“Well, she’s his wife, so that tracks.”
Sydney gave me a weird look. “No, she’s not.”
“Yeah, she is. We all remember being shocked that she had gotten married to that dickbag after college.”
She looked even more confused. “No, after college he married Vanessa… something. She went to school with us.”
I absorbed this new information. “Wait, so he’s married to someone else?”
“Yeah. And they live in the city together.”
My eyes widened. “He’s always taking business trips there.”
“Businessisn’t what he’s doing there. But it doesn’t matter, other than the fact that I feel bad for Gwen. She seems so nice.”
She was nice. My anger bubbled over for everyone Preston was trying to fuck over in this situation. But with that anger came clarity.
“If we can prove that’s what’s going on, we could probably get him to back off. Blackmail him back.”
Sydney paused as she wiped her nose. “Yeah, but how? I don’t think they’ve posted any photos. Even their wedding was a private thing with very few guests. Preston covers himself well, the slimy bastard.”
“I don’t know.” I really didn’t. Everything felt like such a mess, and I didn’t know how I was going to fix it. Though I appreciated Sydney’s plan to keep the farm safe, how was I going to keephersafe?
“I think we should go back,” I said. I needed to wrap my head around everything.
“I understand,” she whispered.
We packed everything up and drove back in a tense silence. I wanted to say something—anything—reassuring, but I just couldn’t.
Not until I found a way out of this.
When we got home, it was quiet. I’d had Bridget pick Chicken up so he wouldn’t be there. I thought we’d be celebrating, but that wasn’t the case.
“We need to talk—"
“I think I’m going to bed,” she said. Before I could answer, she went into the guest room and closed the door.
I knew I should have knocked, tried to talk to her, but instead I slinked off into my own room and stared at the ceiling, hoping to figure out what to do.
Chapter twenty-two
Sydney
My hands shook asI placed all my things into my bags. It was all ruined.
Though Brooks said he wanted to talk, I knew what was left to say. How could he ever look me in my eyes again? All I saw in his the whole time was pain. Like I’d driven a knife right through his heart.
I deserved this. I should have told him I wouldn’t do it. Fuck the money. And now I’d lost the one I knew was the love of my life over it.
I had to get out of here.
Being as quiet as I could, I hopped into the car and started it up. It was quiet, unlike the loud roar I was used to with the truck. I knew the inn was likely still full, so I made my way up the mountain toward the only other place to stay in town.
Hallow Hill was pretty, with its exposed wood beams and large fireplace, but I didn’t notice much else; I just checked in and headed up to my room.
Once I was there, I flopped onto the bed and let myself fully sob for the first time tonight. I let myself mourn the love I could have had, the new life I could have had. Brooks offered me everything, and I destroyed it.
I destroyedhim.
