really have to get them married right away?" Anna asked with a disbelieving shake of her head. I couldn't blame her because my mouth had dropped and stayed open as I continued to listen to Martin's confession.
"I had to put the seed of marriage into Brandon's mind somehow," Martin answered with an unapologetic shrug. "I didn't want him to meet Charlotte and think of her as some new girl he could date for a little bit before moving on to the next convenient choice. It wasn't the smoothest of ploys but it worked, didn't it? I thought I would at least get them to somehow date but that they actually wanted to get married right away was just a bonus."
I looked up at Brandon and saw that he was as flabbergasted as I felt.
Really? All of this was just Martin's pure whim?
"Just as you said in your speech at the Teaser's opening party, Charlotte," the old man added. "The world turns on the momentum of a chain reaction spurred by perception—I gave an ultimatum. Your interpretation of it prompted decisions from both of you that eventually led you here today, happily married, each of you eager to shoulder the entire blame to spare the other the slightest grief."
"So you're not mad at them... right?" Mattie's asked, directing his father an expectant gaze.
My chest tightened at the realization that it was so much worse to have your sins laid out in front of a child who still knew very little of the very flawed life adults lived.
Martin let out a long, deep sigh. "I have no right to be angry at them when I'm the one who forced them into these circumstances. I only wish their rough start didn't haunt them as it obviously has because it suddenly became very clear that it's made the menu for blackmail."
No one missed the sharp, narrowed gaze Martin directed his nephew.
"They're not even going to get a scolding, are they, Uncle?" Francis spat out bitterly. "Brandon pulls a fast one on you and you pat him on the back for a job well done. I bring out the truth and I get your condemnation."
"Should I pat your back then, Francis, because you decided to use the truth when it was convenient to you, for an agenda solely your own, and at the expense of everyone who has nothing to gain from your selfishly motivated honesty?" Martin asked bluntly, his mouth set in a grim line. "The difference between the heroes and the villains is in the purpose their actions serve."
The comparison didn't sit well with Francis because his nostrils flared and his fists clenched. "I have something important that your hero of a son took away from me. I used whatever available leverage I had to take back what he should've never taken from me in the first place."
There was a long, silent pause in the room before Martin exhaled wearily, the fight draining from him, each year of his several decades showing plainly on his face.
"If this is about Nicole and your child, I can't say that Brandon took anything you valued at that time, Francis," Martin said, eliciting more startled gasps around the room. "You severed your ties and left them high and dry. I would've stepped in if Brandon hadn't."
It's one hell of an afternoon for revelations.
"You know about them, Dad?" Brandon asked in bewilderment. "You knew all this time? About everything?"
A faint smile crossed Martin's lips. "Son, just because I let you live your lives, doesn't mean I don't keep track of them."
Tessa's head swung towars Francis. "You have a child? With Nicole?"
Francis's brows furrowed into a small frown but he nodded. "Yes. I have a son."
"You have a little boy and you didn't tell us about him?" Anna asked with a baleful look at her cousin. "I would've loved to play auntie!"
Martin let out a short laugh but his expression turned serious once again when he returned his attention to Francis. "If you want to start over with your little family, Francis, I suggest you start on a clean slate. Lay out your cards, ask for forgiveness and compromise with them as you start anew. The last thing you should do is bulldoze your way in, not caring who you run over in the process."
The strain in Francis's expression eased but only a little. "It would be easier to do that if Brandon hasn't bred two years' worth of mistrust about me."
I couldn't help a snort. "Oh, you didn't need help in that department. Owning up to your mistakes isn't pleasant—I should know. It's like vomiting in your mouth over and over again. But let it out, get it over and done with, and maybe then you'll find some relief."
My gaze drifted back to the rest of the group who were watching me and my eyes lowered. "It's really quite disgusting, isn't it?"
"It's the people who stick around even after seeing you at your worst who matter, isn't it?" Cassandra said with a small smile. "To err is human; to come clean with it is someone worth a chance at forgiveness."
"And I should know," Sebastian said kindly as he put an arm around his wife. "I think all of us, at some point in our lives, have gone too far for the sake of something important."
I smiled faintly and risked a glance at the rest of the people in the room.
While I couldn't see anyone giving us murderous stares, they all wore a variety of puzzled frowns and still-stunned expressions.
I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. "Thank you, for at least letting us explain. I can never apologize enough for having done what we did but amazingly enough, I have no regrets."
I forced myself to meet everyone's eyes, biting down on my trembling lower lip. "I met the man I will love for all of my life. I found myself a part of a wonderful, happy family I never really had growing up. I found people, a select few amidst a big crowd of critics, who took one look at me, resigned themselves to everything that would never change about me, and decided that no matter how oddly matched I was to this world I landed in, I was worth their time, their respect, their affection. I know I deserve none of it after the lie we perpetrated but I wanted you all to know how much it all meant to me, for what it's worth."
A big, fat tear rolled down my cheek—as heavy and as futile as the guilt that weighed down my heart—and I swiped at it with the back of my hand.
With a sob choking up my nose as the floodgates burst inside of me, I grabbed my bag and sucked the tears back in. "I'm s-so sorry. I have to g-go."
I turned and dashed out the door, remotely aware of the heavy footsteps that followed behind me as I sprinted through the hall, nearly stumbling down the front porch steps.
Tears were streaming down my face and I could hardly keep up with dashing them back.
"Charlotte, love."
A big, strong hand snatched me by the elbow and yanked me back against the familiar, solid frame of my husband.
