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More weeks passed. Kady and Slade were now a couple. Ethan had to fly back to Jackson Hole for work, and it was there he remained when Anah celebrated her nineteenth birthday. His absence would've been devastating...if not for the fact that it was his texts she woke up to each day. Granted, the text messages were all forwarded ones - everything from memes to GIFs and even the odd chain letter or two - but she cherished each and every one of them nevertheless. She knew, without being told, it was Ethan's way of letting her know that he and Guilia still hadn't gotten back together.
As spring came to an end, Hartland's mayor Oliver Winterbourne II scheduled an emergency town hall meeting that had his fellow billionaire residents trooping to the library. Apparently, a film crew had requested to shoot in Hartland for three months, and at its helm was a critically-acclaimed director who was likely to be troublesome if the town were to reject his request for no valid reason.
Much discussion ensued, along with frequent swearing, but in the end, the founding members unanimously approved Oliver's plan. New local policies would be enacted to strongly discourage future interest in Hartland as a filming location. In the meantime, Director Hector Bautista would be given a maximum of three months to film, with no possibility of extension.
For those three months, most of the town's founding members simply opted to fly out of Wyoming. Slade and Kady had been one of the first to leave, with the billionaire insisting that they were going away for their honeymoon, never mind if the couple had yet to exchange wedding vows.
A few others, however, hadn't any choice. Aidan had to stay as the town's police chief, and naturally so did Oliver as its mayor. Thornton had also opted to stay but had the mayor's secretary, Frankie, to hire him an assistant to manage the bookstore. When Frankie suggested her friend Blake, Thornton had agreed, thinking Blake was a man. He was wrong though, but it turned out to be the luckiest mistake in his life.
****
ALTHOUGH ETHAN, NOW back in Hartland, had played a hand in getting his older brother and his shop assistant together, it had still come as a surprise to him when he saw the invitation in his mailbox. Thornton was the last man Ethan would ever imagine getting involved in a whirlwind romance.
And yet here they were now, Ethan thought contemplatively, drinking to the newly engaged couple.
The affair was decidedly low-key, with the party taking place in the town's community hall and Cook Nancy flying in to personally supervise the catering. The guest list, however, wasn't limited to Hartland residents but also included close friends of both Blake and the Blackwoods. One of the latter, in particular, had Ethan a little uneasy. Ever since Damian introduced Anah to Sarah, his stepsister-turned-wife, the two girls had been separable. God knew what those two could be talking about for hours, but one thing he was sure of was that Sarah was only likely to corrupt his little Anah.
And speaking of the she-devil...
Ethan and Aidan were the only ones left at their table once the dancing had started, and both men automatically rose to their feet when Sarah and Anah suddenly approached them.
Beautiful, Ethan found himself thinking again when his gaze briefly skimmed over Anah's slender frame. With her red-gold hair swept up in an elegant chignon, the pale column of her neck was fully exposed, and the sight had Ethan shoving his hands deep into his pockets. It was the safest thing to do, in light of his sudden inexplicable urge to yank off the tablecloth and wrap it around Anah's neck like a scarf. She was so fucking exposed, dammit.
Sarah cleared her throat. "Ethan?"
Ethan jerked, realizing too late that everyone was staring at him.
"I was saying I had a problem," Sarah said meaningfully. "A really huge problem."
Ethan glanced at Aidan. Was it just him...or did Sarah sound rather gleeful for someone supposedly troubled?
Aidan suppressed his smile and simply shrugged in response. You're on your own with this, man.
Sarah coughed again, and Ethan, realizing he was supposed to answer, asked obligingly, "Is it anything I can help you with?"
Sarah's face brightened. "There is, actually. You see, Damian promised Anah a dance, and her favorite song's playing now. But..." Sarah's face fell dramatically. "We can't seem to find Damian."
Damian, who had been about to come up behind his wife and wrap an arm around her waist, swiftly turned back upon hearing her words.
Ethan and Adrian started coughing at the sight of Damian's retreating back.
Anah's cheeks turned red. She had a feeling she knew exactly why the two brothers were coughing, and the thought had her trying one more time to get her wrist out of Sarah's hold. This was so seriously embarrassing!
Sarah, however, was undaunted even though she, too, had a suspicion of what had caused the pair's sudden coughing fit. "So what do you say, Ethan?" Sarah asked innocently. "Could you take my husband's place and dance with my friend?"
