Page 65 of The Billionaire's Runaway Bride

I stagger back a step. “You can’t dictate what I feel. I said I love you. I showed you last night. I’ve proven it every damn day that I won’t give up on having you as mine.”

“For a fling?” she shoots back.

I step closer, warning her with a hard look. “You know it’s deeper than that. I won’t stand here and let you try to diminish or cheapen what we’ve found.”

“This isn’t your choice.”

I swallow hard, choking on the emotions clogging my throat. My stomach aches at that direct hit, as though she sank her fist into me like a solar plexus jab.

Bold and defiant, she stares me in the eye as she explains. “It’s my choice if I stay or go. Not yours.”

And she’s choosing him. She’s picking a marriage to a serial cheater who only wants her money. She has selected Jeremy, the asshole who can stoop so low to make up bullshit lies about her and try to attack her honor.

“Lauren, think about this,” Marian implores her. “Just think for a moment.”

I stare at the woman who’s stolen my heart. Love. I love this woman, and she’s not feeling the same. We’re light years apart, and the realization that our sentiments are not mutual pains me. It’s a wicked blow and I lose all my strength to try to get her to open her eyes and see reason.

She’s made her mind up, and I’m not on the radar.

Freaking Jeremy is.

No.

A stubborn flame of disbelief flares within me. “No.”

“Caleb.” She sighs, hanging her head for a moment.

“No. I refuse to believe that. I won’t accept what you’re saying.”

“Because you want your way?”

I lunge forward, desperate to grab her and haul her back within my arms. “Because it can’t be true.”

She smirks. “Don’t tell me you’ve never been rejected before.”

Her snark doesn’t bother me. “And you don’t try to tell me you’re doing this to spare me from drama.”

“I am!”

I shake my head and set my hands on my hips. “No. That won’t fly with me. Whatever you’re afraid of, we’ll face it together, Lauren. I promise.”

“I can’t.”

“You can’t admit you feel the same about me?”

“I do!” She sniffles. “I do, but I don’t see an out from all of this.”

I take her hand and she’s too slow to yank it away at first. “Then we’ll look together. We’ll find a way out of this together.”

“I’ve made up my mind, Caleb.” She tugs her fingers free from mine.

“Lauren, this isn’t right.” Marian steps close as my frustration scales higher yet.

“Marian, please. Just let me go.”

“Not a chance, honey. You have to wait a minute and think about this with a clear head, not emotions.”

Lauren shakes her head, quicker to be firm in telling our friend no. But it’s no use. I can see her walls going up. Her chin lifts and her eyes remain steely with determination. At the same time, though, I see her lower lip tremble. I notice the fists she makes and releases over and over. Her rigid posture. Her too-quick breaths of anxiety.

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