What existing patience I had remaining was extinguished as soon as that sentence fell out of his mouth. If he was joking, it was the worst kind of prank he could possibly pull but if he was serious it was even worse.

"Are you insane?" I asked with gritted teeth and ripped my hands away from his grasp, careful not to raise my voice too high above the chattering customers and clinks of coffee cups to prevent drawing attention to our table.

His face did not change in response to my question. "I need you to listen to me."

I placed my palms flat on the table and stood up, ready to leave. "I need you to listen to me, Zach. Let's recap - you have strolled back into my life after four years as if we can just pick up where we left off and then when I begin open back up to you, then I find out that you lied, you didn't wait for me. You're engaged and to make it worse, you didn't even say anything! It was your mother, the bitter old crone, of all people, who told me!"

"Lou-"

His attempt to speak was futile; there was no stopping me.

"I waited for you! I waited. All of that time and you not only slept with someone else, you got engaged to her. I waited for nothing. How am I supposed to trust a single word you say?" I said, my words morphing into a broken whimper as a warm tear trickled a path down my cheek. I swiped it away as quick as it came. "So, after disappearing on me, again, are you seriously going to sit there and ask me to work for your fucking fiancee and act as though it doesn't mean anything? That I'll go along with whatever you say? What is wrong with you? I am done with your mind games."

I was so furious my body was almost vibrating with rage and I had the urge to fling my scolding vanilla latte in his face. I was panting from the collective rant of words that had fired from my mouth and I could feel every pair of eyes in the room fixed on the slice of drama I had gave them. Zach rose from his seat and moved around the table to stand in front of me. His large frame dwarfed my own as always and I hated how vulnerable I must have looked in that moment.

"I'm sorry I-"

He lifted a hand to my face and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. I recoiled from his unwanted touch, swatting him away.

"Don't touch me," I said with utmost venom dripping from my tone, lifting my bag from the floor and pushing past him to get out of the cafe.

Well aware that he had decided to follow me outside, I refused to stop as I stormed down the street. It really was no surprise he caught up to me with a few large strides, given his superior height and long legs, and he grabbed my upper arm gently so I was compelled to face him.

"What?"

"I love you," he said, his ebony eyes begging me to stare back into them, "I never stopped loving you. I know you don't believe me. I know what it looks like. I would be lying if I said I can remember what happened that night with Gabriella but I woke up fully clothed. If anything did happen, I can't remember it and I know that doesn't right the wrong. Even if I don't remember doing something that doesn't mean I'm not accountable. I should have told you sooner. I was afraid. Afraid of this, of you hating me. I'm a drunk... I was really, really drunk. I blacked out. If anything did, I never meant for it to happen."

"People get drunk, that doesn't mean they sleep with someone every time, it's not a valid excuse. I'm not going to give you a free pass. " I snapped at him.

"No," he said, exhaling slowly as he lowered his head before locking eye contact once again and for the first time he looked truly lost. The confident, devilish man I knew seemed hollow and non-existent. His large hand took my own and he lead me into the alleyway beside the cafe which I could only guess was an attempt to gain a sense of privacy from our public environment. "What I meant is, I'm an alcoholic, Lou. I drank to cope. I drink to cope. God, it's pathetic."

The ambient sound of traffic, passerby conversations and footsteps merged into a blur of white noise piercing my eardrums.  Zach took a hesitant step forward and I could feel the heat radiating from him being so close by. Seconds passed before I realised I had not uttered a word, only staring at him blankly as his revelation sank in.

"You're a..."

"Alcoholic, drunk, waste of space. Whatever you want to call it,"

"But, how? How did you let this happen to you?" I was still in shock, and I felt awful that my voice seemed to hold judgement over him when I responded without thinking.

He stared at me, his eyes dark and void of any telling emotion. "It crept up on me, Lou. It doesn't just happen after one night of binge drinking. After everything that had happened I drank for comfort the first couple of nights when I couldn't sleep. Then, it turned out I couldn't sleep unless I had a drink. After a while I couldn't get out of bed without the promise of a cold glass of alcohol. I needed something to block it all out. All I could think about was you. It was driving me crazy."

"Are you getting help?" I asked, the question hanging in the air as a moment passed. Zach nodded, licking his lower lip as he dropped his gaze to the concrete.

"I was in a group and spoke with a counsellor."

"Was?"

"I relapsed a month before I found you," he admitted, the shame he held for his own actions evident.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I could feel my tears bubbling up in their ducts, threatening to spill. I could only imagine the inner torment he must have been dealing with.

