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“I don’t want to do this now. I’m tired.” Monica lifts her chin, and the cool defiance that takes hold of her jaw shoots ice through my veins. The stranger is coming back more and more with each passing second, leaving me helpless to stop it.
“If I don’t get the truth out of you in the next five seconds, I’m out of here.” I clutch the arms of the chair, ready to bolt. “Do you understand me?”
“Cash, please.”
“Do you understand me?”
She flinches at my raised no-bullshit tone. “Yes, I understand. I just don’t want you to…to hate me.”
“If I don’t hate you by now, I doubt you could say anything that would make me start.”
Something in her expression softens, and my pulse speeds up in anticipation of finally getting the truth out of her. It’s right there between her parted lips, begging to roll off the tip of her tongue.
“I don’t deserve you,” she whispers.
“Let’s not get into who deserves what. We’ve both said and done things we shouldn’t have. Right now, I need you to tell me why you and Lydia were fighting. Was she blackmailing you?”
With downcast eyes, she nods.
“What did she have on you?”
Monica sucks in a deep breath, and five endless seconds later, she lets it out. “She was hired to seduce you.”
My heartbeat thumps in my ears, creating a painful rhythm I can’t ignore, and I try to make sense of her words.
I come up empty.
“Why?”
“I needed leverage.”
“Leverage for what?”
“Dad wants majority share of MontBlake.” She doesn’t look at me as she confesses, and it’s a good thing because I’m in a state of shock and mounting rage, and I’m sure my expression would send her deeper into a downward spiral.
“Your father was counting on the infidelity clause.” It’s not a question, but a statement as the pieces begin to form a picture that sickens me to my soul.
Her face bathed in misery, Monica nods. “Lydia was supposed to get you into bed, but you refused to hire her, then she got greedy and wanted more.”
“So she blackmailed you for money?”
“Yes.”
“There’s just one flaw in this plan,” I point out. “You cheated on me months ago. I have the photo to prove it.”
We lock gazes, and there’s no missing the apology in her eyes. “The photo is a fake. The only one who’s committed adultery in this marriage is you.”
I get up and turn my back on her, pulling deep breaths into my lungs. “What do you mean the photo is a fake? There’s not a goddamn thing that’s fake about you screwing another man in our bed.”
I’m clinging to the edge of a cliff, desperate to believe she’s lying, but every atom in my being tells me there’s honesty in her claim. She looks too goddamn sorry not to be telling the truth.
“It was a picture of you and me, Cash. I took it right after we were married. I just had it doctored to look like I was having an affair since I remodeled the bedroom. There isn’t anyone else, but I know you can’t say the same.”
I return to my chair and sink into it before my legs give out. “You had me followed?”
“My father did. If he doesn’t have proof already, he’ll get it. I was going to tell you everything, but it was too late. I couldn’t get a hold of you, then Lydia showed up wanting more money.”
“Why would you do this? Why would he do this?”
