“Would you like to go out to the porch? Those couches are the most sumptuous, comfortable things I’ve ever sat on.”

  She shook her head efficiently. “I came to talk to you privately.” Her tone was sharp, stronger than two minutes ago, and it caught my attention.

  “Sure,” I said with a professional smile. My heart sped up as I wondered whether she’d made her decision and was here to give me news. “Would you like something to drink or eat?”

  “I’m fine.” She slowly stood and stepped to the closest visitor chair, one hand on my desk for support, then lowered herself into it. I’d just sat down myself when she said, “I know about your little marriage deal with Holden.”

  My eyes darted toward her, and as soon as I saw her gaze glued to me, assessing me, I realized that was a mistake. It was a knee-jerk reaction, and it’d been revealing.

  “What marriage deal?” I asked, tilting my head slightly, trying to act nonchalant.

  She crossed her arms over her chest and peered at me. “Holden marries you and you invest in his brewery. You get a husband, which as far as you know will lock you in as my successor. He gets to start the business of his dreams. Win-win.”

  How the hell had she found out about my investment? Nobody knew that except Holden, me, Kemp, and Presley, and I trusted all of them implicitly.

  “Holden and I have a real marriage,” I said. Real in that it was legal. Real in that we were living together and sleeping together.

  “I’m well aware that you’re legally wed. But you have a business deal as the foundation. You’ve missed the point completely, Chloe. It wasn’t to get sly and concoct a bargain that would propel you forward. It was for your own good. I wanted you to find what I never had. Balance. Love. A life outside of work. This scheme to make me think you have that when you, in fact, do not is insulting and conniving.”

  I could tell Angelica that I loved Holden. That the marriage was at least fifty percent real if you judged it by that and as real as anything I personally would ever find. But she didn’t deserve to know that, especially since Holden didn’t.

  “What did you expect me to do, Angelica?” I said, my tone going hard while I kept my volume down. “You want to talk about insulting and conniving… I’ve busted my ass for you and this company for twelve years. I’ve sacrificed a personal life, been your workhorse, as you yourself said, worked long hours and seven-day weeks. I’ve played by your rules this whole time, and then you changed the rules.”

  “That is my prerogative.”

  “And it’s my prerogative to marry my good friend to meet your ridiculous demands. What else could I do? It’s been mere weeks since you decided it was more important for me to have a love life than to give every fiber of my being to this company. How is that fair? How could that be possible?”

  “I never said you had to marry,” she said condescendingly, as if I was the idiot who’d misinterpreted.

  “You told me to date. Meet a guy. Well, I did one better. I married a guy. I live with him. I have a partnership with him. I have a deep friendship with him that’s probably more than most marriages start with. Was the marriage to appease you? Initially, yes. Because in the end, not only do I want this job more than anything in my life but I’m also exactly the person you need at the helm. You know this. You admitted as much back when you threw out this whimsical new requirement.”

  “Gloria will do just fine at the helm. I’m having the paperwork drawn up as we speak to make her the president of Marks International Hotels.”

  I felt her words like a punch to the throat. Oxygen stopped flowing, and my brain went offline for a moment, as if my system was hit by a bolt of lightning. As I reeled, I had to will myself to suck in air… in, out, in again. I did my best to tamp down the panic exploding in my chest and rationalize with her.

  “Don’t do that, Angelica,” I said quietly, earnestly. “You know that’s not a smart long-term move for the business you’ve spent your entire adult life building up.”

  “What wouldn’t be smart is to reward someone who has tried to deceive me.” Her voice was icier than I’d ever heard it, even when she’d sat across a conference table from the most cutthroat adversary. “How long did you and your husband agree to keep up the charade? Until after my funeral? Then an easy divorce and you own my company, your husband has his business, and I’m left looking like the biggest fool in history?” She shook her head, her jaw locked. “That is not how it’s going to go.”

  “You’d rather leave your legacy in the hands of the second-best person and put your decades of hard work at risk than have the best, most capable candidate ensure that your vision is fulfilled?”

  “The only thing more important than my company is my reputation. Once I’m dead, I won’t be able to protect it. I can’t have you and your marriage of convenience shatter it.”

  “What would you have had me do, Angelica? What choice did you give me with your unfair, half-baked decree?”

  She let out an acerbic laugh. “I only suggested you go on dates, meet people, work on your social life. It’s just like you to go all out and do more than asked of you. And it might have worked had you put yourself into a more plausible situation. You aren’t the type to have a relationship, but if you did, Holden Henry would not be the match for you. I might have only talked to him for a few minutes, but I could tell he’s outgoing, likable, Mr. Social, a friend to all. You… are not. The two of you as a couple makes no sense, Chloe, and everyone can see that.”

  I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out, because she’d hit me there. Exactly in my Achilles’ heel.

  “My trust in you has been broken,” Angelica said. “You have thirty minutes to gather your belongings. You’re fired.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chloe

  It only took me four minutes to box up my belongings, as I hadn’t brought much of anything personal in. I wasn’t the type to keep nonessential things in my work area.

