You can keep the diamond ring

It don't mean nothing anyway

In fact you can keep everything

Except for me...

Lizzie wandered around for a long time, her mind in turmoil.

The George she (thought she) knew could not be the one Gigi had described. She could not conceive that he had deliberately taken advantage of Gigi for pure greed.

She still could not understand why he had lied to her. In a way, he had triggered the chain of events leading her to the truth. If he had not told her his version of the "truth", she would have never asked Darcy about him, she would not have heard that conversation, she would not have treated him badly, etc...

Of course, Georgiana and Darcy would still have met George at Jane's wedding but that could have gone differently.

Another thing that she could not stop thinking about was what Gigi had said about Darcy being a threat to George. If Darcy had ever been a menace, Lizzie had repressed any feelings or thoughts out of respect for her relationship with George. Maybe that was why he had proposed at the Pemberley party. He still considered Darcy a danger, despite that he had succeed in making Lizzie dislike him.

Lizzie looked down at her engagement ring and she wondered if it had meant something at all.

If there was an explanation to his acts, she needed to hear it from him.

She returned to Pemberley, only to get her car and she headed to her apartment, where George was waiting for her. It was, after all, their date night.

"Hey, peach," George said when he heard the apartment door, "Guess what? I made reservations to that place that you like at the marina."

He heard her footsteps but not a reply.

"Lizzie?," he asked, leaving the bedroom to meet her.

"Peach, are you okay?!," he shouted. He saw her puffy and red eyes, and she looked so distressed. He tried to approach her, but she extended one arm to block him.

"Don't," she said.

"Lizzie, what happened?," he asked again.

"Why did you lie to me?"

"I don't know what are you talking about," he answered but feared about the direction of the conversation.

"You lied about William and Georgiana Darcy."

"What about them? I already told you what happened."

"Gigi talked to me today and gave a very different story."

"Peach! She's obviously covering for her brother", he exclaimed as he stepped forward.

"Then how do you explain these?," she responded and showed him the documents Gigi had given her.

As he read, Lizzie noticed his face getting red and angry.

"You told me that you were fired from Pemberley and that William denied you the trust fund money."

George looked at her, and said, "How do you know these are real? How do you know they did not make them so you would believe them?"

"Why would she go through all the trouble to get fake bank receipts and tell me exactly how you use her and hurt her?"

"Lizzie...," he started to said but she interrupted him.

"Why did you have to hurt her? Just for the money?"

"You did not know what I was going thru at that time. I had close to nothing…," he justified himself.

"You had plenty. How did you lose all that money in less than three years?," she asked, puzzled.

"Lizzie, you have no idea how it was to grow up with excessive wealth in front of your eyes every day. The Darcys tried to share with me, but it was not the same. Darcy and Georgiana always got what they wanted. But not me."

"I promised myself that one day I was going to have what they had. And when I learnt about the trust fund, I took it. It was finally my chance to live the life I always wanted."

"But not everything worked out the way I expected. I made bad decisions and I paid the consequences. When Darcy refused to help me, I had to find another way to subsist."

"So you decided to use Gigi? That's not a justification," Lizzie exclaimed.

"It was not like that, I cared about her," he excused himself.

"I don't believe you, otherwise you would have not accepted the second check," she said and put her hands on the kitchen table to support herself.

"And what about William? You made me think the worst of him and ruined our relationship."

"William! William! That's what I feared! He managed to get you close to him!"

"We just work together!"

"Oh, no! I'm sure he was trying to woo you. All those meetings together, working together late, all that was part of his plan."

"That's nonsense," she sighed.

"He chose you for his little project because he has not let go of his feelings for you. You were meant to see all he could offer you and choose him over your poor little boyfriend. He's jealous of me because I found you, a beautiful, intelligent woman, and after all this time, he's still alone."

"So you proposed at his party at his company? To gloat in front of him?," Lizzie asked. She was certain that William was not longer interested in her, but she was pushing George to get the truth.

"No, I did it because I love you," he replied and tried to approach her again.

"Lizzie, we've been together for two years, we live together. I know all your family and they like me; I left the career I managed to build in LA for you. I have never done anything to hurt you. I love you. Please, believe what I'm saying," he pled.

As she listened to his rant, she walked around the kitchen table in order to avoid him.

"You hurt me when you denied me the chance to learn the truth from William," she uttered.

"What else could I have done? There was no way you could have read that letter and stayed with me," he spoke without thinking.

"So you admit that you took the letter."

"I did what I must to save our love, I wasn't going to lose you because of him."

"You just have, and by your own actions," she said.

George realized too late that he had confessed to kept the letter from Lizzie and opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. He never expected this confrontation.

Lizzie took off her engagement ring and put it on the kitchen table, "This means nothing now. It's over."

"No...," he sighed.

"Get out of my house," Lizzie cried.

"Please, Lizzie, I love you, I'll fix this", George tried to sound sweet but did not succeed.

"Get out!," Lizzie yelled.

She was breathing quickly, she was furious and could not endure to see him, even one more second. However, her tone of voice did not make George leave.

"If you don't go, I will. And you better be gone when I return," she said and quickly walked to the door.

"No, you are not leaving," George said behind her and grabbed her hard by the wrist.

In that instant, Lizzie remembered the self-defense classes she had taken in college. She did a wrist release and kicked him in the crotch. She managed to keep her keys, got out of the apartment and did not look back. She ran down the stairs as fast as possible and arrived to her car.

She drove away, wanting to put as much distance from him as possible. Her confrontation with him had taken a turn for the worst. He had never been violent towards her. She had not recognized him.

Her tears almost did not let her see the road but when she stopped her car; she realized she had driven to the only place in San Francisco where she felt safe.

Part of Me - Katy Perry.

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