"Come here," Brandon murmured against my ear as his arms locked around me, his breath warm and soft against the side of my face. "Don't run away. Never run away. You've got me, always."
"You've got me but is that enough?" I choked out, raking a hand through my hair. "What if your family decides to cast you out for lying to them?"
"I'll be very sad. I'll miss them."
I peered up at Brandon slowly, blinking the tears away from my vision. "What if giving me up means keeping them?"
He exhaled long and hard, his shoulders slumping slightly. "Then despite my sadness, I'll still be a content and happy man. I love you, Charlotte. I'm frustrated that you tried to shoulder all the blame and cast me as the hero. I don't want to be a damned hero to anyone but you."
My lower lip trembled before the tears broke free from me again.
"I feel so awful," I sobbed against his chest, my eyes squeezing shut. "I feel like a terrible person. I never wanted to be a terrible person! My p-parents w-were terrible people so I know—I know!—how it feels to be on the other side. I know how it is to realize that the p-people you cared about... and trusted so much... are nothing like you thought they were in r-reality."
Brandon's arms tightened around me. "Hush, Charlotte. Please... Don't cry."
I sobbed harder, pressing my face against his chest, my hands clutching his shoulders as I leaned in for support.
I couldn't remember where we were or how we got there but for a long time, I let all my suppressed emotions run free, hoping the flash flood would erode away all the guilt and shame I'd banked for months.
The beauty of a natural disaster, underneath all the rubble and destruction, is that sometimes, the landscape has completely changed. I hope I can be scrubbed and stripped clean of my sins. Then something new just might grow.
"You're not a terrible person, Charlotte. I've never heard anything more ridiculous than that," Brandon murmured gently, running his hand down the back of my head in soothing strokes. "And let me remind you that Dad was just as sly and manipulative about all of this. He's not the completely innocent victim you grieve him to be."
I pushed my head up to look at Brandon. "I know but it doesn't make me any less guilty. The gravity of a crime isn't lessened by another one more gruesome. The person who deliberately ran you over with a car isn't less of a murderer just because someone else hacked another person's head off."
Brandon wrinkled his nose in distaste but I could see his lips twitch slightly. "While I see your point, could you come up with a less gory metaphor?"
I smiled reluctantly, sniffling as I shook my head. "The point is that I didn't have to take the bait just because someone was flinging it at my face. I'm my own person, Brand, with my own mind. I made the conscious decision to participate in that deception. And so did you. Your Dad was right about the fact that we could've come to him and said no. But we didn't."
Brandon nodded. "Right. We didn't."
"We decided to get married instead—even though it was crazy and wrong and absolutely ridiculous."
"You were the wrong girl and I wasn't the guy you dreamed up I was."
"Exactly!" I agreed. "And we were taking a lot of risks."
"Like getting caught. Having it blow up on our faces," Brandon enumerated. "Being publicly disgraced."
My head bobbed up and down. "Yes, yes, and yes! It sounded like there was a lot at stake, but was there really?"
"Not really now that I think back on it," Brandon answered, his brows knitting together thoughtfully. "I mean, I'm sure we could've gotten ourselves out of it if we'd really wanted to."
"Right. But we didn't," I said, pausing when I realized I was repeating the exact words Brandon had said at the beginning of this long-winded loop of a conversation we'd just had.
Brandon smiled down at me, his hazel eyes twinkling. "We could've, but we didn't."
I slipped my arms around his neck, drawn in by this curious, bubbly feeling of being on the verge of a startling yet elusive epiphany. "Then why the hell did we go through all of that then?"
Brandon lowered his face to mine, the tip of his nose brushing my cheek, his lips a whisper away. "Because we wanted to."
I smiled against the soft whisper of his lips across mine. "We really did, didn't we?"
"We did," he agreed in a murmur, his arms tightening around my waist. "Whether we knew it then or not."
"So I'm not really a serial killer who decapitates people?" I asked with a crooked smile.
A small, surprised laugh rumbled out of Brandon. "No, you're not."
He bent to kiss my cheek. "You're not the kind of girl who would've simply traded your self-worth for a million dollars—no matter how much you liked your father-in-law."
I raised up on my toes and pressed a kiss on his cheek in return. "And you're not the kind of guy who would offer it up to any girl just because your father told you so—CEO position at stake or not."
"So I guess in the end," Brandon said, "We really wanted it."
I grinned. "We did. We really did."
===
So, what do you guys think? They finally came clean but not in a big, explosive way because for me, I thought it wasn't as big a deal as it was in the beginning. But the truth had to come out somehow.
An interesting thing I realized as I continued writing this story was the complicated nature of heroes and villains and you'll probably see that in the upcoming chapters. We all have a little bit of each in us—a fact that makes us humans who are neither infallible nor irredeemable.
Hope you liked it! =)
♪♪♪ Chapter Soundtrack: Tristan Prettyman - Come Clean ♪♪♪
Not the way you planned it
You didn't mean to happen
Could have been anyone
You should stop do what you started
Say goodbye and dearly parted
You're right back where you came from
Come clean when lines get blurry
Come clean when the dawn gets dirty
Holding your breath
When you just wanna scream
At some point we all have to
Come clean
Promises get broken
Details go unspoken
I never say too much
Spend too much time thinking
And the weeks lead up to leaving
Summer's gonna get crushed
Come clean when lines get blurry
Come clean when the dawn gets dirty
Holding your breath
When you just wanna scream
At some point we all have to
Forgive the regrets
When it comes, let it pass
Let the first rain of the season
Wash away our past
I know, I know that we can