"I guess the downfall of our friendship started when you rejected him back in high school."

"So, you knew…"

"Of course, I knew, Lizzie. He was my best friend and he confided in me. But if he was shy and cold before that, he was worst after. It got very hard to hang out with him."

"Why did you never tell me that you knew?"

"Because I did not think it was important. And I imagined that that episode was not as pleasant for you to remember." That part was right.

"Anyway, we went to college, and he started dating a girl. He still was hurt by your rejection and did everything to keep this girl. With her, he was the most pleasant person in the world."

Lizzie was surprised; had she really had that effect on Darcy's life?

"Our relationship was never the same, and we started to grow apart. Anyways, when we finished our first year at Harvard, I took a difficult decision that ultimately changed my life."

"That's when you dropped out of college", Lizzie said.

"Yes. I truly did not know what to do with my life and it seemed like a good idea to try other things. William Sr. then gave a job at Pemberley. He was my godfather and had promised my dying father to look after me. And he kept his word."

Lizzie already knew that part of George's story.

"I really liked Pemberley, and that's why I understood your decision of working there. That was the place where I discovered my passion for photography."

"William barely talked to me after I left school and never saw him when he happened to return to San Francisco. I guess that was the time when he became friends with Bing Lee."

"In the meantime, his sister, Georgiana, and I grew closer. She was always like a sister to me, and with her brother gone and her parents busy all the time, I spent a great deal of time with her."

"And then everything changed again with the death of the Darcys. I was devastated, they were my family."

Lizzie could see the sadness in George's eyes while he was speaking.

"Darcy returned to town and I tried to be there for him, to give him my support, and he rejected me. But, I understood his reaction because I felt the same when my father died."

"He had a lot to deal with, so I was the one comforting Gigi. One time that I was with her, he arrived and looked at us with jealousy. I suppose he was jealous that I was closer to his sister than him. After that, I found out that he had become her guardian and took her with him to Boston. They barely said goodbye to me."

"I continued to work in Pemberley for a few months before I was fired without explanation. I always wondered if Darcy had something to do with that."

"Wait, George, that does not…"

"Please, Lizzie, let me finish, and then you can say whatever you want."

"Okay," Lizzie had a hard time imagining William behaving like that. He did not look to her like the kind of person that would do that; but decided not to say anything until George was finished.

"Fortunately, I had made enough connections during my time at Pemberley and I started working full time in photography, and I moved to LA. I travelled a lot too back then and one opportunity took me to Hartford. And there, after three years, I met Gigi again."

"She was in her first year in college. At first, she was rude to me but I convinced her to have coffee with me. I asked her to tell me what had happened during those three years that she did not reply to my emails or answer my calls. Apparently, Darcy insisted that I was a bad influence for her since I was a school dropout. Since he was her only family at the time, she did as he said."

"I told her to remember those times when we were inseparable and make a judgment if I ever was rude or bad to her. I was with her when Darcy had forgotten about her."

"At the end, she came around, and we started to spend more time together. I extended my stay at Hartford to be with her. She had grown into a sweet and beautiful woman, but I still saw her as a sister. I did not imagine that she was looking at me in a different way."

"One day, she confessed to me that her dad had left some money for me in his will, but that Darcy had refused to give it to me because he felt that I was not worthy of the love and care that his father had from me."

"Of course, I had no idea that my former friend despised me that much. Gigi suggested that I should fight to get that money but I refused. To me, it was more important my relationship with her."

"Later, we were watching a movie at her place when Darcy appeared out of the blue. He got really mad and yelled at her, how could she be involved with me after what he had said? I was about to defend her and myself when she shouted that she did not care about anything because she was in love with me."

"Both Darcy and I were surprised by her words. He then replied that I was never going to be good enough for her because I had not come from money and my prospects were uncertain. He made me leave, and the last thing I remembered hearing were Georgiana's sobs."

"Wow…", Lizzie said. That was unexpected.

"I waited a couple of days before trying to reach her, but she called first. She told me that if she had to decide between her brother and me, she chose Darcy. She sounded sad but I never heard again from her. At my return to LA, I found a Pemberley check in the mail. I never used it."

George looked genuinely affected and Lizzie tried to comfort him. She stood up and went to where he was and hugged him.

"The rest of the history, you know it. I ran into you in NY and then in LA, and now here we are."

"George, I am very sorry to hear that, but I can't see Darcy being so evil. I have spent a lot of time with him and he has been nothing but nice to me, to everyone in fact. He's a better person than what you described."

George stepped away from her.

"Lizzie, of course he has to be nice to the people he works with, otherwise no one would stay at Pemberley and it would not be the successful enterprise that it is. It might just be his work façade."

"Maybe he's changed. Bing and Fitz only say good things about him", Lizzie replied.

"Maybe he has, but he still broke her sister's heart and mine too in the process. And what do you think his friends would say about him? They would only say good things about him."

"That is true, but I still have a hard time believing…"

"Believing me?", George interrupted her, appearing very hurt by her disbelief.

"No, George, that was not what I wanted to say."

"Why would I lie to you, Lizzie?", he said as he moved towards the door.

"George, no, wait."

"Whatever, you can believe whatever you want", and he left the apartment.

Lizzie fell on the bed. Her head hurt, trying to make up her mind. George was right; he had not reasons to lie to her. Still, William could not be that deceiving, she even considered him a friend.

But what George had said explained why he was always on edge when Darcy was mentioned. It also explained some of his manners and reactions.

She was putting her boss of months before her almost two year-long boyfriend and she definitely did not want to jeopardize her relationship with George. She then grabbed her phone and asked her boyfriend to return home.

George had been waiting that call from across the street. He had faith that Lizzie would believe him and apologize. He was sure he had put up a very appealing story.

It all had started when Lizzie had called Darcy by his first name. She had never done that before. And he saw it as a sign that they were becoming more than business partners, and he was not going to lose again against Darcy. He had to do something about it.

He had thought then of a way to twist up the story between him and the Darcys, where he was the victim and Darcy the villain. He might have gone too far, but at the end, he had achieved his objective.

When Lizzie heard the door, she rushed to welcome George.

"I am sorry", she said as she hugged him.

"It's okay, Peach," he put his arms around her, "It was a lot to process and I can see why you had doubts. You might be right, Darcy might have changed and you got to know his better self."

"Maybe…", Lizzie replied.

"I just want to ask you something…"

"Yes?"

"Could you try not to spend more time than necessary with him? Now that you know what happened, you can understand why I don't feel comfortable with that."

"Of course", Lizzie knew it was going to be difficult but she was going to try, for her love's sake.

She hugged him again and did not see George's grin of satisfaction.