  I gasped when the thought struck me: For the first time in my adult life, I didn’t have a work area.

  I didn’t have a job.

  Without saying goodbye to anyone—I knew Angelica was still lurking about somewhere and wouldn’t allow it even if I did feel like I could show my face—I left via the least-used door and crumpled into the relative safety of my car.

  I’d managed to hold it together so far, but the instant my door closed, I let out a shaky exhale that turned into a pained moan as I flung my hands over my face.

  My house of cards had collapsed.

  All the work I’d done the past twelve years, actually more than that—my college years, high school—had culminated in exactly nothing.

  My fake marriage to Holden was a waste.

  The life I’d tried to build in my hometown the past few weeks was a mirage.

  Holding in sobs, because anyone could walk by me there in the Marks parking lot, I shut out the world by turning my phone off. Then I started my car, backed out, and hightailed it away, wiping tears out of my eyes so I could see enough to drive.

  I headed toward home—

  No. Not home. What a joke. It wasn’t my home. It was Holden’s. It was where I’d tried to act like I belonged for the past few weeks. But it wasn’t where I belonged.

  I wasn’t sure where I belonged, frankly.

  My life had always been centered around my career. My apartment in Nashville had been a place to go in between workdays. Holden’s house, as well, had been a nearby place to rest my head when I wasn’t working. Without a career, what was left?

  I’d gone from a top-tier manager of an international company to nothing in two seconds flat. For a dozen years, I’d garnered my confidence from my career. Gained my self-worth from it. I’d been proud to work for a globally known and respected hospitality company. That’s who I was.

  I’d lost it all in the blink of an eye, and now… I no longer had a clue who or what I was. Where I was going. It was like I’d lost my entire identity.

  An awful wail escaped me as I came upon Henry’s and took a left on Main. When I got to Holden’s street a block later, I couldn’t make myself turn down it. Instead, I kept driving, again trying to hold back the racking sobs as my mind raced with a tempest of thoughts and emotions.

  You failed.

  You tried to believe you were all that, but you weren’t.

  You turned Holden’s life upside down for nothing.

  I drove all the way to the city, noticing none of the drive, arriving at my apartment building’s parking garage without thinking about it. Pulling into my assigned parking spot as if it hadn’t been more than a month since I’d been there.

  After looking around to ascertain no one was in the vicinity, I climbed out, feeling ninety years old, my body heavy and sore as if I’d been dragged behind the car instead of in the driver’s seat, then hurried to the elevator with my head down.

  When I let myself into my apartment, an odd feeling washed through me. The place was familiar but different, even though everything looked the same. It didn’t quite feel like home either. I’d taken my clothes and food and some other personal effects to Holden’s, but the furniture was all here, the wall hangings still in their places.

  Letting my purse fall to the floor, I went to the couch and sagged into it. I picked up one of the pillows and hugged it to my chest, as if that could stem the physical pain. It couldn’t. Nothing could.

  Pulling my feet up, I reclined and curled onto my side, resting my head on another pillow and letting the sobs come until they ran out, a long, indefinable chunk of time later, leaving me depleted and limp. At some point the sun went down and the room turned dark. My stomach growled but I didn’t care. I wasn’t sure I would ever move off this couch.

  I must’ve fallen into the deep sleep of complete, utter failure. I had no idea what time it was when I awoke to pounding on my door. Incoherent, unsure at first where I was, I pushed myself up to a sitting position and shoved my messy hair out of my face. In that instant, a dark, suffocating heaviness akin to grief overcame me, and then I remembered everything that had happened. I wilted against the back cushion.

  “Chloe! Let me in.”

  At the sound of Holden’s voice, I jolted to the edge of the couch, momentarily panicked.

  I didn’t want to see him now. I didn’t want to see anyone. Maybe ever.

  “I know you’re in there, Chlo. I’m not leaving, so you might as well let me in.”

  I believed him, so I worked up the energy to stand, trudged to the door in the darkness, unlocked it, opened it, and made my way back to the couch without a word.

  Behind me, I heard Holden come in, heard the door close, and then the kitchen light turned on and I squinted against the brightness.

  “What happened?” Holden asked, taking long strides until he stood in front of me, then crouched down and put his hands on my knees. “I went to find you at the hotel and Sebastian said you no longer worked there. I looked all over for you and finally texted Presley. She said she saw your car in its spot when she was leaving and figured we were in the city for a specific reason.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut because I couldn’t handle looking at him. Couldn’t stand to let him see me.

  With my chin to my chest, I eventually found the voice to say, “It’s over.”

  “What’s over?”

  With a scoff, I said, “Angelica fired me today.”

  “What?” The outrage in his tone, obviously on my behalf, was sweet and typical. And misplaced. “Why did she fire you?”

  I fought to get to a matter-of-fact place so I could explain it to him and send him on his way.

  “Somehow she found out I was your investor. She put two and two together, came up with an accurate picture of our ‘little marriage deal,’ and didn’t take nicely to my ‘deception.’ Didn’t listen to my arguments about how absurd her requirements were in the first place. Told me she was having paperwork drawn up to make Gloria the president and owner of Marks International. Then she told me to pack my things and get out because her trust in me was broken.”

