Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 60711 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60711 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
“Look at me, Andromeda.”
—and now, for better or for worse, it was her turn to pay.
Just bear with it, she urged herself while fighting back tears.
Because it was possible that she had indeed imagined what she thought she saw earlier.
And so whatever he throws at you—
Whatever it was that she had to pay for being a stupid, greedy, shameless liar—
Just bear with it, Andie. Silently. Humbly. Repentant—
Oh God.
Because she had finally mustered the courage to look into his eyes again.
God.
And it seemed like she was hallucinating again.
Oh God.
“Let me ask you one more time.”
I just don’t understand—
“Is there anything you want to tell me?”
Just don’t understand why his words were gentle, his tone quiet, and his eyes, oh God—
“I’m s-so sorry.”
It had her choking the words out because what she saw in his eyes hurt so, so much.
“I didn’t just lie to you. I lied to my aunt as well. And my own mom.”
And then the truth came tumbling out. All of it. The bank manager’s office. The scam. The mortgage. Her mother’s impossible faith and her own impossible fear. The gossip about Joyce, the desperate plan, the lie she’d told to extract money from a woman who would only give it if she thought it would hurt Dolores.
“I...I obviously h-have no plans opening a-any kind of clinic, but I know that doesn’t make me any l-less horrible. After w-what you shared on stage, I u-understand if—”
“I love you still.”
—he hated her.
That was what she had thought he would say, but instead he had said something else.
Something that perfectly matched the look in his beautiful gray eyes.
And it was that, oh God—
It was that she just had a hard time understanding and believing.
“You’re young. Innocent. Desperate. So you lied. And now—”
Andie nearly stopped breathing. Was this...was this it then? Was this finally the part he would give her what he deserve like—
Telling her to get lost.
Having her arrested.
“You regret it.”
Making her question her sanity because surely, oh, surely—
“It can’t be that simple,” she whispered.
“It can.”
A choked laugh escaped her, but this quickly turned into a sob as all she could do was shake her head while trying to make sense of things.
“You’re supposed to think I was an idiot—”
“You were.”
“To come up with such a horribly, disgustingly, tasteless plan for scamming my aunt.”
“It was that, yes.”
“So why don’t you make me pay?” she cried out.
“Because I don’t want to.”
“You’re s-supposed to h-hate me!”
“And yet all I want to do is to love you.”
God.
Oh dear God.
Please.
Could this truly be real?
Andie searched his face, searched those gray eyes that had terrified and tantalized her from the very first moment they met. And what she saw there...
It made her breath catch.
Her heart stop.
And her soul become absolutely still.
Because the way Paul was looking at her...
It mirrored the way God loved her.
Deep.
Unconditional.
Forgiving.
A love that saw every broken piece of her—every lie, every fear, every desperate shameful thing she’d ever done—and chose her anyway. Not because she deserved it. Not because she’d earned it. But simply because that was the nature of real love.
It didn’t keep score.
It didn’t demand payment.
It just...loved.
“And maybe...”
Paul’s voice was rough now. But also strained and ragged, which was something she’d never heard from him before.
“I’d like to hear my wife tell me she loves—”
Andie didn’t let him finish.
She threw herself into his arms—his already waiting arms, like he’d known, like he’d been ready to catch her all along—
“I l-love you.”
This time, the sob that clawed out of her throat was equal parts grief and joy and overwhelming relief.
“I love you.”
The words poured out of her, unstoppable.
“I love you, I love you, I love you—”
Neither of them noticed how everyone at the charity brunch had stopped what they were doing. How servers stood frozen with trays in their hands. How society matrons clutched their pearls and tech billionaires paused mid-handshake. How the entire room had turned to watch them like they were live theater.
“I love you,” Andie choked out again, her face buried against his chest, her fingers fisting in the fabric of his jacket. “I love you so much, and I’m so sorry, and I—”
The rest of her words disappeared into his kiss.
And as Paul’s mouth claimed hers, soft and fierce and full of promise, the ballroom erupted into applause.
Epilogue
THE FRONTIER BALL WAS everything Andie had imagined and nothing she’d expected.
Crystal chandeliers cast warm light across a ballroom decorated in silver and gold, with towering Christmas trees in every corner and garlands of evergreen draped along the balconies. Women in designer gowns glided across the marble floor on the arms of men in western-cut tuxedos, and somewhere a live band played country classics with enough polish to satisfy even the most discerning ears.
And everyone—everyone—wanted to congratulate them.
“Mr. and Mrs. Mitropoulos! That speech at the brunch was simply divine.”
“Paul, you sly old man.”