Love Arranged (Lakefront Billionaires, #3)(95)

People laugh, and Mayor Ludlow waves his son off with a smile, his eyes full of pride. It makes me sick to see the two of them happy together when they should both be behind bars for their crimes.

Trevor grins. “I’ve learned from them because I always knew that one day I would want to follow in my father’s footsteps.”

My molars grind. I prepared myself for him using his family’s legacy as a tactic, but stomaching it is a whole different issue, especially when the crowd is nodding along and eating up his words like they’re gospel.

Trevor practically glows as he takes us down memory lane. “The town has entrusted us to lead them through the good and the bad times, and we’ve done our best to encourage economic prosperity while retaining what makes Lake Wisteria special. We can see Lake Aurora as what it is—a cautionary tale rather than a prophecy waiting to be fulfilled—and we can use that knowledge to better guide our decisions. They don’t have the same history we do, and that’s a good thing.”

The energy in the room shifts, and the fear in everyone’s eyes dims, replaced by hopeful expressions and soft chatter. Lily must hear something she doesn’t like because she gnaws on her bottom lip, and Willow appears paler than usual as she looks back at a couple whispering behind her.

I can feel my victory slipping through my fingers. My gut instinct has gotten me this far, so I trust that if I don’t win tonight’s debate, I’ll lose the entire election, and that is not an option.

Not because I want to avenge my parents, although that will always be a reason, but because Lily needs me to win.

Somewhere along the way, winning became less about getting payback and more about saving Lily, her mother, and their flower shop. I want to protect the life Lily built in this town by fulfilling the future she so desperately wants.

A future that I couldn’t be a part of should Trevor become mayor. That much becomes painfully clear as I sit here, thinking of my past trauma that he caused.

I thought that maybe I could suffer through his time as mayor for Lily’s sake, but I can’t. I’d only end up driving myself crazy and push Lily away for good.

“Mr. Vittori, you have one minute to respond before we move on to the next question,” Mrs. Singer calls.

I try to calm myself down, but Trevor’s ability to charm the crowd and use their nostalgia as a weapon has rattled me.

Now is not the time to be nervous, I remind myself. Not when I have hundreds of people watching me, waiting to see how I can live up to the Ludlows’ legacy.

I want to surpass it, not only for myself and my parents but for the woman I love.

“Mr. Vittori?” Mrs. Singer prompts, not letting me process my feelings.

I rise, noting the uncomfortable pang in my chest as I hold the mic up to my mouth. With a deep breath, I begin. “Mr. Ludlow speaks fondly of his father’s legacy, and for good reason since the town has grown significantly. But I’m curious about one thing he said in particular.” I shift to the side so I can look at him out of the corner of my eye.

“When you talk about wanting to follow in your father’s footsteps, does that mean carrying on with his plan to destroy part of the Historic District? Because according to the architect at Morrison and Holmes, you paid them to draw up plans that require tearing down a lot more than five small businesses on Lavender Lane.”

I swore to Lily that I would protect everyone who signed an NDA, including her mother, and the only way I could do that was by flipping the Ludlows’ other source—the architecture firm. Maybe instead of manipulating the townspeople into signing NDAs, the Ludlows should’ve focused more on making sure the people they hired stayed quiet.

Trevor’s eyes go wide, giving himself away, and the debate rules go out the window as the entire gymnasium breaks out into a roar of outrage.

Mrs. Singer does her best to get everyone under control. It takes a few minutes, but she calms everyone down by promising to give Trevor one minute to explain himself. I want to object but doing so would make me look like I’m intimidated, so I agree with the format change.

For someone who appeared nervous only two minutes ago, Trevor has a certain swagger to him that raises an alarm in my head.

And when he looks over at me and smiles like he won the debate, I freeze.

“What Lorenzo said is true—” He holds his hand up to quiet the whispers. “But what he failed to mention is that I would never make a decision like that without putting it to a vote.”

I can see where he is going with this, and I don’t like it.

“We did contact an architect to draw up some plans and a few construction companies to get quotes. I won’t pretend that isn’t the case, but we only did it so that we could give the town as much information as possible for you to make a well-informed decision.”

I knew he’d go down swinging, but I didn’t expect him to punch back this hard.

“I understand this might come as a shock to everyone, and I completely understand, but we Ludlows look out for our own, which can’t be said about Lorenzo. He walked away from his family business when it got a little too hard for him.” Trevor pauses, and I watch as his words and his victorious smile sink in.

Trevor faces the crowd. “Does that sound like a person who’s loyal to you? Like someone who will fight when things get hard?”

For someone who was confident he could pull out a win tonight, I feel like the complete opposite right now, and the crushed look on Lily’s face confirms it.