Page 199 of My Fake Dating with the Grumpiest Highlander
Keira pours whisky for everyone even though it’s barely evening.
“You want to hear how Alistair and I almost ruined everything?”
I take the glass she hands me without drinking and nod silently.
So she tells us.
The disastrous fake engagement.
The clan rivalry.
The lies.
“He pushed me away,” she says quietly. “Several times. He thought he was protecting me.”
“But he really loved you,” I say bitterly.
“He didn’t want to admit it.”
Jane sets her teacup carefully onto the saucer.
“Callum and I started with an arranged marriage. For the inheritance.”
She explains the rocky beginning, the cultural divide between them.
“He spent months pushing me away. Telling me it was only an arrangement.”
“How long did it last?” I ask desperately.
“Too long. Months of torture.”
“But you stayed,” Emma says softly.
“Because I saw the man underneath the armor.”
Emma leans forward.
“Lachlan said horrible things to me. To protect me from himself.”
She tells me about the age difference. Lachlan’s fear.
“He thought he’d ruin me. That I was too young, too bright. He pushed me away brutally. I almost left.”
“So how did you know it was worth staying?” I whisper.
Emma meets my eyes.
“I didn’t know. I chose to believe. That’s different.”
At that exact moment, Rosita strides into the room looking determined and slightly irritated.
Something metallic glints in her mouth beneath the firelight.
A stethoscope.
Finn’s stethoscope.
She marches directly toward me with military precision, drops it beside the sock, then lifts her head and stares me dead in the eyes.
