Bachelor Swap by Lacey Black (best ebook reader under 100 .TXT) 📗

There’s no way to not hurt her. “I was actually supposed to break up with you for him, but I couldn’t.”

“Why?” she asks, her eyes filling with tears.

“Because I started to fall for you.”

The wetness gathering in her eyes falls onto her delicate cheek, marring her prefect skin with pain. The vision will forever be embedded in my mind, the one of her crying as I rip both our hearts out with my deceitfulness.

“I was supposed to let you go, but that first night, the one where you came to my brother’s place for dinner, I couldn’t do it. You kissed me, and I felt…alive. For the first time in my life, I felt content and happy and wanted more. I didn’t tell you, even though I wanted to, because I didn’t know how. I had signed a contract with Matthew, one that said I’d lose all the money he promised me if I said a word. I didn’t want to risk it,” I confess, loathing myself more with each word I say.

“The problem is, the more time I spent with you, the more I started to fall for you. I realized I wasn’t going to be able to go through with it. I couldn’t fulfill the terms of his contract. I decided to tell you everything because it was the right thing to do and because,” I take a deep breath, maintain eye contact, and finish, “I fell in love with you.”

The tears fall in earnest now, her sniffles the only sound in the deserted hallway. The sound rips my heart clean from my chest and fills it with pain. I want to turn, to yell at my brother, but I don’t. I can’t take my eyes off her, but also I know it’s not his fault. Not really. It’s mine. I shouldn’t have accepted the deal. I should have found another way to figure out my financial difficulties. I should have done more.

I’m about to tell her just that, when another voice interrupts my thoughts.

“There you are, honey.” It’s Kyla’s father, Jerald. “Is everything all right?” he asks, coming up beside her and kissing her cheek. It’s only then he seems to take in the carnage around him. “What’s going on?” he demands, finally noticing his daughter’s tears.

Jerald turns to me, to find out why the hell his daughter is crying, when he spies my twin brother standing there.

“Jerry, good to see you again,” my brother says, extending a hand as if nothing out of the ordinary is happening.

“Matthew?” he asks, obviously confused at seeing my twin and me together.

“Yes, sir. I’m sure you’re wondering what the heck is going on here, and I assure you, we have it handled,” my brother replies formally.

He draws his eyebrows in confusion. “What is being handled?” he asks, skeptically.

“Why don’t you join me in the ballroom for a drink, and we’ll let them chat,” Matthew instructs, placing an arm over Kyla’s father’s shoulder and trying to turn him around.

“Actually,” Jerald states, moving out of Matthew’s grasp, “I think I’d like to stay. My daughter is crying, and that’s not acceptable. I’m sure you’ll understand.”

When Jerald returns to his daughter’s side, he turns his gaze to me. It’s hostile, as if he knows I’m the reason for the tears. “Someone better fill me in now,” he demands, his tone leaving no room for question.

“It seems Matthew has a twin brother, Daddy,” Kyla states, sniffling. She turns her gaze to mine. It’s hard and full of pain. “Mason, right?”

I swallow over the lump of emotion lodged firmly in my throat. “Yes, I’m Mason Wilder, sir.”

“Mason here has been pretending to be his brother Matthew for the last three weeks. Apparently, they had a little deal to swap places for a while, but there was a little problem with their plan: Me.” The tears have now dried up, her eyes turning fierce and dark.

“What do you mean?” he asks, searching her eyes for answers.

“Mason was supposed to break up with me, Daddy, but he didn’t. He pretended to be his brother and continued to…date me.” She swallows hard at her admission but holds her voice and her gaze steady.

Jerald appears surprised, his dark eyes turning to me. “Why?” he asks, truly curious.

“He says it was because he developed feelings for me, isn’t that right, Mason?” she asks, turning cool eyes my direction.

“That’s correct,” I answer, even though it’s painful to do.

He looks over his shoulder to my brother and asks the question I don’t think anyone is prepared for. “Does this have to do with Wilder Group and Evolution?”

I blink a few times, trying to understand what he’s asking. I glance at my brother, doing what I can to get a read from him, but he’s as cool and calm as ever. In fact, he just seems to relax even more, which only pisses me off further.

The question must register with Kyla though. Like a lightbulb going off, she gasps and turns wide eyes to Matthew. “You’re the buyer?”

“I am,” my brother informs.

“You didn’t know?” Jerald asks his daughter, who merely shakes her head. “Matthew’s Wilder Group was the business I settled on to purchase Evolution. I’ve met with him a few times over the last few months, along with his team several times to prepare the deal.”

Kyla looks from her father to my brother until suddenly, realization sets in. “Oh God!” she bellows, turning huge, hurt eyes to Matthew. “That’s why you pursued me.” It’s an accusation, not a question.

It’s as if the lightbulb turns on in my own brain too, and I finally realize why his relationship with Kyla was so off. “You didn’t,” I harshly whisper, my eyes glued to that of my twin.

“I had to ensure the deal went through,” he replies in a business-like tone, as if using someone is just an everyday part of his world.

I’m in disgust over what he’s done. He wasn’t interested in Kyla, not really. He used her as a tool to ensure he