Page 43 of Faking it with my Bad Boy Crush

Right now, Marcus Campbell was offering me the same choice—just dressed up differently.

"I'll think about it," I said, and hung up before Marcus could respond.

"What did he want?"

"To make a deal." I put my phone away. "Drop the fraud allegations, and they drop the ethics complaint against me."

Understanding dawned in her eyes. "You'd keep your law license."

"Yes."

"You could rebuild your career."

"Yes."

"You could leave Lopez Island and go back to your life." Her voice was carefully neutral, but I heard the question underneath.Are you going to take it?

And I realized—this was the moment. The decision that would define everything that came next.

"Maya—" I started.

"Don't answer now." She cut me off, her voice shaking slightly. "Think about it. Really think about it. Because if you stay and fight this with me, if you reject their offer, you lose everything. Your license, your career, your future. That's too much to sacrifice for someone you've known for a week."

"It's not—"

"Please." She held up her hand. "Just think about it. I need to get back to the bakery. Tessa's been covering all day, and I have orders to prep for tomorrow."

She walked toward the parking lot, leaving me standing on the courthouse steps with a phone call I couldn't ignore and a decision I wasn't ready to make.

Behind me, Richard emerged from the courthouse.

"Tough day," he said quietly.

"Marcus offered me a deal. Drop the fraud case, keep my license."

"Are you going to take it?"

I watched Maya's van pull out of the parking lot, heading toward the ferry terminal.

"I don't know," I admitted. "Twenty years ago, you told me I could become someone who builds or someone who destroys. I thought I'd made that choice. But standing here now, I'm not sure I ever really decided."

"Then decide now," Richard said simply. "Who do you want to be, Ethan? And what are you willing to sacrifice to become that person?"

I stood on those courthouse steps for a long time after Richard left, watching the harbor, thinking about choices and consequences and the difference between the life I'd built and the life I actually wanted.

By the time I made it to the ferry, Maya's van was already gone.

And I still didn't have an answer.

Chapter fourteen

Battle Plans

Maya

Ispent Thursday morning in a haze of flour and anxiety, making bread on autopilot while my mind replayed the courthouse scene over and over. The judge's ruling. The independent survey. The impossible timeline. And Ethan, standing on those steps with his phone in his hand, Marcus offering him an exit strategy.

I couldn't blame him if he took the deal. Keeping his law license meant rebuilding his career, reclaiming his future, and becoming the man he'd worked so hard to be.