  “Son of a bitch,” he bit out. He planted his forearms on either side of my thighs and leaned his forehead against mine. “I’m so sorry, Chloe.”

  For once, his closeness wasn’t comforting. It made me feel like I couldn’t breathe.

  “I need up,” I managed, and Holden eased away from me enough that I could stand and put some distance between us. I walked to the window that looked out over the city, keeping my back to him. “It’s over. I’m eternally grateful for everything you’ve done for me, but we can end the marriage now. I’m so sorry to have put you through it for nothing.”

  “Wha— Chloe, what are you talking about? We are married. I’m here for you.”

  “We’re fake married. There’s no point in pretending anymore. We can both have our lives back.” Well, he could. I’d have to figure out what my life was. Where I would work. What I would do.

  He laughed, and it rang with disbelief. “You’re a big part of my life. You’ve been a big part of my life since we were little kids. You think I’m going to leave you now?”

  Of course he thought he wasn’t. That was Holden. He was the most steadfast, reliable person I’d ever known, and it gave me hope that we could come out of this, out of our marriage with our friendship intact.

  I pivoted to face him, though I still didn’t make eye contact. I knew I looked a wreck, but even more, I was sure he would see the devastation in my eyes if I let him. Something in me said I needed to protect that. Though Holden had been at my side, so to speak, for the past six weeks, I needed to remember how to forge my way ahead alone once again. I’d let myself depend on him for long enough.

  “I know you’d stay here and be supportive for as long as I want you to,” I said, “but I really need to be alone.”

  “That’s not what you need, Chloe. We’re supposed to stick together even when things go south. Especially when things go south.”

  “Holden,” I said sharply, needing to get through to him. “Our marriage is over. We can dissolve it now.” I tried hard to smile, to reassure him that I would be okay. “You’re free. We’re both free. We’ll sign the papers early.”

  “No.”

  God, give me strength. This man was so determined to “help,” so determined to do the right thing… It was part of what I loved about him. It was also why I would absolutely insist on setting him free.

  “You can blame it all on me. Say I took a job out of the country or… I don’t know.” Maybe I would take a job out of the country.

  He was directly in front of me before I realized he’d moved, his hands on my upper arms, face in front of mine. “Chloe, listen to me. I don’t want to end our marriage. I love you.”

  My chest constricted with longing. I reached out and touched his cheek, my heart pulsing in my throat. “You’re such a good man. Such an unselfish friend.”

  Of course he’d say that. I believed he did love me as a friend. Love love though? It was just as Angelica had said, just as I had always known. Holden and I made no sense as more than friends. Truly, we barely made sense as friends, but there were years of history behind that. However, the longer we put off getting back to being strictly friends, the more we were endangering that friendship.

  “I don’t mean I love you like a friend,” he said. “I’m in love with you—”

  “No. You don’t love love me. You might’ve thought you loved the Chloe of the past few weeks, the one who was running an international business and masquerading as a confident small-town girl, but that’s not really who I am. I can’t live up to what you need. Especially now—” My throat swelled up and cut off my ability to say more.

  “Stop it.” He ran his fingers through his hair, clenched his jaw, and paced a couple of steps away as if he needed to put space between us to keep his cool. He turned back to me. “I understand your confidence was shaken today. The dictator did a number on you. But that’s her issue. Not yours. She fucked up, and we both know it.”

  “Whether she did or not, I’m the one with no job. She wins. As she said, you and I being a married couple makes no sense.”

  He was rubbing the back of his neck, but he stopped and whipped his head toward me. “What? She said that?”

  “Verbatim,” I said firmly.

  “And you fucking believed her?”

  “She’s not the only one who thinks that.”

  He stepped closer, practically in my face. “It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks but us, Chloe.”

  “I think you’d be better off with someone else.” Someone on secure footing, minimum. No question, I was a hot mess, and that wasn’t going to be fixed anytime soon.

  He stared at me silently, and there was fire in his eyes. I nearly backed away, but I ached for him to leave so I could lick my wounds in private. I held strong.

  “You’re not doing this, Chloe. You’re not slipping back into that little-girl insecure version of yourself. You’re my wife—”

  “But not really.”

  He bit down on whatever else he was going to say, then inhaled slowly, deeply, as if I required the patience of Job. I most likely did. “I’m sorry for what happened to you today, Chlo. So fucking sorry. I want to be here for you—”

  “There’s nothing you can do. You can’t save me this time, Holden.” I firmed up my voice. “Please…” I went to the door and opened it, feeling like I could collapse at any second.

  He strode over to the door and faced me. Studied me intently. I wanted to squirm, but I lifted my chin.

  Holden grabbed the edge of the door and I stepped back a bit so he could leave.

  “This isn’t over, Chloe. We aren’t over. But I can only do so much. If you figure out you’re not that little girl anymore and want to move forward with me, I’ll be waiting.”

  He walked out, and the door slammed shut behind him.

  I leaned my back against it and withered to the floor, and though I’d thought I was all cried out, the tears ran down my face unchecked.