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Shit. And the way she looks at me—it’s like she doesn’t recognize me. It pierces through my damn heart.
I fucked up. Big time.
“Was any of it real?” Her voice cracks.
“Of course it was.” I reach out to cup her cheek, but she takes a step backward.
It sucks a whole lot.
“I never knew about you being chosen for the vote,” I say.
“And what, I’m supposed to believe anything that comes out of your mouth? All you’ve done is lie or tell half-truths ever since we met.” Her laugh sounds so hollow and unlike her that it makes my chest ache.
Instead of asking Zahra to stay at Dreamland and work for me, I now have to convince her that I never knew this was his plan.
Good luck with that. “You have to believe me on this. I knew a vote would happen—that much is true—but I had no idea who my grandfather would pick.”
She shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter what you say. I can’t trust you.”
I grab her hand and place it against my chest. The heat of her palm adds to the spreading warmth through my chest. “I swear I’m not lying. I know I might have hidden some truths and lied to you in the past”—she flinches at my words—“but I would never use you for something like a vote. I’m better than that.”
She rips her hand out of my grasp. “That’s the thing, Rowan. I think you think you’re better than that, but from everything I’ve seen, I have no reason to believe you’re anything but selfish. You choose to think about one person and one person only—and that’s yourself.”
Her words slice away at me, making my breathing difficult. She looks at me with a pinched expression, and I’ve seen that kind of gaze enough times in my father’s eyes to label it as disgust. It hurts far more this time, knowing it’s from Zahra.
She walks around me to grab her belongings. “I’m quitting because I have no interest in working for you or your company anymore. I want to work for a place that wants to make a real difference in people’s lives because they care, and your company isn’t it.”
She exits the room, leaving me with nothing but the lingering smell of her perfume and the memory of her teary eyes looking at me with nothing but hate.