him. A sick ache knotted in her gut as she read it once more.
Burke: I’m going to clear this up, I promise. I want to be worthy to be your prince. I hope you’ll give me that chance.
Justine read it again, not caring that she had it memorized. Wishing so fiercely she could just believe his words to the core. But was he still trying to work things out or had he given up by now? After all, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday had come and gone without so much as a word from him.
She set the phone facedown on the table and reached for the envelope resting there. A warning from the county about the property.
A humorless laugh snuck up her throat as she unfolded the letter and glanced over it. This is what gave Brittany’s accusation merit.
It was from the county. Postmarked the first day of the autumn festival.
To Whom It May Concern in the town of Piney Falls.
A bypass for the mandatory waiting time has been granted to D & L Factories Inc to break ground on a recently purchased lot in your town. (See address coordinates below.)
Any objections to this notion shall be made via phone or email within seven days of the postmark date on this letter. In the absence of such contact, the county will give D & L Factories Inc permission to break ground immediately.
Upon opening the letter Monday morning, Justine had called the office and asked for an extension, but to no avail as the postmark day referred to had come and gone. Justine pushed on, insisting that she needed to be heard.
That’s when they’d told her of today’s county chair meeting. It probably won’t make a difference, the woman warned, but you can address the issue there if you’d like.
If she’d like? No, she didn’t like anything about this. And she also didn’t like that the woman on the phone had probably caught wind of the embarrassing scandal. But the meeting, she would attend. In less than an hour, in fact.
Justine had promised herself she wouldn’t look at the magazines again—the stack Gramps and Millie brought over with her office mail—but she couldn’t stop herself from spinning around in her seat and staring at the stack atop her recycle bin.
There they sat, each magazine making mention of Burke, Justine, and the woman who’d exposed their sham.
It was a reminder of just how messy this whole thing was. It went beyond her and Burke pretending to be engaged. Beyond Burke buying and then selling a piece of land he hadn’t told her about. It shamed the Benton name, probably hurt Burke’s relationship with his family, and, of course, thoroughly broke her heart.
Justine hunched down and snatched the top magazine from the stack. This one featured a photo of Burke on the cover with Justine on his arm. From the looks of it, the photo had been taken from the live feed as it scanned over the audience at the tree lighting.
There was a picture of the famous Benton family in the corner, taken at Duke’s recent wedding, it seemed.
The words Benton Lookalike Causes Benton-Sized Trouble in Pint-Sized Town were splashed across the top in bright pink ink.
Other titles read Bentons Hiding a Secret Prince With a Crooked Crown. Or Another Billionaire Benton & His (Not So) Fake Engagement.
That particular article included comments from the town’s live feed on social media. I spotted Justine and Burke making out in quiet corners during the town’s autumn festival, one comment read. The name had been blacked out on the article. If they were faking it, the townsperson continued, they fooled me.
Justine made the great mistake of answering her phone to an unknown caller who asked for a statement regarding the story. “Were you in on the property scheme all along, or did Burke actually fool you into thinking he was in love?”
Hanging up on him was as good as saying no comment, so that’s what she’d done. And then she’d gone on to block unknown callers completely.
Brittany got her own personal highlight in each article as the official stirrer of the pot. Most featured a snapshot of her at the podium with an “official quote”: “I have nothing against the Benton family. In fact, I’m a huge fan. I had no idea they were even related. As two-time winner of the Pie Princess Pageant, I just want to protect the city of Piney Falls to the best of my ability.”