Page 19 of Lollipop

Horror clouds her face, “Oh my God…I…how can you ever forgive me? I thought…all the time we wasted…the time I wasted with you.”

“I…I have a confession that I need to make.”

“You found someone else.” Her lower lip quivers and tears start to gather in her eyes.

“There is no one else -and there never will be anyone else- for me but you. What I have to tell you…might make you mad but I’m not sorry for any of the things I did. I told you the truth when I said I would do whatever I needed to so I could make you mine, so I could keep you by my side.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’ve had a bodyguard watching you for the past two weeks.”

“What?”

“Murphy,” I yell loud enough for him to hear me and wait for him to stick his head through the door.

“Sir.”

“Meet Lilly…formally.”

He gives her a sheepish smile before addressing her, “Ma’am.”

“Thank you, Murph.”

He grins at me knowing all too well how crazy I have been over this woman. He's the one who gave me hourly check-ins on where she was and what she was doing after all.

“Why?”

“Because I want you to be safe even if you didn’t want to be with me.”

Her lips start to tremble, and she starts to cry again.

“I’m a horrible person. I thought you broke my heart, and I broke yours instead.”

Chapter Seventeen

Lolly

Talk about feeling like a shithead. I feel it now. I can’t believe I almost lost Ander because of my sister and the fear that Ander was like everyone else.

“I have more to tell you.”

“More?”

I'm not sure how much more I can take. How much more guilt can I handle?

“I bought the farm from your parents… and put it in your name. You own the farm and all the land around it now. I have a team of caretakers there so the animals are taken care of. People I trust. You can do whatever you want to do with it.”

“You…you bought the farm and…and gave it to me.”

“Yep, and I cut their throats on it too. I gave them less than half of what they were asking for. And made sure mine was the only offer they were ever going to get. They’ve been told they need to be moved out by the first of January.”

“You…bought the farm. For me.”

“Yes, baby. I know how much that land and all the animals mean to you. I figure we can use it as our secret little getaway place but for our main house, we’ll build a home from the ground up. I have my eye on a piece of property a couple of miles awayfrom your redheaded friend’s house. Well, her new house since she’s the one getting married and it will technically be their house when they are done.”

“You…what about your business? What about all the things you have in the city? This isn’t a big town, it isn’t…as exciting as the city. Won’t you get bored and miss the city? I don’t want you to resent me for…”

“Baby, I’m going to be wherever you are. I don’t care where that is. And you can’t walk away from your bakery. You can’t leave your friends. I know how important they are to you. Oh, I also took the photos from your room so nothing would happen to them, the ones on the mirror. I don’t have any plans to give them back. They’re mine now.”

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