Chapter Twenty

It took her brain a second to catch up to what her body already knew.

Holly.

He’d called her by name. By her real name. Even though she was dressed as Lillian.

“What did you say?”

There was no kindness in his expression as he prowled deeper into the room. Nothing that reminded her of the lover she’d left on the beach the night before.

“Would you prefer I kept calling you Lillian the way I have for the past few days?”

The air was sucked from her lungs. “You knew?”

He can tell us apart?

The disdain on his face stung her. “I can recognize my own lover. Or did you think just because I was stupid enough to fall for your other lies, I’d be too dumb to realize who’s body I’d tasted every inch of?”

She shook her head, taking a step back. “What are you talking about?”

He advanced on her, that same chill filling his eyes.

“I’m talking about this little game we’ve been playing.”

“I don’t—”

He slashed a hand through the air, silencing her protest. “Don’t. You said that today you’d tell the truth. How about you keep a promise for once?”

She took a careful step away from the mantel even as his eyes tracked her. “Julian, tell me what’s happened.”

A tight smile tipped his lips. “What’s happened is I’ve figured out this charade of yours. I wonder what the business community of New York will think when I tell them the vaunted Abbotts are about to go bankrupt?”

Her breath left her in a rush. She cast out a hand to the wall to steady herself. This was worse than she’d ever imagined. He wasn’t supposed to figure everything out on his own. She was supposed to tell him herself to prove that he could trust her.

Now he looked at her like an enemy, and why the hell not? From his perspective, she’d done nothing but trick him. Even if she hadn’t known everything at stake, she was part of his nightmare.

“I can explain. Lillian disappeared and then—”

“Oh, I’m sure you can,” he said, sounding more like a stranger than ever before. “But I have nothing to say to a con woman. You’ve played your part well; I’ll give you that.”

The words were like a blow, and she recoiled. “That’s not what I was doing.”

His icy mask never wavered. “Darling, I don’t particularly care.”

Darling, not sweetheart.

“We have to talk about this.”

“We don’t.”

“You wanted to last night.”

A smile curved his lips, but unfortunately, it did nothing to warm his expression. “Last night I thought this was about you and your sister. Little did I know it was really all about my company and my fortune.”

“Please, Julian, let me try to—”

“Not interested.”

And with that, he spun on his heel and left.

It took her a second before she could run after him, her heart shattering. She’d always known there was a chance he couldn’t forgive her, but she’d never dreamed he wouldn’t even let her try to set the record straight.

Was Lillian right?

Had this all really been about the money and the companies? Had she been wrong last night to think it was ever anything more?

Did he not love her at all?

“Julian,” she called as she chased him through the hallway, but he was a man on a mission.

“What’s going on?” Lillian asked, coming out from a doorway.

Julian’s lip curled at the sight of her. “Oh good. Another one.”

Her sister blinked at the venom in his tone. “Hell, she confessed, didn’t she?”

Julian’s cynical laughter rolled through the hall. “As if anyone in this house is capable of telling the truth.”

Her sister blinked in surprise.

“He found out what happened. I didn’t have a chance to tell him,” she explained.

Dark eyes flashed to her once before he was striding down the hall again.

Lillian fell into step beside her.

“Holly…”

“Don’t,” she whispered. This was already the worst moment of her life. She couldn’t handle an I-told-you-so from her sister.

Together they trailed the livid billionaire as he swept through the rooms on the lower floor.

“John,” he finally bellowed.

“What is all the commotion?”

Holly looked up toward the stairs to see her father descending into the entrance hall.

“What the hell have you done to my company?”

John froze on the last step. “Excuse me?”

“I had someone I trust dig into your financials. There were too many red flags to ignore. Especially when your daughters kept switching places.”

Surprise lit John’s face. “You can tell them apart? They’re identical.”

“They couldn’t be less identical if they tried.”

Despite the tension in the room, Holly couldn’t help the way her heart throbbed at the words. Even furious, he saw her as an individual.

Too bad that was likely an individual he hated.

“Tell me the truth about Abbott Industries.”

John ran a hand over his face. “What did you discover?”

“You’re on the edge of bankruptcy.”

Her father shrugged in a you-got-me gesture. “I’m sure you can understand why I had to do everything in my power to avoid that from happening.”

“I don’t understand any of this.”

“The company can’t keep the lights on forever without a cash infusion, and we can’t get to Lillian’s inheritance. The old bag who left it to her locked it up tight so I wouldn’t have access. Never did like me.”

“I’m shocked.”

“So we had to look elsewhere. When you approached me with your offer, it seemed like fate. Come now. You can’t play the victim card when you were basically buying a bloodline. We both benefit from this arrangement.”

“I benefit from merging my company with a sinking ship?”

“You’ll have the connections. And once you marry, you’ll have Lillian’s money. Together we’ll build an empire. Where’s the problem?”

Wrong thing to say, Father.

Julian’s expression filled with cold fury.

“I will never do business with you.”

“The merger has already started. It will be the biggest scandal in years if we pull out now. Not to mention the cost to reverse what we’ve started. But I will concede you have a right to be angry about the twins. How about I sweeten the deal, eh? Pick whichever one of them you want. Lillian has the cash. Holly apparently has the body. I don’t care who you marry.”

She jerked at the words, electricity snapping through her. Before she would have looked down and tried to make herself inconspicuous. But that was the old Holly.

“We are not yours to barter,” she said, stepping forward.

All eyes turned to her, but she focused on her father. “This is your mismanagement and your fault. Open your eyes and see it.”

The jovial smile dropped from her father’s face. Thunderous, he advanced on her only to pull up short when Julian stepped between them.

She stared at his back, not heartened that he’d tried to protect her. Julian had a thing for championing the underdog. Didn’t mean he’d marry one.

“I don’t need Lillian’s money,” he said, his voice like a whip. “And I certainly don’t need Holly’s lies.”

She flinched at the accusation.

“Then name your price,” John said. “You know as well as I do, we can’t stop the merger this late in the game. What will it take to get this back on track?”

Julian laughed, but it was a far cry from the open, warm sound she was used to.

“I don’t need your company; you need mine. I refuse to do business with a man who commits fraud without blinking and uses his daughters to get ahead.”

That startled a gasp for her.

Julian turned at the sound, his eyes flashing with regret for a brief moment. Running a hand down his face, he shook his head.

“I need to get out of here.”

“Please,” she said before he could leave. “Give me a chance. You promised you would.” She stepped up to him, drawing back before her fingers brushed his arm. “There’s another side to this. Just give me five minutes.”

He studied her, and she didn’t flinch away from the anger and confusion in his gaze. Waiting for his verdict, she stood strong under the inspection.

As if unable to help himself, he raised a hand to brush his fingers down her cheek in the lightest caress.

“Believe me,” she whispered to him. “You know what we have isn’t a game.”

The fingers dropped from her face. “I can’t.”

He stepped back as she reached for him, her hand hovering in midair.

“I don’t ever want to see you or your cursed family ever again. If anyone of you takes a step near me or my company, I’ll do everything in my power to destroy what remains of yours.”

Her heart stuttered. “Julian.”

But he was already in motion. With smooth strides, he walked out the door.

And left her behind without so much as a backward glance.