“I fucking knew it.” The Potomac Ice Princess appears at the railing, her arms resting on the ledge as she wears a proud smirk. “I knew you were fucking pregnant. But my brother? Now that’s a plot twist I didn’t see coming.”
She moves to the stairs, taking them one at a time as she comes closer.
“Brilliant, Mari. Really. Get my brother to knock you up, get Hudson to raise it as his,” she says. “Talk about a lifetime of financial security.”
“It’s nothing like that,” I say, lips curling into a sneer. My hand grips the railing to keep me from ripping her hair out extension by extension.
“Don’t say anything to Hudson,” Alec says, turning to his sister. “We’re still trying to figure this out.”
Her mouth pulls at the sides and she lifts her hands to her lips. “Wait, what? Hudson doesn’t know about this?”
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Pushing past the two of them, I head inside to find Hudson.
I have to tell him first.
I have to tell him before Audrina does.
Twenty-Eight
Hudson
* * *
I slide a chamois across the hood of my father’s ’64 Alfa Romeo Giulietta. It’s always been my favorite of all his classic cars, something about it evoking the feel of simpler times. Timeless style. Uncommon goodness. It’s flashy without being over the top, and sexy without being in-your-face.
The design is perfection.
Second to none.
This thing is freshly washed, waxed, and detailed, and as soon as I catch up with Mari, I’ll see if she wants to take it for a drive. We could head into town to a little coffee shop for breakfast then I could show her some more of the sights up here.
“Hudson?” I hear her call my name from the garage entrance. “You out here?”
“Over here.”
Quick footsteps pad across the concrete toward the driveway, and she stops at the trunk of the car, like she’s afraid to come closer.
“What’s up?” I lean against the door, tossing the chamois over my right shoulder. Her eyes are misty, bloodshot. “God, Mari. Everything okay?”
Biting her lip, she hesitates before shaking her head. “No.”
I study her face. She studies mine.
“Did something happen? Did someone hurt you?” I go to her, sliding my hands down her arms. She’s cold, which makes sense. She said she was going for a walk on the beach earlier.
“I have to tell you something.” Her words are steady and send a heaviness to my heart. “And before I tell you, you should know that I’m sorry. And if I could change things, I would. I’d take it back.”
My stomach is tied in knots. “It has to do with Alec, doesn’t it? Something happened with him? You kissed him?”
Her eyes close for a few beats, her lower lip trembling.
“I knew it. You like him,” I say.
She shakes her head. “Not quite.”
I half-laugh. “What do you mean, not quite?”
“I knew him before this trip,” she says slowly. “We met a couple of months ago. Back in New York. We hooked up. Once. It was just a one-night thing.”
I drag my hand along my jaw, brows furrowed as I listen.
“It didn’t mean anything,” she says. “But then …”
“Then what?” I don’t fucking have all day, and knowing she’s about to drop some sort of bombshell on me tightens my body and shortens my fuse. “Get on with it.”
“I … somehow … we got pregnant.” Her expression freezes as she waits for my reaction, but all I feel is numb.
And it’s not the good kind of numb this time.
It’s the kind of numbness I’ve known for the better part of the last decade, the kind that turns my heart to ice and convinces my head not to give a shit about any of the women who flit in and out of my life.
“When did you know?” I ask, chest feeling as if it’s about to implode.
“About a month ago?” She winces, looking up at me. “Before I signed the contract.”
Blowing a breath past tight lips, I take a step back and run my fingers through my hair, tugging on the ends.
“Seriously?” I ask. “Seriously, Mari? You didn’t think that maybe, just maybe you should’ve told me that you were fucking pregnant before you agreed to marry me?!”
“In my defense, you were extremely persistent, and what do you expect is going to happen when you wave five million dollars in front of a single pregnant lady?”
“So it’s my fault that you lied?”
“No. It’s your fault that I couldn’t say no. I literally couldn’t say not to that, Hudson. Who would?” she asks. “But it’s my fault that I lied. And I’m sorry. And I’m telling you now.”
“So Audrina was right.” I huff, peering out toward the manicured hedges and shaking my head. It all makes sense now … Mari not touching booze, her breasts getting bigger, all of it.
From the corner of my eye, I watch as Mari dabs the tears streaking down her cheek with the back of her hand. Her shoulders shake and she exhales as the two of us marinate in this new reality. Then without saying a word, she slides the diamond ring off her finger and places it gently on the trunk of my father’s car before heading inside.
She’s leaving.
And I’m not going to try and stop her.
Twenty-Nine
Mari
* * *
I tug the zipper around my suitcase with all the strength I have. There are still five inches until it’s fully closed, but this thing won’t budge. It’s too full.
My eyes burn and sting and tears cloud my vision, but I’m not giving up.
I’ve already called a cab. My things are ninety-five percent packed. I’m leaving.
The jig is up.
It’s over.
Just like I expected, this entire thing exploded in our faces.
I never should’ve agreed. I should’ve gone with my gut on this and not my money-blinded brain.
Something shiny catches my eye, and as I glance down, I realize I’m still wearing that Cartier love bracelet.
Hudson has the key.
A swift knock at the door startles my tears away temporarily, and in a flash of a second, I imagine it’s Hudson, coming to talk me out of leaving. Telling me we can make it work anyway. Then I realize it’s not going to happen. He didn’t chase after me when I left the garage earlier, and if he didn’t want me to go, he’d have stopped me by now.
“Maribel, are you in there?” It’s Helena.
“Just a second,” I call, running to the bathroom to splash cold water on my face. When I return, she’s standing in the middle of the room, worrying her bottom lip.
“There’s a cab here for you.” She steps closer. “I didn’t know you were leaving. Is everything all right? What happened?”
Helena’s kindness hits me in the feels. I’m going to miss her hospitality, and I’m going to miss the fact that I never really got to know her as well as I’d hoped.
“The engagement is off,” I say.