Page 73 of Strictly Pretend

“Then what’s wrong?” I ask, frowning.

“I saw Will earlier.”

A wave of fury washes over me. “What did he want?” I ask her, still cupping her face. She inhales, her lips parting.

“To talk about you.”

My jaw tightens.That asshole.“He said he was coming back to take care of Jemima. He said she was sick.”

“I don’t know about that,” Emma whispers. She’s so pale I’m panicking. “He sent me a message and demanded I meet him.”

“He what?” I ask, frowning. “I hope you told him to fuck off.”

She shakes her head, not quite meeting my eyes. “He threatened me if I didn’t.”

I’m definitely going to punch that asshole. I don’t care if it ruins the wedding. Okay, maybe I care a bit. But the guy has it coming.

“How did he threaten you?” I ask, my voice ominously low.

“He told me he had to tell me something. Either he did it in private or he was going to do it in front of everybody tonight.”

I wince, because I know how much she’d hate that. “And what exactly did he want to talk about?”

Her eyes finally meet mine. They’re watery. “I…” She shakes her head as a single tear escapes the corner of her right eye, and it slays me.

“If he hurt you…” I mutter, wiping the tear away with the pad of my thumb. “I swear I’m going to kill him.”

“He didn’t hurt me.” She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, still looking at me. “He can’t hurt me. I feel nothing toward him at all.”

Her words feel so much more soothing than they should. “Good.”

“He wanted to tell me something about you. A secret,” she says. “Something you haven’t told me.”

And there goes that soothing feeling. My throat tightens. Has he found out about the new contract? Of course he fucking has. “I can explain,” I blurt.

“You don’t need to explain anything.” She looks away from me, like our connection is too intense right now. I feel it too. It feels like too much and not enough at the same time.

“Of course I do.”

“You don’t.” Her voice is firm. “You don’t owe me anything. I guess I just… I was blindsided. I didn’t know what to say to him.”

“It’s okay,” I tell her. “I’ll say it for you when I see him.”

Finally, she looks at me again. There’s so much sadness in her eyes it makes me want to hit something.

Will fucking Devries mostly.

“I wish you’d told me first, though,” she says softly. “I hate he feels all victorious over this.”

“I should have told you,” I say. “I’m sorry that I didn’t.”

“He called your ex,” she says. “She’s the one who spilled the beans.”

“My ex?” My throat goes tight.

“Lianne. That’s her name, right?”

I freeze. What the hell does she have to do with this? She paid no attention to my work when we were together. She found the whole real estate thing boring as hell. Why would she knowabout the contract to the building? And more importantly why would Will ask her about it?

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