Page 124 of The Fiancée Farce
From behind the ajar door of Gemma’s bridal suite came raised voices, steadily increasing in volume. Something heavy crashed against the wall followed by the sound of shattering glass. Hand trembling, she pressed her palm to the door, pushing it open.
“Get out.”
Chaos. A dressing table had been knocked over, the contents scattered across the floor. Someone had tread over an open eye shadow palette, crushing the powder beneath their heel, the glittering cobalt ground into the cream-colored rug. Tiny crystal shards looked like diamonds against the hardwood—diamonds dipped in blood, courtesy of the deep vermilion paint dripping down the wall and pooling on the floor, the brush belonging to the bottle of shattered nail polish resting against the baseboard. It was like a bomb had gone off inside the room, or a tornado, maybe.
“You have to let me explain.” Lucy followed Gemma as she stalked around the room, grinding the eye shadow deeper into the carpet.
Gemma’s arm bent at an odd angle as she reached behind her back. “I don’thaveto do anything.” She huffed. “Thisfuckingzipper.God.”
“Gemma,please. Listen.” Lucy’s brown eyes welled with tears. “I swear I had a reason for everything I did. I was looking out foryourbest interest. I promise. You have to believe me.”
This conversation wasn’t hers to hear, but she couldn’t tear herself away. Not until someone seized her by the wrist.
Samina looked at her, dark eyes so soft with understanding that Tansy’s own eyes burned, tears threatening to spill over.
“Oh, hon,” Samina whispered. “Let’s get you out of here.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“Fuck you, Lucy.” Gemma panted, contorting herself to reach the zipper at the back of her dress. “And fuck this fucking zipper, too.”
Lucy’s hands rose. “Let me help you—”
Gemma spun, organza swirling around legs, fingers flexing as she clenched them into fists at her sides. “Don’t you dare come near me.”
“I did it because I love you.” Lucy’s bottom lip quivered, brown eyes welling with tears. “And you were making a mistake. I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing. I couldn’t—”
“Stop it,” Gemma croaked. Her shoulders dropped; her head, too. She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes and sucked in a tremulous breath. She wasfarfrom in love with Lucy, but her heart was breaking all the same. “I need you to stop.”
Lucy sniffled and stepped closer, doing the opposite of what Gemma had asked. Infuriating how she never fucking listened.
“I love you,” Lucy repeated. “I love you and I couldn’t stand by and let you go through with it.”
Everything inside her seized up, freezing.
“You couldn’tletme?” Her stupid chin quivered. “That’s not love.” Gemma covered her mouth with her hand and shook herhead, eyes glossy. Movement in her periphery barely registered; Brooks and Mom drew up short as soon as they stepped into the room. A hiccup erupted from between Gemma’s lips, and her vision blurred. “That’s manipulation. And you don’t know me half as well as you think you do if you honestly believe I couldeverbe with someone so—socallous, stealing my decisions from me as if I can’t make them for myself, as if I’m—I’m achildwho needs to be handled.”
Lucy sniffled and crossed her arms. “You have it all wrong.”
“Then explain it to me,” she demanded. “You wanted me to listen so badly? Here’s your chance! You’ve got the floor.”
Lucy’s throat jerked, lashes fluttering. “I already told you, I did it because I love—”
“Don’t you dare say it again.” Gemma cut her off with another hard shake of her head, curls coming unpinned. “Youdeceivedme, and you did it for your own selfish gain.”
Tears fell from Lucy’s eyes in two tracks down the apples of her cheeks, dripping off her jaw. She scoffed. “How is what you did any different? Fooling your whole family for what? A company you didn’t even want until your grandfather died and left it to you?”
“I trusted you!” She hiccupped. “I trusted you and you lied to me. That’s the difference, Lucy.”
Lucy dragged her hand under her nose. “You’re not exactly a saint, either, Gemma. You act like what you’re doing is so—sorighteous, as if that makes it okay to lie to all these people.”
“Where wasyoursense of righteous indignation when you were offering to marry me? It didn’t seem to offend your oh-so-delicate sensibilities of right and wrong then.”
“Because I’m in love with you!” Lucy cried.
Gemma scoffed. The words from Lucy meant nothing to hernow. Without action to back them up, they were hollow. “And did it never occur to you thatIam in love with Tansy?”
“You love her, huh?” Lucy laughed, an awful, tainted sound that made Gemma’s stomach clench. “I almost feel bad for her.”
