“He thought I stole his sister’s money.”
Fritz closed his eyes and shook his head. “Idiot.”
“He has…an issue with money. I don’t know.” My heart lodged in my throat as another wave of sadness hit me. “I’m so glad you’re here and that you forgive me. Are you able to stay the whole day?”
“No. I have a meeting in an hour, but this was more important.” He came to me again and hugged me. “Love you, Gilbert. You’ll get through this.”
I squeezed him tight and sighed when he broke the hug. “Love you too.”
“Enjoy the present. I’m sure you’ll like it.” He grinned and walked backward out of the room. “Any chance I can see Larissa before I go? She is your hottest friend.”
“Get out.” I snorted, my lips curling up and feeling weird on my face. Smiling used to be so easy, and now it felt like a chore.This will pass.
The gift ended up being books. Tons of books for my classroom library. All different Lexile levels and themes, and I closed my eyes and pressed my lips together. This was perfect and the best gift. I loved stocking my classroom library, and the thought of seeing kids read them made a dull thrill of excitement rush through me.
I would be okay. I had him and Grace, and if Fritz could survive heartbreak, I could too. At least Christopher didn’t try to steal money from me. With that last thought, I focused on the sayingit could always be worseand put all my energy on my students.
It wasn’t until the end of the day that Christopher stood at my door, and I got a good look at him. His hair was messier than normal, his eyes lacked their typical glint, and his jaw was so tense, it had to hurt his teeth. But that wasn’t my issue. Not at all. He took one step into my room, looking nervous as hell, and he gulped. “Could we talk?”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Could we talk?The nerve of this man. We could’ve talked all weekend. He could’ve talked to me Friday instead of assuming I stole from his sister. I gritted my teeth together and hated how I still loved him. My feelings couldn’t just disappear over a few days, but I wished they could. I would give anything to not feel my heart thump against my ribs when he was near me or how my skin tingled around him.
“What is there to say?” I crossed my arms over my chest and sat on the corner of my desk. “I tried calling youall weekend.You chose to ignore me.”
He ran a hand through his hair and groaned, the sound making my toes curl into my flats. “I was pissed. I thought—”
“I know what you thought.” I bounced off the desk, my adrenaline racing like I was on the Tower of Terror. His sister had clued me in on why he’d gone frigid. “That I was a con artist. That I stole from yoursister. That I would take thousands of dollars away from a student, even though my entire passion and profession are to help kids. You thought that I withdrew the money, and instead of asking me about it, you jumped to your own conclusions. Con woman Gilly, right? Like how you thought I stole from you back in the spring all over again.”
Oh, I was on a roll. I couldn’t stop. The words I wanted to say all weekend flew out of me, my hurt and pain needing to release at the person who’d caused my tears. My breath came out in pants as I neared him, and the absolute horror on his face made me feel a tiny bit better.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, and yes, I will admit that is my fault. It is my fault I didn’t tell you I’m an heiress. I have a lot of money. So much that I’m going to replenish the funds your sister missed without even batting an eyelash. Fritz and I don’t talk about our inheritance much because someonealwayswants a piece of it.”
Christopher sucked in a breath and took a step back like I’d hit him. “Gilly,” he said in his deep, ragged voice, but I cut him off.
“My brother used to date Samantha, and she used him because of his money. She had a whole thing planned out to rob him after she got him to fall in love and propose, and yeah, I paid her to leave him once I found out. She’s been blackmailing me all school year for more, threatening to tell Fritz the truth about what I did. I was ashamed and let her play me because my brother is my best friend. But I’d had enough. When I finally said no, she stole the scholarship funds and framed me. I get that it looked bad, but Christopher…you couldn’t even ask me about it or even think there was a mistake?” I sniffed. My eyes stung as I looked at the ground. “You never trusted me.”
“Is that why you didn’t you tell me about your money from the start? Because of Samantha?” he asked, the sadness oozing out of his voice and wrapping around my body like a hug. A small part of me wanted to hug him, to comfort him, but he’d hurt me too much, and the trust was broken.
“Yes. Money is an issue for me too, Christopher. I wanted someone to love me who didn’t care about my money or what I could do for them.”
“Gilly, I do—”
“No.” I held up my hand, stopping him. I couldn’t hear anything else from him. “I don’t think there’s anything left to say anymore. You made sure of that when you refused to talk to me during the worst three days of my life.”
His gaze shuttered, and his entire face crumpled. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, me too. This could’ve been something great, but you broke my heart.” I took a breath and closed my eyes, hearing his footsteps echo on the floor as he left my room. This was for the best. We were done, the truth was out in the open, and we could move on with our lives. Even though it wasn’t my fault, that it was Samantha who did it, I felt guilty that Kayla would suffer because of me, and that wouldn’t do.
I typed an email to my financial advisor, asking for a check to be made to the NHS fund. At least that piece of my heartbreak puzzle would be fixed.
The next daywas like a scene out of a movie. I woke up, preparing to suffer from seeing Christopher, but it went in a totally different direction. My phone rang, and Detective George wanted me to come to the police station. They’d caught her. Now they needed me to verify that the checkbook they found in Samantha’s car was mine, as well as another item found in her possession.
The best part wasn’t even that they found her by searching for her—it was because she ran a red light. The irony of it all brought a real smile to my face, and my stomach exploded with butterflies as I drove toward the police station. I called APD on the way there and explained everything to him—the blackmail, the truth about my background, everything, and his only response wasI’ll get you a sub.
It was at times like this, I was grateful for his unwavering business tone. I parked and smoothed down my dress before walking into the front doors of the station. I had never been there before, and the brick building was intimidating as hell. Was she there? Was Samantha somewhere in the building with handcuffs? God, the thought of it made me smile. That woman deserved what came her way.
“Where should I direct you?” a stern woman said as I approached the front desk. She had dark hair twisted into a bun that pulled her forehead back. It gave me a headache just looking at it.
