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Alex frowns, looking confused, and I decide to tell him what Petra told me now. I think it’s kind of funny how far Petra will go to try and split Alex and I up, and while I don’t think Alex will find it funny, I still think he deserves to know the truth. If Petra is willing to tell a virtual stranger stories like that about him, who else is she telling these lies to?
I pat the bed beside me and Alex sits down.
“After lunch today, Petra invited me to have a glass of wine with her. Turns out she was only pretending to be nice to me so she could try and get into my head. I think she thought I would believe her story. I didn’t because I know you better than that, but I have to hand it to her, the girl is damned good at manipulating people. If I didn’t know you as well as I do, I might have believed her, she was that convincing.”
Alex’s frown deepens. “What did she tell you, Cindy?”
I take a deep breath. “She told me that you’re using me. Our relationship is a lie to fool Babushka.”
He narrows his eyes.
“That was my initial reaction too. I thought she had somehow worked out what we were doing, well how we started … our deal. Then I realized she couldn’t have and I only thought that because she was being so vague, so I asked her to spit it out. That was when she tried to convince me that there’s a clause in your aunt’s will that says that you will only inherit her money and her estate if you are married. If you’re not, then everything will go into a fund that will provide for Petra and the others. I mean talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel for a story. I don’t know what she’s trying to achieve with these stories. Maybe she just wants to make you miserable.”
I keep on babbling because as the words are pouring out of my mouth I’m beginning to realize that she was not scraping the bottom of the barrel. The story actually made perfect sense, especially since the reaction I’d been expecting from Alex, either anger at Petra, or maybe even laughing at how pathetic she is, doesn’t come.
He doesn’t say anything. He’s just silent. In fact, his face has gone white and he’s staring straight ahead of himself and in that moment, I know it’s true. Petra clearly has an agenda here. One that involves getting me out of the way at any cost. She must have thought after our little conversation that I would stick by Alex no matter what so she tried to get rid of me another way.
Because she too wants that money at any cost.
“Alex?” I say when it’s clear that he’s not going to be the first one of us to break the silence that’s fallen over the room. “Please tell me this isn’t true.”
He looks at me and I can see sorrow and pain in his eyes, but it’s clear that everything Petra said is true. He’s just been using me to get his hands on Babushka’s money. Everything has been a lie. I’m not here fooling that sweet old lady for her sake, I’m here so Alex can walk away with the whole lot. For a brief second, the horror of knowing how thoroughly I was fooled by him made me almost wish I hadn’t told him what Petra said.
But no. I’m glad I told him. I would rather know now what kind of a man Alex is than learn about it down the line in a divorce court once he has access to all the money. No doubt, he would have made me sign a pre-nup. What a joke! He sure knew how to pick the right girl for the job, because I would have insisted on signing a pre-nup to show him I had no interest in his money.
I finally see the true man beneath the mask. His face might be handsome, but inside, he is ugly. Ugly to the core.
“I don’t want to lie to you, Cindy,” he says softly.
Not only is he not trying to say it’s not true, but he’s not even defending himself or trying to explain to me why he’s done any of this if it wasn’t about the money.
I can’t help but think of Babushka. Of how much she loves Alex and how this news would break her heart into a thousand pieces. I know then that I will take the coward’s way out. I won’t tell Babushka what I’ve learned. I can’t be the one who breaks her heart like that. But I also can’t be a part of duping her. It was one thing when I thought I was part of something that would make an old woman very happy, but not this. I have grown fond of Babushka over the last few days, and I don’t care if Alex doesn’t pay me a red cent. In fact, he can take his stupid casino and shove it up his ass. I am not being a part of duping an old lady out of her money.
