later tonight, but it appears there’s a need for this conversation sooner, rather than later. Can we go somewhere to talk?”
Before I even have the request out, she’s already shaking her head. “No, I think I need to hear this now.”
I want to argue, but I can see by the look in her eyes, she’s not going to relent. “All right,” I concede, taking a deep breath. “For the last three weeks, I’ve been pretending to be my brother.” I’m going to vomit, I know it.
“Why?”
This is where it gets bad. “I needed money to help my ranch, and Matthew here offered it to me. I had to pretend to be him for three weeks, overseeing a few different tasks during my time here.” Fuck, this sucks. There’s no way to not hurt her. “I was actually supposed to break up with you for him, but I couldn’t.”
“Why?” she asks, her eyes filling with tears.
“Because I started to fall for you.”
The wetness gathering in her eyes falls onto her delicate cheek, marring her prefect skin with pain. The vision will forever be embedded in my mind, the one of her crying as I rip both our hearts out with my deceitfulness.
“I was supposed to let you go, but that first night, the one where you came to my brother’s place for dinner, I couldn’t do it. You kissed me, and I felt…alive. For the first time in my life, I felt content and happy and wanted more. I didn’t tell you, even though I wanted to, because I didn’t know how. I had signed a contract with Matthew, one that said I’d lose all the money he promised me if I said a word. I didn’t want to risk it,” I confess, loathing myself more with each word I say.
“The problem is, the more time I spent with you, the more I started to fall for you. I realized I wasn’t going to be able to go through with it. I couldn’t fulfill the terms of his contract. I decided to tell you everything because it was the right thing to do and because,” I take a deep breath, maintain eye contact, and finish, “I fell in love with you.”
The tears fall in earnest now, her sniffles the only sound in the deserted hallway. The sound rips my heart clean from my chest and fills it with pain. I want to turn, to yell at my brother, but I don’t. I can’t take my eyes off her, but also I know it’s not his fault. Not really. It’s mine. I shouldn’t have accepted the deal. I should have found another way to figure out my financial difficulties. I should have done more.
I’m about to tell her just that, when another voice interrupts my thoughts.
“There you are, honey.” It’s Kyla’s father, Jerald. “Is everything all right?” he asks, coming up beside her and kissing her cheek. It’s only then he seems to take in the carnage around him. “What’s going on?” he demands, finally noticing his daughter’s tears.
Jerald turns to me, to find out why the hell his daughter is crying, when he spies my twin brother standing there.
“Jerry, good to see you again,” my brother says, extending a hand as if nothing out of the ordinary is happening.
“Matthew?” he asks, obviously confused at seeing my twin and me together.
“Yes, sir. I’m sure you’re wondering what the heck is going on here, and I assure you, we have it handled,” my brother replies formally.
He draws his eyebrows in confusion. “What is being handled?” he asks, skeptically.
“Why don’t you join me in the ballroom for a drink, and we’ll let them chat,” Matthew instructs, placing an arm over Kyla’s father’s shoulder and trying to turn him around.
“Actually,” Jerald states, moving out of Matthew’s grasp, “I think I’d like to stay. My daughter is crying, and that’s not acceptable. I’m sure you’ll understand.”
When Jerald returns to his daughter’s side, he turns his gaze to me. It’s hostile, as if he knows I’m the reason for the tears. “Someone better fill me in now,” he demands, his tone leaving no room for question.
“It seems Matthew has a twin brother, Daddy,” Kyla states, sniffling. She turns her gaze to mine. It’s hard and full of pain. “Mason, right?”
I swallow over the lump of emotion lodged firmly in my throat. “Yes, I’m Mason Wilder, sir.”
“Mason here has been pretending to be his brother Matthew for the last three weeks. Apparently, they had a little deal to