He shot a look at the camera, seeming to acknowledge Kat and their little inside secret. “Umm…it’s been days.”
“Tell us what it’s been like for you. There you were, declaring your love for this woman one minute, and then watching her sail right out of your life the next.”
“It’s been the worst few days of my life,” he said. “It was one thing to lose my dad, my granddad, and Winston too. But those losses were out of my control. But this one…to know that I might have lost Kat forever, all because I hadn’t come clean to her about who I really was…it’s awful.”
“Our audience has been kind of torn on this one, Zander. Some viewers say they’d never forgive you. Others say there wasn’t much to forgive. Soon, we’ll find out which camp Kat’s in, but first let me ask you something.” Lisa propped a hand beneath her chin and channeled her thoughtful face.
“As per Kat’s participation in the experiment, she’ll need to spend the remainder of her contract under one roof with either you or Duke. You might be confident that she’ll choose you, but let’s take a look at this montage and see if you still feel that way.”
Dread poured in as Kat waited for the promised footage to play. It started with a clip from her interview. “What interests me most in this experiment is the fact that the formula picks the guy, not me.”
Another clip came in. “I’m a chemist. Science doesn’t lie.”
And then another. “Science never fails.”
“I just love that we’ve got these experts using this incredible formula to line people up.”
“… incredible formula,” they played back in slow mo. “It’s all about the formula.”
It shot to an interview she’d done with Marsha on the dock.
“You put a lot of faith into this process,” Marsha said from behind the lens. “It’s one of the reasons our specialists had you at the top of their list.”
“…because of how much faith I had in the process?” Kat said back. “I thought the only consideration was the level of compatibility in the matches.”
They repeated the last line in slow motion once more. “…level of compatibility in the matches.”
Lastly, it went to a clip from Kat’s very first introductory video. “I don’t want to go off feelings anymore. I’m looking for something that works.”
Silence sank over the stage and the audience too as the clip ended.
“Well,” Lisa finally said, breaking into the quiet. “If that’s any indication, I think you might be in trouble.” She pointed a finger at Zander. “It seems that you have gained access to her feelings, strong ones at that. But…” She moved that pointed finger to Duke next.
“This man…he’s the one who matched up with her in the formula. So while this might seem like a choice between one twin or the other, what it really comes down to is feelings or formula. Let’s find out which it will be after one quick break.”
Kat couldn’t have said it more clearly herself. Push was coming to shove now, all on live TV. She clung onto that one ribbon of hope, and prayed it would be enough to get her through this.
Chapter 25
Everything Zander wanted in life—all that he’d worked for and hoped to achieve—seemed to pivot on this one moment on the set of a reality TV show.
Lisa had broken for commercial, and the audience was buzzing like hornets. Zander kept his eyes pasted on the curtain, knowing Kat stood on just the other side. A fierce need ripped through him—the urgency to take her in his arms and erase the madness surrounding them. To make up for the hurt he’d caused. To make everything right in her world, since she was now his world.
That thought was disrupted as Duke tapped him on the arm. “Hey, I’ve got a confession.”
Zander lifted a brow. “Okay…” That should have been enough to get his brother to come clean but the guy only grimaced instead.
“I should have told you this sooner,” he admitted.
“Well, hurry and do it now before we get back from break.”
Duke ducked his head behind him, blocked his mouth with his hand, and mumbled a few short words. “I lied on the application.”
Zander’s pulse spiked a notch. “Lied about what?” he hissed, pulling back to meet his brother’s eye.
Duke shrugged and pulled the grimace face again. “I knew a guy like you was more likely to get picked than a guy like me…”
Zander gave him a nod of encouragement to finish out the thought. “So…”
