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But it makes sense now

Wyatt’s the spitting ihter’s life

“Dad … you told Wyatt to stay away froether all the little pieces

Wyatt still loves me …

Wyatt never got over me, never moved on …

Wyatt can’t be with me …

He can’t tell me why …

My father has gone to great lengths to keep me in New York …

My father owns his ranch …

His father stole Renata from my father …

This is the only thing that makes sense

“Did you threaten Wyatt?” I ask “Did you tell him they’d lose the farm if he …”

I can’t finish the sentence It’s too awful All I can think about is an eighteen-year-old Wyatt losing his father and being forced to choose betweenhis family’s farm

It couldn’t have been easy for him

And given the circuht decision

My heart aches for Wyatt, longing to wrap my arms around him and kiss his face and tell him I love him even more now that I understand

He sacrificed a lifetime of happiness so his family would be provided for

He is the epitoood man

“How could you?” I speak through gritted teeth “How could you destroy someone else’s happiness like that? How could you rob your own daughter of a choice that wasn’t yours to make? Who made you God?”

I can’t look at hier

“Oliver,” Odette’s gasping voice steals both of our attention Standing in the doorway, her hand clenched at her neck, is ape-mouthed, teary-eyed stepmother “Is that … is that true?”

My father puffs his chest “Of course not She’s being dramatic—you kno she is”

Odette’s eyes water, but her lips are pressed into a firaze softens, sympathetic almost

“You’re always so quick to dismiss anyone who questions you,” she says “You’ve done it to hter”

“I’ anyone,” he says with a chuckle “I’”