How did I not figure this out sooner?
My mind begins to race with all the minutiae that I thought meant nothing, all the red flags I ignored. The uber exclusive, members-only resort, for one thing—my parents weresointent on staying there, even though there were plenty of other optionsand I had tried to convince them to pick a hotel with more activities and more TripAdvisor reviews. But it makes sense if they had already arranged for these millionaire bachelors to be staying there in order to meet me. And then Mom’s obsessive interest in every guy that spoke to me, the way she kept trying to force me to see Ted. Plus, Dad avoiding all my questions about starting my new job.
Meeting the bidders was clearly pre-arranged as well. Ted “found” me at the beach bar, Mason “found” me at the restaurant, and the British guy “found” me on the beach. In hindsight, there’s no way any of those meetings were coincidences. Were my parents hoping I would hit it off with one of the bachelors right from the beginning and form a relationship organically, so I’d never find out that they’d orchestrated the whole thing? Well, joke’s on them. The only guy I fell for was the resort owner.
Anger rises up in me anew, my fists clenching at my sides. How dare they. And to throw in the baseball team as my dowry, while completely shutting me out of the family business at the same time…I’ll never forgive them for this.
I don’t know what to do next. Do I confront my parents? Or do I cut them off right here and now, run away from all of this, and start over somewhere else like Sophie did? My older sister had the right idea when she ran away. She just wanted to live her life on her own terms. Now I get it. Now it’s my turn.
Luckily, I have a place to go. I’m sure Brooke would let me move in with her until I can find an apartment, and I can hire movers to help me pack up my things as soon as I get home.I won’t even tell my parents goodbye. I’ll just disappear. That’ll throw a nice little wrench in their evil auction plan.
Steeling myself for the looks that I’ll probably get when I walk out of here, I blot my wet eyes one last time and then march out of the bathroom. I’m so gutted by the betrayal that I barely make it to the elevators without breaking down again, but I’m going to make it out of this office with my dignity intact if it’s the last thing I do. And then I hear rapid footsteps echoing on the tile floor.
I turn around and see Miriam hustling in my direction.Shit. I need to come up with an excuse for running out without seeing my father. I don’t want to get dragged back into his office when I no longer have anything to say to him.
But before I can tell her I’ve got a migraine, the elevator doors open behind me.
I have every intention of dashing into the elevator and hitting the Close Doors button, but when I look back, I see Sebastian Argos stepping out of the car. My jaw falls open. He’s in a suit and tie, looking better than any man has a right to, and he’s the last person I expected to show up here.
“Sorry I’m late—” he starts to say.
He freezes in place, eyes shifting back and forth between me and Miriam, but it’s too late. Because I’ve already realized that he wasn’t talking to me. He was talking to her. My dad’s admin.
“The other two are already waiting inside for you, sir,” Miriam says, smiling at Sebastian.
They’rewaitingfor him?
“What are you doing here?” I seethe, even though my intuition already knows.
Sebastian just stands there looking at me.
“Here to put in an offer, too?” I jeer, my voice cracking.
His composure breaks. “Blair. I don’t…I can’t…”
He can barely look me in the eye.
“What? Spit it out.”
“My job is to accept them,” he says.
I thought I couldn’t feel more hurt, more betrayed, more furious.
I was wrong.
Sebastian wasn’t just working at the resort during the course of my fucked-up courtships. He wasin chargeof the whole thing. He did this to me. Every single thing about the magical week we spent together was a lie. He was playing with me all along.
“You arranged the auction,” I say, shock making my voice sound dead and flat.
The guilt in his green eyes tells me everything I need to know, even before he answers, “I…yes.”
All I can do is shake my head. I have no words.
“Mr. Argos?” Miriam says hesitantly.
The elevator doors open with a chime, and I take one last look at the man who has utterly destroyed me.
“Go,” I tell him coldly. “Don’t be late for your meeting.”
