“First, she loses her beloved husband. The love of her life. And now she’s losing everything else? Come on, Lior, you have to do the right thing.”
I clenched my fists. “You are about three seconds away from being punched. Please leave my home right now.”
“Lior. Be sensible. I’ve come all this way to help you.”
“What do you want? A medal?”
He shook his head. “I’m so disappointed. I thought the company and your family’s legacy were the most important things to you. You used to leave me alone, waiting night after night when you were working late, and now you’re ready to throw it all out.”
“You are wrong, Pierce. Van Stern Enterprises isn’t the most important thing to me. Noah is.”
He scoffed. “You can’t tell me you’re in love with him.”
“What if I am?”
“Are you joking?”
I stared at him.
“You could do better, you know?”
“Like what? You? That’s where you’re wrong. I couldn’t do worse than you. Regardless, this isn’t about who the best option is for me. I don’t need an option. If things with Noah don’t work out, being alone is a viable end game.”
“What about the photos?” He pointed at the paper I still held in my hand.
“It’s none of your business.”
“Fine.” He walked back to his car. “Come to me when you have no other way out. I’ll be waiting because that’s just the person I am. But I won’t wait forever.”
“Pierce,” I called as he opened the door. “Please don’t. Find someone to be happy with and live your life.”
“I thought I already had. Clearly, I was mistaken.”
I leaned against my car to steady myself. Pierce left my driveway without another word.
Was I making a mistake? My gut told me to trust Noah. I knew him. The sounds he made, the way he smiled, how silly he could be. He was my Noah. I had to trust that there was an explanation for the photos. Once I had that, we could figure out how to fight this.
I got in the car and put it in gear. The brown envelope poked out of the bag, so I took it out.
Inside, there was nothing but a bunch of photos.
My heart sank when I scanned through them. One by one.
I pulled out of my driveway, wondering how Noah would explain those.
Noah
The more I paced the wooden floor of my apartment, the fewer answers I had.
Things I knew: I was in love with Lior.
Things I didn’t know: if he loved me back.
That meant I had to think about the current facts, and those were that Pierce was right. I was a liability.
The part of the article about our marriage would certainly raise suspicion with Lior’s business partners, but who could prove it? We had a marriage certificate issued by the state of Nevada. We had two witnesses who would support us. We lived together.
If anything, the adjustment we’d made to our lives by splitting our living arrangements but remaining together proved the commitment we’d made.
