It was like the shiny diamonds were mesmerizing me, and it took a second to collect myself. To remember who I was and who I was talking to. “What do you think this earns you?”

“Nothing!” He held up both of his hands, as if surrendering. “I know how badly I’ve messed up. I know we have a lot to work through and talk about. So I wanted to ask you a favor. Don’t close the door on us. Not permanently, anyway. I think we have a future. I want to show you how I’ve changed.”

“I don’t believe you.”

He let out a sigh. “That’s fair, I guess. I haven’t really given you a reason to.”

Some part of me wanted to believe so badly. That our time apart had changed Brad and he was going to be a totally different person. That things could work out.

The other part of me wanted to waltz back into the dining room and announce that there was not going to be a Branson/Huntington wedding. Not now, not ever. My mother would lose her ever-loving mind.

I regretfully ran my fingers across the bracelet one last time before I closed the box and tried handing it back to him. He refused.

“That’s yours. No matter what happens. No strings attached.”

It didn’t feel string-free. There was a definite Pinocchio vibe going on here.

He pushed the box back toward me, and I wasn’t sure what to do. If I just left it here, someone would find it, and that would open up a whole barrel of drama with my mother that I wasn’t currently prepared for.

Or my great-aunt Ida might make a visit, and nobody would ever see the bracelet ever again.

I sighed. “I’ll take it now, but only with the understanding that I will be giving it back to you when you realize that we are over. There’s nothing for me to think about because that door is closed. I think we’ve run our course and it’s time for both of us to move on. Find the person we’re really meant to be with.”

Why was Tyler’s face flashing in my mind? So random. And ridiculous.

I knew I couldn’t be with Tyler. But I deserved to find someone like him.

Brad frowned. “I don’t know if I can accept that. I don’t want to move on. I want us to be together. You should know that I’m committed to you. To us. Keep the bracelet. Even if the answer is no.”

Unfortunately, it didn’t take much to convince me to hang on to it.

He said, “I’ll keep hoping that you’ll change your mind and that your answer will be yes. If nothing else, think about how much emergency Botox our mothers would have to schedule to erase their laugh lines from all the grinning they’d be doing. Maybe you should say yes for the economy’s sake.”

I’ll admit that made me smile. Just a little. But we needed some parameters. I didn’t want to be harassed by him or by my family. “You may not want to accept it, but this is done. We don’t have to tell our families right away.” That was a bit selfish on my part, but I most definitely did not want my mother hounding me day and night over it while I was in the middle of figuring out my life. “But I think it would be better for both of us if we agree to no contact.” It shouldn’t have been too hard, considering he’d been silent for the last few months. “That means no texts, no phone calls, no emails. It will make it easier for us to move on.”

Brad cleared his throat, as if unsure what to say next. It was so unlike him. He was always confident, his place in the world so sure and so secure that nothing ever threatened him. “Okay. I can do that. I would like to be able to plead my case, but I’ll wait for you. I’m going to show you how much I’ve changed, how devoted I am to you.”

He leaned forward, as if he meant to kiss me. I stepped out of reach and I saw a combination of hurt and something else—anger?—in his eyes.

With that, he left the room. I leaned against my dad’s desk, taking in a couple of deep breaths to center myself. The most logical response would be to find him, give him back the bracelet, and tell him in front of everyone that things were definitely over.

But I held back because I knew if I did, if I told him it was over, my parents would never recover. This dinner would be the last time I’d see them. They’d called me here only so that Brad could talk to me and pass along his bribe.

So many of their plans and hopes to expand their business and launch themselves into a new social stratum were pinned on me marrying into the Branson empire. If I were being honest, I could admit that Brad had been a safety net for me. If I ever got tired of fending for myself and decided to be absorbed back into the collective, he was my ticket home. Marrying him would erase every rebellious choice I’d made to this point. He was my get-out-of-jail-free card.

But I had to let go of that possibility. Things were over between us and had been for a long time. Maybe I should have made that clearer to him. Let him know that there definitely wasn’t any hope for us getting back together. Because I was done with him and our very toxic past.

While I debated whether or not I should find him and make sure he understood that we were done, I heard Vanessa say, “Did I hear wedding bells? When’s the big day?”

“I’m not engaged,” I told her.

She closed the study door behind her. “That’s a shame.” She cradled her stomach with her left hand. “You should hurry up and make that happen. It’s your one job.”

I resented the implication that my only purpose in life was to marry Brad. “What if I don’t want to marry him?”

“Since when did anybody here care about that?” I heard the resentment in her tone. I wanted to feel bad for her, but marrying Gilbert had been her choice. “You and Brad would make a good team.”

“I don’t want to be part of a team. I want to be in love.”

She let out a laugh, tinged with bitterness. “You are such a child. It’s better to be with someone who understands you and your lifestyle. Who wants the same things out of life that you do.”

That sounded lonely to me. “Why can’t I have both?”

“Because that’s not how real life works. It’s time you grew up and realized that. Do your duty for this family and what’s expected of you. Your rebellious little tantrum has gone on long enough.”

“In case you didn’t know,” I said with a shake of my head, “you are turning into Mom. And I always thought you were better than that.”

Vanessa gasped in outrage as Coughlin entered the room, carrying my coat. “Julio is waiting for you, Miss Madison.” He handed me my coat and I again was struck with the urge to kiss his cheek for saving me.

I walked out of the study without looking back, heading directly for the black town car in front of the house. I climbed in before I could be accosted by another member of my family and as Julio headed down the long driveway I wondered what Vanessa had been up to.

What was her goal? Was she trying to trick me down the same miserable path her life had taken? If she suffered, so should everyone else?

Or was she using some kind of reverse psychology, hoping to push me into publicly breaking up with Brad? Knowing how angry it would make our parents? Ensuring the amount of her inheritance went from thirty-three percent to fifty?

Sighing, I leaned my head back against the seat. What I did know was two things—I didn’t want to play any more Huntington games.