clan."
To Maggie's horror, her vision blurred. Tears began to roll down her face. She wiped them away with her bare hands, but they just kept coming.
She didn't want them to see her like this, weak and defeated!
"I—I understand," she managed.
Then she turned and fled the conference room.
As she rode the elevator back up to her hotel room—and Steve—she couldn't help wondering whether he was the one who'd spilled the beans.
He wouldn't break his promise, she told herself. He wouldn't!
But she dreaded having to ask him the question.
Chapter 19
Breaking Point
Steve looked up from his half-packed duffel bag as Maggie pushed open the door with enough force to dislodge the metal and rubber floor stop embedded in the carpet and send it flying into the wall.
He caught sight of her tear-streaked face and came alert, his protective instincts shooting into high gear. "Hey, what's wrong?"
She shot him a look of such despair that his heart sank down to his heels. "I just got called up in front of my clan elders. They know we faked our engagement. Even worse, your brother knows."
"Oh shit." This was what Steve had been worrying about.
She took a deep shuddering breath and looked him square in the eye. "Steve, did you tell anyone? Or mention it where someone could overhear you?"
"I didn't tell anyone in your family," he said, then was compelled to confess the whole truth, "but I mentioned it to my sister."
"What?" Maggie's eyes widened. "Why would you do that?"
"I—it was stupid," he admitted. "But I asked her not to tell anyone. I can't believe that Tina told Aarón! She's always hated him as much as I do."
"Well, apparently things have changed," Maggie said. "She told your brother, and he was so mad that he called Tío Eddy to cancel that the big development deal between our clans." She glared at him, anger radiating with almost palpable heat. "You broke your promise not to tell anyone. How could you do that? I thought you wanted to help me!"
Steve felt a chasm yawning between them, and it was all his fault.
"I can't tell you how sorry I am," he said. "I'm in love with you and really and truly do want to help you." Inspiration struck. "If we're mated, that'll prove we weren't faking it and solve the problem with your clan elders, right?"
Maggie stared at him as if he'd suddenly sprouted a second head.
Finally, she snarled, "Are you kidding me? Mating you won't solve anything, since Aarón was the one signing all the checks for that deal." She put her hands on her hips. "And right now, the very last thing I want to do is mate someone who'll throw me under the bus like you just did!"
He winced at the bitterness in her tone. And knew he deserved every last bit of it.
He'd been so close to getting what he wanted, and now he was going to lose her. And it was all because he'd been such a dumbass.
"What can I do to fix this?" he asked, desperate to find a way to make things right.
"Nothing," she said flatly. Then her beautiful mouth twisted in pain, and he hated that he was the cause of it. "…unless you can help me pay back that loan. My clan elders gave me a whole seven days to come up with the money."
"How much do you owe them?" he asked.
Not that he had much in the way of savings right now—he'd withdrawn a big chunk to supplement the money that Maggie had paid him, for all of the expenses associated with fighting his brother's petition for conservatorship.
"Fifty thousand dollars." She crossed her arms and looked at him challengingly.
He didn't even have to say anything. He was sure the shocked expression on his face told her everything she needed to know.
"Yeah. I'm screwed." She took a deep, shaking breath. "I shouldn't have lied to my family, but they didn't give me a choice. You, on the other hand, screwed me over just like Manny. Just like my abuela. I can't trust anyone!"
He wanted to protest…but she was right. He'd fucked up. And royally.
"Maggie, I'm sure we can think of something—" he began, hating how helpless he felt.
She was meant to be his mate. He had to find a way to save her, dammit!
"There is no 'we,' not now." Her words sliced through him like a razor blade. She pointed at his duffel bag. "Finish packing your stuff, pronto, and get out. The hotel has a shuttle. You can