"Georgia, please," I beg.

"Go home, Sebastian. I have nothing to say to you," she claims and disappears inside.

As soon as the door shuts, Melanie spins on me. "Do not ever step foot near her again. You picked the wrong woman to use for your fake wife."

The hairs on my neck rise. "She told you?"

"Yeah, she told me everything. Are you going to sue her for the little possessions she has? Maybe steal the few items she inherited from her grandma?" Melanie seethes.

Shocked, I declare, "I would never do such a thing. I'm not that low of a person."

"Aren't you?" Melanie hurls.

"No, Melanie. I'm not."

She snarls, "You know what, Sebastian? Take your loophole and shove it up your ass."

I freeze. Loophole?

She shoots daggers at me with her eyes and continues. "Don't try to deny how you planned to screw Georgia over all along."

Guilt reignites in my belly.

How does she know about a loophole?

Melanie continues, "And then you're so twisted that you made her believe that you actually cared about her. What kind of sick bastard are you?"

"I do care about her. I love her! But why would she think—" I freeze, and goose bumps pop out on my skin.

She overheard the conversation with Huck.

Melanie's face turns into a smirk. "Yeah. You know what you did."

"Listen, you have this wrong. Georgia has this wrong. Huck, my attorney, called me. He told me if I signed the annulment but Georgia didn't show up on January 2nd, she'd be in contempt of our contract. I didn't want to explain to him over the phone that I no longer cared about the loophole," I admit.

My confession only makes Melanie angrier. She accuses, "You can't help yourself in your web of lies, can you?"

"I'm not lying."

"Sure you aren't. And pigs fly too, don't they, Sebastian!" she shouts.

I try again. "I swear, Huck didn't know he wasn't looking for a loophole anymore. And I hadn't thought about it since before the wedding. I was trying to get him off the phone instead of going into a long conversation about my change of mind."

Melanie scoffs. "But when you signed the agreement, you did want a loophole, didn't you?"

The truth hangs in the air. I don't think I've ever felt so sick.

She snarls, "Admit it, Sebastian."

"Yes. Originally, I did. But I would never do that to her. All I want is my wife back," I admit.

"You wanted a loophole. You would have screwed her over without even thinking twice. This entire time, you were in cahoots with your attorney to avoid paying Georgia the money that she earned…the money you agreed to. So don't tell me you would never do that to her!" she hurls.