Page 122 of Party Favors

It was like a giant gong had sounded right next to my head and drowned out all other noise, pinpointing all of my focus to a single white noise roaring inside my head.

Hisdad’sparty?

What?

“Everly, I can explain,” he said.

“What is wrong with your voice?” Sunny said, looking at her cousin. “Why do you sound like that?”

“He always sounds like that,” I said. My heart was pounding like a raging animal trapped in a cage, desperate to be set free, roaring and throwing itself against the bars.

He said, “Sunny, can I talk to you for a minute?” but she ignored him, all of her attention focused on me.

“He doesn’t have an accent. I don’t know why you’re doing one,” she said, just as confused as I was. He tried again to get her to step aside with him, but I put my hand on her arm. She might have been his cousin, but she was my friend, too.

“Because he’s from Monterra,” I said.

She replied, “He’s American. His dad was the ambassador to Monterra, but Max is not Monterran.”

There it was. The secret he’d been hiding from me. I had told him the first night we met that it was important to me that people not lie.

And he had been lying to me from the beginning. Every conversation, every text, every kiss—all of it had been one giant lie.

I was in love with a man who didn’t exist.

“Everly, I can explain,” he said, reaching for my hand, but I physically jerked myself away from his touch.

“Your father is Preston Wainscott?”

His face was clouded, dark. “Yes.”

“And you’re not from Monterra?”

“No.”

Sunny finally seemed to realize that she had said something Max didn’t want her to reveal. She excused herself but neither Max nor I said anything to her as she made a hasty exit.

She wasn’t here because her in-laws knew the Wainscotts. She was here because it was her uncle’s anniversary party and her cousin had invited her.

I couldn’t believe this was happening. He had hidden this from me for weeks.

I felt so humiliated.

“This is not how I wanted you to find out,” he said.

I let out a laugh of disbelief. “I’m sure you didn’t intend for me to ever find out. Did you enjoy pulling one over on me? You must have thought I was so stupid to fall for your act.”

I began to walk away. I couldn’t deal with this right now. I was supposed to be working, not watching my whole world crumble and fall apart.

“No, Everly, I was going to tell you. Tomorrow. I’ve been trying to tell you for so long.”

“Oh, yeah, I know just how hard you’ve tried to tell me. You had so many opportunities and you never did!” I got as far as the edge of the dance floor before I whirled around to face him again. “What is your actual name?”

“Max Wainscott. My mom and dad call me Maximilian.”

His mom ... Colby ... I knew that name. “Is your mother Serena Colby?”

From his expression I already knew the answer. “Yes.”

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