Page 79 of The Grump I Got Stuck With

Her amused smirk was gone now, leaving pure coldness behind. This was the real Jessica, the woman she’d hidden from me so skillfully. She’d fooled me, and as I sat before her now, I couldn’t believe I’d made such a mistake. And I couldn’t help being furious that I was forced to face it again. Why hadn’t she stayed gone? I was long past ready to be done with the chaos and destruction she brought to my life.

“Once you knew you’d gotten away, why didn’t you just disappear?” I asked her. “Why even stay in the country?”

“It’s not exactly cheap to disappear completely,” she muttered. “It takes a long time to get a hold of the right documentation, especially while trying not to draw attention to myself. I had to lie low, staying in shitholes most of the time because those were the only places where no one asks questions.”

I huffed a laugh of disbelief. “All of that, to stay in shitholes and sleep with one eye open, waiting to get caught. Was it even worth all that effort?”

“No,” she said, staring down at the table, drumming those bitten-down nails again.

For a second, something weirdly hopeful bloomed in my chest. It wasn’t that I still had feelings for her—I definitely didn’t. And even at the height of our so-called romance, I’d never been head over heels for her. But I had been head over heels for our daughter from the moment I knew she existed, and I’d been all-in on the idea of us building a family together. I could have loved Jessica, if things had gone a different way. We could have had a good life together. The person I thought she was back then, the person I’d seen a future with…I didn’t want to believe she was nothing but a mirage.

As naive as I was, I hoped there was a part of our relationship that hadn’t been a total lie. That way, I wouldn’t have to think I’d been a complete idiot for trusting her. I needed to know that I could trust my damn heart to know the difference between something real and something fake.

Her lips twitched then, fighting a smile. “If I had it to do over again, I’d never have gone near you in the first place.”

That strange bloom of hope shriveled in my chest, replaced by nausea.

“I got greedy,” Jessica admitted, looking faintly disappointed in herself. “I’d scammed men before, but it had been comparatively small-time. I was chasing tens of thousands of dollars rather than tens of millions.” She tilted her head, regarding me with that twisted grin. “You were also the first time I stole directly from a company rather than an individual.”

My blood boiled.

“I suppose I hadn’t really considered how much more heat would be on me, how much press and attention this case would get.”

“Didn’t envision your name up in lights all across the world?” I growled.

She tutted. “I certainly didn’t plan on the board throwing such a big stink, keeping the story in the public eye and dragging it out for ages. Usually, the men I go after skulk off into the shadows to lick their wounds. Outside of the police, and a handful of the people they’re closest to, no one even knows it happens—which makes it easy enough to hop a few towns over and start over with a new target.”

“But that wasn’t an option this time,” I said. “Forget finding a new target and laying a trap; you couldn’t even walk into a shop without risking being recognized.”

She hummed in agreement. “I didn’t go out at all at first—just holed up wherever I could find a place and had groceries delivered. But after all this time…I thought it had been long enough. And that I’d changed my look enough too.” She shrugged. “Apparently not. Damn shame, too, since I already had my eye on someone new. I’d barely even started laying the groundwork when I got pinched.”

I shook my head. “Should you really be admitting all of this?”

She glanced at the officer waiting in the corner of the room and smirked. “In a perfect world? No. But I know what I’m up against, and there’s no wiggling out of this one. I’m cutting a deal—full disclosure about every scam I’ve pulled, including the ones I’d planned that I hadn’t put into action yet. I haven’t told you anything the police don’t already know.”

Frustration and relief filled me in equal measure. A plea deal meant no trial, and no trial meant I didn’t have to spend months flitting back and forth from London to Braeburn. But it also meant all the answers the public wanted started and stopped with me. I didn’t have the option of stepping back and letting her take the spotlight. Once again, all eyes would turn to me.

“I really have no desire to be a public spectacle in a trial like you were,” she noted.

“You caused that spectacle,” I grumbled. “You put me and Kenna through all of that miserable⁠—”

“Yes, how is my little Trojan horse?” she said, cutting me off. “You haven’t said. Didn’t even bring me a picture of her.”

Anger flared to life inside me again. From the moment she told me about the pregnancy, she’d used my love for Kenna like a weapon, and it sickened me. “You’re a better thief than you ever were a mother, I’ll give you that.”

Jessica sucked her teeth. “Now that’s not very nice of you to say. And it’s really in your interests to play nice with me, Alistair.”

I snorted. In her bloody dreams.

“I’m facing a long sentence,” she added, “where I’ll have nothing but time to write down my thoughts. I’m sure someone out there will offer me a pretty penny to hear all the juicy, scandalous details of what it’s like being in a relationship with one of Britain’s wealthiest men.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Whatever the fuck I want,” she said with a catlike smile. “And I mean that. You think I’m going to go quietly?” Jessica shook her head. “I’m sure I’ll be able to craft something nicely salacious. Something you’ll have lots of fun explaining to our daughter when she hears people whispering about it.”

I scoffed, trying to seem indifferent even as my stomach twisted at her words. Goddammit, no. I am not going to let her find another way to hurt Kenna. “You’re full of shite. No one’s going to believe a damn word you say.”

Jessica shrugged. “What does that matter? It’ll all pay the same in the end. Tabloids do love their clickbait.”