Page 54 of The Billionaire's Fake Fiancée (French Conquests 1)

“You, Teresa. You’re a mom. You have a daughter my age, so you should have something in your heart, some sort of understanding of what it’s like to raise a girl. You knew my own mom was nowhere around, but you couldn’t find it in your heart to fill that empty space. You never made me feel welcome. You weren’t there for me through all the little hurts growing up. No motherly advice, no attention. Nothing. But it’s fine, I’m all grown up and I don’t need you anymore. You’re a selfish, horrible person. You’re no mother of mine.”

Teresa flushed, looked away, said nothing, but began rearranging the cutlery and salt and pepper shakers to give her hands something to do.

Jacyn knew that there was no stopping now. She understood her purpose for coming here today, and wouldn’t leave until she’d fulfilled it. Delia was sputtering; maybe she knew her turn had come.

Jacyn said to her, “As for you,sister,we could have grown up together as friends, but your competitive nature wouldn’t let you. Everything I ever had, you wanted. If I got new jeans, you wanted a pair. If I joined a club, you joined too. And when I got engaged,” she threw a black look at Gregg, “you took my fiancé. So I want to ask you this: do you really love him, or did you want him because I did?”

Not that it mattered anymore. It hit her then that what she had felt for Gregg hadn’t been love at all. Affection, sure. And he filled a need, bolstered the self-esteem that her family had destroyed. But love? She knew love now, having experienced it once, that what she’d had before certainly wasn’t it.

“And you, Gregg.”

At first, he hung his head in preparation for her chastisement, but to her surprise, turned to her and took it on the chin.

“You hurt me. I gave you everything and yet that wasn’t enough. But that’s fine. I know now what it’s like to be seen, truly seen, and that’s more than could have been said about my time with you. I hope you guys are happy in your life together.” She was surprised to discover that she meant it.

Delia and Teresa both rounded on her like harpies, screeching, while her dad still said nothing.Coward,she thought. She tossed her napkin down on the table. “I’m out of here. When you guys are ready to treat me with respect, you know where to find me.”

As she walked to the door, head held high, she felt a sense of calm pervade her, through and through. She’d said what she wanted to say. Now, she could move on with her life. As she opened the door, there was a voice behind her. “I’ll give you a lift.”

It was Gregg. His expression was serious, but his eyes were steady. The regret on his face was palpable, but there was the faintest shadow of their old friendship.

“It’s fine. I’ll call a cab.”

“You’re going to wait on the sidewalk until a cab turns up?” He raised a hand as if he was going to touch her arm, but let it fall. “I’m sorry, Jacyn. Everything I did was wrong. I hurt you, and I wish I could take that back. Please forgive me.”

She stared at him for a while, asking herself where all her anger and bitterness had gone. After all, she’d tried to destroy the man’s car, which is what had gotten her into this mess with Alex in the first place. But the love that had entered her heart when she met Alex had chased away the ugliness. She nodded and managed to give him a smile. “It’s okay. And yes, thanks, I’ll take the lift.”

CHAPTER 19

ALEX SAT BACK IN his seat, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel of his Jaguar, the same one Jacyn had vandalized. Was it only a few months ago? It was completely repaired, almost as if the damage had never been done. He’d half joked to himself that he should have left the damage to the front as a souvenir of how they had met.

But he didn’t want a souvenir. He wanted her. He wanted his woman back. Which was why he was sitting there, at the curb outside her apartment building. Waiting. He’d sat there for two hours, after having rung the bell and pounded on the door until a neighbor popped his head out of the window and informed him that she wasn’t in and to cut out the goddamn noise.

Where the hell could she be? It wasn’t terribly late, but in his fantasy, he’d imagined her home alone, pining for him. Just waiting. It irritated him that here he was, filled with so much desire and intent, willing to grovel, cajole, apologize, and ask her to give him another chance. And she wasn’t even there.

Was she out partying? Dining in a fine restaurant? On a date? Better not be, he thought darkly, because whoever dared to take her out tonight would soon learn to not mess with what was his.

And as if his darkest wish had manifested, a car drew up a few spots away, and out stepped Jacyn and a dark-skinned, beefy man in a too-tight polo shirt. Jealousy congealed inside his blood, as he watched the two of them talk for a few moments, and then she put her arms around the man in a hug.

To the end of his days, he would never understand how he was able to make it out of the car and up the sidewalk to Jacyn’s side so fast, without even having thought about it. Or how he could drag the man off her by his bulky bicep and plaster him backwards against the SUV they’d arrived in.

He heard Jacyn yelp, but was too angry to stop himself. “Whatever this is,” he ground out, “whoever you are, it’s over.”

The man was too stunned to respond, but Jacyn grabbed hold of Alex’s wrist, stopping him from punctuating his words with action. “Alex! What the hell!”

The man held both hands up in surrender. “It’s okay, brother. I was just giving her a lift home.”

“Stop, Alex. This is crazy! He’s just a friend.”

Still not ready to give it up, he forced himself to let go, balling his fists but holding them at his side to stop himself from using them. He turned to Jacyn, who looked absolutely beautiful, poised, and flawlessly dressed. “Who is this man?”

She glared at him. “That’s none of your — Why are you here?”

“Who is this man, Jacyn?”

Before she could say anything, the man spoke. “My name is Gregg. I’m gonna be her brother-in-law soon. We were at a family dinner and Jacyn had to leave. I offered her a lift home. That’s all.”

Alex studied the man’s face carefully, looking for lies. He found none. But this was the guy who had broken Jacyn’s heart, who had driven her so crazy that she’d slashed at another man’s car. That alone deserved at least one punch, he thought.

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