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“Sweat?” Brooke asks. “They are all already frothing at the mouth for this story, and I think—ouch, what did … oh.”

I turn just in time to see Dutton giving Brooke some kind of hand gesture. When he sees me looking, they both stop and smile.

It’s creepy.

“If you’re trying to get me to wait so you can change my mind, it’s not going to happen.”

I have to help Preston in any way I can. This might not work, but I can’t just sit here and do nothing.

“We aren’t,” Gavin says, looking at his phone. “We just want another five minutes with you, maybe ten.”

His voice changed pitch. A clear sign he’s up to something. I know I should stay here and figure out what that is, but it will have to wait.

“I don’t know what you’re all up to, but let’s save it until after I’m done.”

I walk out the door, and they all rush after me.

“Wait like five minutes, Grace, please,” Gavin says.

I keep walking.

“Just don’t rush into this,” Dutton adds.

I ignore them both and step into the lobby, where the room falls silent as every set of eyes turns to me.

Keeping my head held high, I move with poise to the podium we set up for this.

I’ll be brief and be done in a matter of minutes.

I take my place, my gaze tracking my family as they all move to stand by the main entrance doors.

I focus on Layla for a split second before I start talking.

“Thank you all for making last-minute arrangements to be here today. I know it was poor planning, but the truth needs to be told, and it needs to come from me. Lovers Lodge, despite what has been in the media these past few months, is a place built on trust, loyalty, and love, not on lies. I vowed to make things better once I took over, but I’m afraid I’ve done the opposite, and that ends now.”

I take a deep breath, scanning the lobby and all the cameras and recorders in front of me. It’s now or never.

“The truth is that Preston King is⁠—”

My words come to a halt. A pair of familiar sapphire eyes steal my attention. The man they belong to is frozen just past the doors as he watches me.

My heart pounds. Is he here to stop me?

The thought lasts only a split second before he smiles, nods, and then leans against the wall next to him to settle in, never taking his eyes off me. I fight the smile that tugs at my lips and fail.

He’s here.

Happy tears prick at my eyes.

I didn’t know how much I needed him here right now.

I must stop talking long enough to draw attention, because heads begin to turn, following my line of sight.

“The truth is, I let the negative words of the media cloud my judgment. I was tired of being doubted and seeing how people who had never been here, who had never even met me, could say such awful things about me and the community that my family and I built here at Lovers Lodge. While my father made the choices he did, I am the one who makes mine. I do not want to be like him. I do not want to lie.”

The room is dead silent as every reporter hangs on my words as if it’s their lifeline.

“The engagement was a fabricated story for the media to shift their attention from negative to positive. I needed that. The lodge needed it. This town needed it. But it wasn’t right. I’m truly sorry for misleading everyone and tarnishing the name of the lodge further. Am I going to make more mistakes? Maybe. It’s my first time owning a lodge, but I am going to give you my best. Every day. But from this moment on, I promise you …”