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“Sonny?” Klein pulled Sonjay to him. “What’s going on here?”
“Tell him, Sonjay,” Dex demanded. “Tell him once and for all.”
“What are you up to, Dex?” Klein reached past Sonjay and grabbed Dex’s shirt. “You’ve cooked something up?”
“Tell him, Sonjay.” Dex shoved Klein away and yanked Sonjay by the arm. “You tell him and you tell him now.”
“Klein.” She dropped the bouquet on the gazebo floor and broke into tears. “I’m so sorry, and I never meant to hurt you.”
Klein titled his head, his face set in confusion.
“I can’t marry you. I love Dex.”
Channing and Anderson looked at each other.
“It’s not fair to keep lying like this,” Sonjay said. “I don’t expect you to forgive me, but this has to stop.”
Klein scoffed, focusing on Sonjay. “I was right?”
“What?” Dex asked.
“I might seem like all I do is work, but I pay attention to more than you realize. I’m not stupid. Have to be blind not to know you and Dex had something going.”
Sonjay inhaled.
“I saw it years ago,” Klein spoke low. “When you and I got engaged, I saw it more and more.”
Sonjay looked at Dex who looked away, shaking his head.
“A blind man could see it.” Klein tightened his lips. “How Dex looks at you. The way the tone changes in his voice when he says your name.”
Sonjay’s heart pounded.
“I always had suspicions but the mayor’s birthday party proved it. When I saw you two in the elevator, I knew you’d just had sex.”
Anderson and Channing dropped their heads, blushing.
“It was all over your face, Sonny.” Klein chuckled. “So yes, I know you want Dex but guess what? You’re marrying me.”
Anderson and Channing jerked up their heads.
Sonjay batted her eyes, questioning if she’d heard him right.
“I don’t give a damn about anything you guys had going.” Klein faced Dex. “But, if you think I’ll let you walk out of here with the woman I love you’re crazy.”
Dex rolled his shoulders, muscles moving in his jaws. “She loves me.”
“She’s marrying me.” Klein thrust his finger in Dex’s face. “All my life I’ve had to compete with guys like you. The good-looking jocks in school, and the suave, skinny GQ types with money falling out their asses.” His eyes turned red. “Men like you get whatever the hell you want with the snap of a finger but I’m disregarded immediately.”
“That’s not true.”
“Shut up.” Klein huffed and puffed, shoulders rising and falling. “How does it feel to walk around, owning the world?”
“I’ve worked for everything I’ve accomplished.”
“Please.” Klein laughed. “If it weren’t for your daddy being district attorney for decades, do you think your ass would be where you are? You’ve had things handed to you your whole life.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is,” Klein screamed in Dex’s face. “You’ve never had to work for anything.”
“I had to work for her.” Dex pointed to Sonjay, spit flying. “I had to work my ass off for her. I’ve loved no one like I do, Sonjay. I’m jealous of you, Klein. You have the woman I’ve always wanted.”
Klein titled his head back.
“I’d trade everything I have for a life of happiness with Sonjay.”
“I don’t care,” Klein said. “I’ve finally got the life I want and the woman I want. No way in hell you’re taking her away from me.”
“Don’t do this, Klein.” Sonjay touched his arm. “You deserve better than me.”
“I want you.” He grabbed her. “I’ve given you everything. We live in a beautiful home, you got the key to the city, never have to want for nothing.”
She touched his white blazer. “You’re too good of a man to settle. We don’t belong together.”
“We do because I say we do.”
“Klein—”
“Stay out of this, Anderson.” Klein snatched the ring out of his pocket. “We came to get married.” He gestured to Leto. “Marry us.”
She shifted, glancing at Sonjay. “It might be best to take time—”
“Marry us, damn it!”
“Klein.” Anderson grabbed his shoulders. “Don’t do this, man.”
“He’s not getting her.” He stomped his foot, sobbing. “Dex is not getting my girl as long as I’m breathing. Sonjay’s marrying me because I’ve worked hard for this. I deserve this.” His voice cracked. “Damn it, I deserve this.”
“You deserve better.” Sonjay touched his face. “I’m the fool, Klein.”
“How about we give Sonjay and Klein time alone?” Leto suggested.
The others followed her out the gazebo.
“How could you do this, Sonny?” Klein held his head, squealing. “Why do you have to ruin what we’ve worked for?”
“Because I’m an idiot. If I could control my heart, I would choose you without question.”
“What is it, huh?” He sniffled, scowling. “I can change. I’ll lose weight and pay more attention to what you need.”
“I’m the issue not you.”
“Is it because he’s white?”
She sighed, squinting. “This isn’t about looks, race or that you didn’t do enough for me.”
“He’ll never love you the way I do.”
“We need to stop lying to each other, Klein. I don’t think you love me either.”
“What? How can you say that?”
“You treat me like a project. Like an item that fits into your plans. You parade me around and you’re so glad to call me your fiancée but you ignore me at home.” She clutched her necklace. “I feel like a burden sometimes.”
He took her hands. “I love you too much.”
“You want to love me but you’re possessive of me. You keep me around because I’m a part of this perfect world you’ve created. I did the same thing. I stayed with you because it was supposed to be right, but it’s not and we can’t force it to be.”
“If Dex wasn’t successful, gorgeous, and had money, would you be leaving me now?”
“Yes.” She looked at the sleek, wood flooring. “It’s not about what Dex gives me but what I give him. True love. I can never give that to you.”
“You’re making a big mistake, Sonny.”
“Maybe.”
“No, you are.” He nodded. “You and Dex have no prayer of lasting. He goes through women like I go through underwear and he’ll get bored. He only wants you now because you’re a challenge. Wait until it sinks in that he’s stuck with you and the kid, which I’m guessing is his since you hardly let me touch you.”
She closed her eyes.
“What’s a relationship without trust?” He put his hands together in front of his face. “If Dex can have an affair with his best friend’s fiancée, what the hell do you think he’d do to you, Sonny? He’ll leave the minute someone more exciting comes along.”
“He won’t.” She shook her head, wiping tears. “Dex has loved me since school. He’s not a man who’d have put up with what I put him through if he didn’t love me. He could’ve had any woman he wanted.”
“Trying to convince yourself?” He held a sarcastic smile. “Women. You step over men who treat you right for womanizers like Dex.”
“He’s not a womanizer.”
“I know him way better than you do, Sonny.”
She shrugged. “I love him. Whatever happens, I’ll deal with it. But he’s the man I want today.”
“Fine.” Klein opened the door and kept his back to her. “I’ll be home later tonight and I don’t wanna see you.”
Her lip quivered. “I understand.”
“As soon as you can, get your shit out my house and get the hell out my life.”
He marched from the gazebo, throwing the ring in the grass.