Before I could respond, as I was opening my mouth to do it, a soft sound came from the door he’d obviously left open. A barely there squeak.
All three of us turned toward it just in time to see Eliza spin on her heels and take off down the hallway, that golden brown hair sailing out behind her. I felt the blood drain from my face.
“Fuck, she heard everything,” I muttered, already knowing it all the way down to the marrow of my bones. “Eliza!”
By the time her name was out of my mouth, she was already turning the first corner and she didn’t stop or even look back. For a long second, I was rooted in place, my heart pounding and my body refusing to react.
This was my worst nightmare and it was coming true right now.
Eliza had overheard everything and now she was running. I couldn’t even blame her, but I sure as hell wasn’t letting her go just like that.
CHAPTER 36
ELIZA
Ididn’t remember leaving the building. One second, I was standing in the doorway, my entire world rearranging itself in the span of a single breath, and the next, I was outside.
You’re pretending to be me and sleeping with my fiancée.
My head was spinning so violently, I couldn’t land on a single thought long enough to make sense of it.Will. Jesse. Will is Jesse. No, Jesse is Will.
I stopped abruptly on the pavement, pressing a hand to my forehead like I might physically be able to hold my thoughts still enough to grab hold of one, but it didn’t work. Footsteps sounded behind me long before I’d even begun to process what I’d just heard.
“Eliza!”
Spinning on my heels, I found myself looking into Jesse—no, Will’s—blue eyes, and suddenly, all the pieces of the puzzle snapped together in my head. How Jesse had seemed so much more like the Will I’d met back then that it was almost like they’d had their personalities transplanted.
“Don’t,” I said, holding his gaze. My voice was wobbly but sharper than ever. “Don’t come any closer.”
He slammed to a stop abruptly, like he actually cared about the line I’d drawn, just looking back at me with a tormented twist on his lips. “Just wait, Eliza. Please. Let me explain.”
“Explain?” I let out a disbelieving laugh. “Explainwhat, exactly? That you’ve been lying to me? That you’ve been playing me for a fool all this time? Because there’s no need to explain any of that. I already know.”
“Eliza—”
“Which one are you?” I demanded suddenly, my voice rising now as my self-control slipped a few notches. “Well, which one?”
Apparently, that was a question I should’ve been asking during every interaction we’d had since the beginning.
That sharp jawline I’d run my fingers across just last night tightened into a firm line. His eyes never left mine. “I’m Will.”
“What about Jesse?” I asked. “You’re sure you’re not him?”
“I’m sure. Jesse is upstairs. I can get him if you’d like. You’ll be able to tell the difference when we’re together.”
“Oh, I think I can tell it now. Jesse, the one I’m meant to be marrying, is the one you said was just a strange guy after I mentioned how uncomfortable he seemed at the engagement party.”
I let out a small, broken laugh. Of course that was exactly how this would go, wasn’t it? The man I thought I’d been falling for wasn’t even the man I was marrying and the one I’d dismissed without a second thought was going to be become my husband.
My stomach twisted. “This has been going on since the beginning, hasn’t it? You’ve been pretending to be him ever since we got here.”
Looking at me like he was quietly begging me to understand, he nodded. “Yes, it has. I have.”
My heart shattered in response. I took a step back without meaning to, then another. It felt like my insides were being tornapartandlike my whole world had just been flipped upside down.
“Eliza, just listen to me,” he said, taking a careful step forward. “I didn’t plan for it to?—”
“No,” I snapped. “You don’t get to explain this away like it just happened.”