His answer sank into my heart like a sharp knife. "You would have left me."

Smouldering embers of my anger ignited, despite my tears almost extinguishing them to ashes and before I could stop myself my arms flung out in front of me to shove his chest. To my disappointment, my effort to exert my fury was pathetic and Zach barely moved an inch.

"You bastard." I was seething. "You should have told me! I am not sixteen any more. Who gave you the right to decide for me? I would never leave you. Not then and not now. That's what love is, Zach. I love you. We'e supposed to face the good and the bad together. How are we supposed to move forward together when you're so stubborn and want to deal with everything on your own? You never even gave me the chance to support you and then you lied to my face about everything!"

My hand cut throught the air and before my palm connected with his jaw, he restrained me with his own in one swift movement. Shit.

Dark eyes fixed on mine, an unrelenting, swirling abyss that sucked me in just like they did all those years ago. I gawped him like a deer in headlights and he watched me like a wild predator with its prey. His grip on my wrist was soft and firm at the same time as he moved my hand, pinning it down against my hip. He bent down, capturing my lips with his own. I was conflicted - my pent up anger coursed through my blood but it began to melt away into pleasure as he slid his tongue into my mouth and let out a low groan of satisfaction. His thumb circled the skin underneath my shirt at my waist making shivers bolt down my spine. He tasted like heaven but this was not the time to get lost in the moment and my anger won my internal battle. I bucked against him in protest and my left hand reached up, fingers threading through his thick hair and yanking his head back.

"You can't kiss this problem away, Zach," I said, more out of breath than I had hoped to sound.

"I know. I wanted to kiss you," he whispered over my lips, "I love you, Lou. I will never lie to you again."

"Bold statement with your recent history."

"I did wait for you, Lou," he said, "Gabriella Burbank means nothing to me. I only want you. I have only wanted you for these four years. This engagement is my mother's chance at making big money with an old money family. If I refuse, she is going to ruin Ebony Records. I don't care about my business and what happens to me, okay? I care about the innocent people caught in the cross fire. Eighty-seven percent of the companies under the Caldwell family are going to be liqudated by the Burbanks if she doesn't get what she wants. My mother might lose her chance at building a bigger empire, but when she signs everything over she'll still have plenty of money to set up a golden retirement. Hundreds and hundreds of jobs are going to be lost, not just mine or Noah's, a lot hardworking people who need their jobs are at risk."

Hot tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. "So what choice do we have? Can't your father stop her?"

"He signed everything over when he was gravely ill," Zach said, "When he recovered he retired to take care of his health."

"You need to marry her, don't you?"

"Not necessarily," he said. "If I break off this engagement, yes, all hell will break loose. But, if I get Gabriella to refuse to marry me, or confirm she's involved with something that could cause a scandal, then my mother will have no leg to stand on. No more marrying into old money. Gabriella is the only heir to their fortune after her older brother passed away."

"You want to sabotage her?" I could not hide the distaste in my voice.

"No," he said, "Gabriella is not known for her desire to be tied down, but she has never went up against her parents. I need her to take that step to defy them or find something to convince her to."

"Blackmailing isn't much better, Zach." I sighed.

"I know, but what choice do I have? It's either I marry into a loveless marriage and lose you again or refuse and cause so many people to lose their livelihood because of me."

"Wait," I said, "What is my role in all of this? You said you want me to work for her. Oh God, Zach, what's going on?"

"Gabriella needed a personal assistant so I emailed and said I happened to know someone with an abundance of experience, i.e you."

"You did what?" I screeched.

"She was happy with the referral. You'll start the week after your semester ends when The Burbanks are flying over a few months in advance for the engagement party."

"The engagement party?" I glared at him.

"We need my mother to play ball. She will not do anything to jeopordise her potential partnership with that family. Even if she sees you there, she'll have to grit her teeth and bear it. I need you to find something on Gabriella before then because if not, the Burbanks will go back to New York and we'll have lost our chance."

"Why not just send someone else to snoop and find something on Gabriella?" I asked, "Why are you hell bent on torturing me?"

"My mother has tabs on every one I know. I don't trust anyone else in my networking circle to be loyal when my mother waves a cheque in their face for infomation of what I'm up to. If she finds out, it's game over. You're the only one she can't get to like that."

"Fine."

"What?"

"I said fine, Zach." I bit out, still angry at him for lying to me. "I'll do it. Just don't make me regret it."