And that was how Anah ended up in Ethan's arms, her fingers gingerly curving over his shoulders while his hands claimed her waist in a firm hold that she almost wished she could think as possessive.
An acoustic version of Love Me Harder was playing in the background, and as the suggestive lyrics of the song infiltrated her mind, Anah's nervousness got the better of her. She started to trip over her own feet—-
"Careful."
Ethan's deep, velvety voice was rich with amusement as he caught her before she fell, and she stammered out an apology while determinedly fixing her gaze on his suit pocket.
Ethan's lips curved in a smirk when he saw where she was staring. "New decoy?"
Anah frowned. What new - oh! Her cheeks turned a deeper shade of red when she realized he still remembered her confession about using books as a decoy.
"I wish you'd be a little more forgetful."
Ethan laughed.
"And just to be clear—-"
"I know," Ethan cut her off dryly. "You didn't put her up to it."
"Oh."
"If you've known Sarah for as long as I do, you'd know that no one needs to put her up to anything. She gets into trouble all on her own."
"She isn't that bad," Anah protested, feeling the need to defend her friend.
"She is," Ethan retorted, "and her own husband would be the first to confirm this."
This time, Anah could no longer help laughing. Glancing up, she was about to ask him to share with her any of Sarah's past escapades when she caught sight of Ethan staring down at her broodingly. "Is something wrong?"
"You catch me staring at you," Ethan murmured, "and that's your first thought? That's something wrong?" He watched Anah do her best to keep herself from smiling...only to lose the battle a few moments later. It was an adorable sight. Too fucking adorable, actually, that it cut his heart into two.
And it was then he knew.
Things could not go on like this any longer.
****
DÉJÀ VU, Guilia couldn't help thinking when she came home to her apartment and saw Ethan lounging in her living room. The one time he had showed up unexpectedly at her place, she had ended up trying to kill herself. Tonight, though...who knew?
She crossed the room and managed to keep a smile over her lips even as her heart was slowly withering. She knew, without a doubt, that her worst fears were finally happening. Ethan had finally realized the truth, and she was almost tempted to ask him what it was that opened his yes. How did you find out that you no longer love me?
The thought had Guilia's knees wobbling a bit, but somehow she still managed to keep moving, and even her voice remained steady as she greeted him. "Ciao, caro. This is quite the surprise."
"I know." The velvety huskiness of his voice had Guilia's lips automatically curving with the kind of smile that she knew Ethan hated. He once told her she had a certain smile that made him feel she only thought of him as her personal slave, but she had only laughed his words off and told him he was imagining things.
But of course she was lying. He hadn't been mistaken about her smile. But what he was never to know was that those smiles were just another way to hide the truth, a way to hurt him so he wouldn't see that she was hurting, too...
Like now.
The sound of Ethan's voice had made Guilia realize all of a sudden that tonight might be the very last time she would be able to hurt him.
No more Ethan calling her just to say 'ciao' or 'buon giorno'.
And the thought devastated her, the pain so crippling it was a wonder she had yet to crash down and sob her heart out. Instead, she somehow found the strength to walk past him and get to the minibar she had installed in one corner of her apartment.
She sat down on one of the bar stools and reached for a pair of shot glasses. Her movement was deliberately slow, Guilia needing more time to regain her composure. An insidious thought crept into her mind just as she reached for the bottle of whisky—-
What if it was someone else? What if it was another woman that had made Ethan realize he no longer loved her?
The thought had her hands shaking in an instant, and she quickly placed the bottle back on the table. It doesn't matter if Ethan has another woman or not, Guilia reminded herself forcefully. Either way, it wouldn't change the truth, and that was that Ethan had stopped loving her for a long time now.
He had only remained by her side the past few years because he had mistaken duty and honor for love, and she had been too selfish and weak to tell him the truth. But now that it finally happened...
I'll let him go. I won't make it hard for him. He deserves that much.
Guilia slowly ran her hands down the the silky length of her dress.
It's better this way. If I love him, and I really do love him, I need to set him free.
When she reached for the bottle again, her fingers were free of any telltale tremors, and she was able to pour herself a shot. "Do you want some whisky, too, or something else?"
"Something else."
Guilia nearly jumped, realizing only at that moment that Ethan was already standing right behind her.
A moment later, she felt Ethan spinning the stool around to have her face him, and that was then she saw the ring he was holding up for her.
"Marry me, Guilia."