Page 89 of He Loves Me Knot

He gritted his teeth. He hadn’t gotten this far in the planning with Liddy. She probably hadn’t even thought about how expensive it all would be or that the extremely wealthy Camden family didn’t have to blink twice to order something like a butterfly excursion and pay for everyone.

He could go to Liddy and tell her about it, but he’d been an arse. The conversation from the room had made him want to put a fist through a wall. The conflict inside him was sufficient torment.

But the hurt that had flashed on her face was enough to make him want to do some form of penance.

Not to mention, Liddy probably couldn’t afford it, and he couldn’t very well go to Quinn or the Camdens.

Callum sighed and dug a credit card out from his wallet. “Here. Put it on this.”

Sophia gave him a skeptical look, then nodded. “You must really like her,” she said with a shake of her head.

Like her? How could I not?But Lydia Winnick would always deserve more than Callum could give.

“I do.”

Sophia took the credit card. “Callum. Tíawouldn’t want me telling you this, but . . . things atLa Haciendahaven’t been going well lately. The bigger hotel chains in Guanacaste have been making things harder for us smaller places.”

Sophia shifted her gaze out the door to where his mum had gone. “So we’re thinking of selling. She had high hopes for this wedding, especially because the Camdens are an important family and Elle Winnick is a famous singer. Thought it would be good on the website. That’s why she’s so upset.”

Selling La Hacienda?

Callum met Sophia’s gaze. He didn’t want to take pity on her, but he also couldn’t help it.

They’d both been children when his mum and her mum, who he’d called Tía Carmen, had bought this place. Nothing had been here. But property had still been cheap, and they’d had a dream. The first night, they’d all camped out near the beach in a tent.

And as a child, he’d been just as excited as his mum. Isla, too.

“I’m not sure a pseudo-celebrity wedding could turn things around that much, Sophia. This place is run-down, even for a place boasting rustic charm.”

“I know that.” Sophia gave him a sad smile. “But that didn’t stop Tíafrom hoping. You know how much she loves it here. And it’s one of the few things she has left.”

The pang of guilt that went through him was visceral despite his immediate rejection of it.Is this why Mum wants to talk to me?

He could see her doing something like that. Asking him to step in and help save the business. Or even Isla—even though his thespian sister barely scraped by.

“Mum can’t expect Isla or me to bail her out if that’s what she’s hoping.”

Sophia gave him a hard look. “No one’s suggesting that. I was just explaining to you why she’s upset. You know, you used to be a nice person. Someone who didn’t turn his back on the people he loved.”

“Well, a certain woman I loved ruined the whole concept of love for me. So there’s that.”

Sophia gave him a look of disbelief. “And does your girlfriend know that? That you’re just this...this loveless man? Because you might want to tell her before she moves halfway across the world for you and then gets treated like dirt—even though she does everything for you and tries to take care of you. But no. You couldn’t appreciate it because you were too angry about never being able to play football again. You didn’t care about any of the good things you had left in your life.”

She raised her chin defiantly. “I’m not justifying what I did, Callum, but I was twenty-three years old, and I was in London, alone—completely alone. And the only people I saw were your friends. How could I have time for anything else when I was so busy taking care of you? Because even though you were there, youweren’t.The person you were? He didn’t get his leg broken. He got his spirit crushed. Destroyed.Hewas gone. Heisgone. You’re not the man I loved, and you never will be.”

For someone who didn’t feel she was justifying her actions, that diatribe certainly sounded like justification to Callum.And to think she’d once asked for forgiveness.From the moment Quinn had told him about the wedding here, Callum had known this confrontation would have to happen, and it seemed Sophia believed he was incapable of love. Callum couldn’t really disagree with her. She wasn’t asking for forgiveness now, and neither had his mum, so it seemed he was justified in his mistrust for a woman’s heart.They are fickle.

Once her words would have wounded him to the deepest part of his heart. Now they fell off the armor surrounding it like arrows hitting steel.

“Are you done?” he asked calmly. He wasdonewith this conversation.

Her face reflected her fury. “Not even close. But what does it matter? You treat people like luxuries you can throw away. And someday you’re going to learn that you could have had everything you really wanted if you weren’t such a coward. You only have yourself to blame for being a miserable bastard.”

“Fantastic. Just let me know when the trips are booked. You can bring the credit card back to my room later.”

Then he left, restraining the urge to flex his fist as he walked.

She knows nothing about me now.