Between Commitment and Betrayal (Hardy Billionaire Brothers, #1)(93)

“Okay,” she breathed out, and her posture deflated, like I’d taken all the wind from her sails and snuffed out the tiny bit of sun she had started to see on a rainy day. I knew it had to be this way though. “But do you think you ever could?” she whispered and, fuck, my heart broke.

Everly didn’t push or need to ask for anything from me. She barely let the world in to see her mask slip and witness her real emotions. She was strong, but in that moment, I saw the vulnerable, soft part she hid from the world. And that part would be broken and ruined if I did what I was about to do now.

“I can’t.” I shook my head, backing away from her. I couldn’t subject her to having a baby with me under these conditions. I couldn’t steal the one thing she’d planned for all her life by barreling through it in hopes we’d still become the healthy family she dreamed of.

“I’ll get your mother’s yoga studio, Everly. And I’ll make sure the media leaves you alone.”

She stumbled back, clutching her heart. “I don’t … I … don’t want that from you.”

“I’ll take care of it. Anastasia will agree …”

She’d told me herself the second time we went into Mrs. Johnson’s office and she told us Carl was requiring us to have a child—happily ever afters aren’t made this way. We couldn’t have this inheritance hanging over our head anymore. I had to take care of it for both of us. Then, we’d have a chance at the dream of a family that she deserved.

I hoped one day she would understand that I’d fallen so beyond in love with her that I was willing to do the one thing that would make her hate me.

Betray her.





34




EVERLY





ONE NIGHT IN THE GARDEN, lost in the maze of flowers and foliage, under the moonlight, he’d fucked me like he used to.

Rough, in control, on instinct that was too powerful to tiptoe around. But then he’d stared at me with pain in his eyes as waves crashed on the shoreline and the symphony of violins serenaded the night air. It was a devastating soundtrack to play in the background of his words.

“I don’t love you, Drop.”

Five words. That was all it took for me to really feel heartbreak. Deeper than I’d ever felt it before. And when I asked if he could, he shook his head and told me he couldn’t.

How could I continue a night that’s supposed to be beautiful after that? Do could I go back inside and dance as if my heart wasn’t shattered? I whispered that I wanted to go home. And he didn’t fight me at all. He had his car pulled around to a back entrance since it was free of media, and I waited in the lobby hoping no one would see me sneaking out.

The car ride was silent. A painful silence that crushed my soul with unanswered questions and what-ifs, how-could-yous, and is-this-its.

The gate creaked open as we approached our fortress, and I stared at his ridiculously big house where I thought I could somehow make it all work.

“I need to know if you’re—” I choked back a sob that surprised us both. His head whipped over as my hand went to my mouth, and I tried to hold back my pain. I shook my head jerkily and wished I would just stop there but my heart couldn’t let it go. “I need to know if you’re going to try to keep your shares.”

“Everly …” He said it with so much pain that I knew I couldn’t handle the answer. “This is for us. I can’t make this something it’s not. I care about you too much. I thought I could, but you deserve—”

“Don’t.” I stopped him, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to contain my emotions. This was my breaking point. “I’ve handled a lot in my life. But I can’t handle it if you say it’s for me. Don’t you dare.” This was betrayal. This was heartbreak.

This was our end. And I guess he was letting me have it, because he let the car idle in silence, not giving me a damn word of explanation more.

“If that’s the case, Mr. Hardy, I’d like to give my two weeks’ notice.”

“What?” he barked out, his eyes widening. Then he hit the steering wheel when he realized I wasn’t kidding. “No. You can’t quit. Where are you going to go? Back to that fucking town that treated you like shit?”

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to stay here,” I retorted back at him and then growled when I felt tears running down my face. Why did I have to cry now? “I can’t stand it here, and without you? I’d rather take my chances back home.”

“You’re not leaving,” he said like it was final. “What Anastasia and I do…you have to know, Everly, that has nothing to do with me and you.”

“It has everything to do with us!” I screamed. “Do you want to watch me have a child with your brother? Should I call Dom?”

“You better fucking not,” he said in a low voice.

“Even if I did, he would never.” I cut my hand through the air to emphasize my point. “He would never ever do that to you. You’re his brother. And that’s what you don’t get. I’m alone here. I’m alone everywhere except when I’m with my mother. I have no one else, but I thought I had you. I thought this stupid commitment we made was real, that we’d get through it and wouldn’t hurt each other. But I was wrong. So devastatingly wrong.” I ripped the car door open and rushed into the guesthouse. When he opened his car door, I yelled, “Don’t you dare follow me.”