Alex shrugged. “It was the best I could do under the circumstances. I really thought he’d show up this time. He still might, and besides, you’ve been handling it for him. Giving him time to ease into it.”
“That wasn’t the plan,” I snapped. “I’m not going to be in this marriage with them, Alex. She knows me now, and even though I tried, I am not Jesse. I might look like him, but I’m not.”
“No,” Alex agreed. “It wasn’t the plan, but thank you for stepping up, Will. I know it wasn’t fair. I was also trying to give you time, but you got roped into this anyway.”
I frowned, caught off guard by what he’d just said. “You were trying to give me time for what?”
“To find someone on your own.”
My eyes widened and I scoffed loudly. “That’swhy you set Jesse up instead? To givemetime?”
He nodded. “Nate and I didn’t have the option to try to find someone by ourselves. It worked out fucking great for both of us, but Jesse needed a nudge. He’s not going to take finding someone on his own seriously and you two were next in line. I thought that you deserved the chance, at least.”
I was struck dumb. That was the only way to describe it. All along, I’d wondered why they’d chosen Jesse for Eliza instead of me. I was a few minutes older. By rights, it should’ve been me.
That excuse about wanting to use this to force him back into the fold had been thin to me from the get-go. It’d been years since he’d gone off on his own, so why would it now suddenly be so urgent to bring him back?
“Nate will be here shortly,” Alex said then, shifting gears. “We’re going over options regarding Eugenie.”
“Our options? This isn’t something that can be solved with the right strategy, Alex,” I said. “I’ve been thinking about it, and I’m going to pay her.”
Alex’s eyebrows lifted slightly. “No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am.”
He shook his head. “That’s not happening.”
“It is,” I said firmly. “Jesse was right. This is the only way.”
Alex shook his head again. “It’s not. Nate and I are going to fix it, Will.”
“The only way we can be sure she keeps it quiet for now is by giving her the money. At least that should tide her over for a while. In the meantime, we can talk to Callum. Coordinate a strategy for damage control when the time comes.”
He rolled his lips into his mouth, nodding slowly. “What happens then? Let’s say you pay her this obscene amount of money, what happens after?”
“I tell Eliza the truth. That’s what.”
“Why?” He leaned forward, genuine confusion furrowing his brow. “Ifyou give Eugenie the money, why tell Eliza the truth after payingtwo hundred milliondollars to hide it?
I let out a slow breath, dragging a hand down my face before answering. It was time to tell Alex the truth. That was what I’d come here to do, but my heart was still pounding in my ears as I finally managed to formulate the words.
“The woman I want thinks I’m my brother. That’s why. This has crossed into territory none of us anticipated and I’m done lying. She deserves to know before she walks down that aisle and I want to be the one who tells her. Paying Eugenie is the price of the time I need to do it.”
Alex watched me for a long moment before he inhaled a deep breath through his nostrils. “Have you slept with her?”
“Well, you’ve always been direct.”
“Don’t play games with me right now, Will. Just answer the question. Have you slept with her?”
I nodded, honestly so completely done with lying, faking, and pretending that I just didn’t have the energy to do it even one more time. “Yes, I have.”
A scoff sounded from behind me, and immediately, I knew Jesse had come to work today after all. I didn’t need to turn to know he was standing in the doorway.
“You’re unbelievable,” he said as he stepped into the office. “That’swhere this went?”
My jaw tightened as I spun to face him. “You don’t get to weigh in on this.”
“Of course, I do. You’re pretending to be me and sleeping with my fiancée. I’d say that if anyone gets to weigh in on this, it’s me.”
