AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I expect her to object and try to fight me off again when I put my hand at the small of her back and bid her to walk with me. But she lets it happen, sending a short look in the direction of the two women, before she follows my invitation.
I guide her down the hallway and to the left, remembering that there are French doors leading out to a large sunroom that appears to be unused. The doors are unlocked and we’re greeted with achilly breezewhen I open the door and Kat dartsout as if she couldn’t wait to get out of the main building fast enough. It’s colder out here, the glass walls only providingtheminimum of isolation.
Kat is still crying and hugging herself as the cold air attacks her lightly clad skin. I take off my suit jacket and wrap it around her shoulders, to which she retorts with a bitter look instead of saying thank you.
“What has gotten into you?” I want to know. “What just happened out there?”
Narrowing her eyes, she glares up at me, as if she was trying to convey a nasty message by telepathy instead of giving me an actual response.
“Talk to me!” I urge. “I have no patience for this.”
“Youneed to talk to me,” she retorts. “Who are you? And why do you need me to play your fiancée?”
I frown at her. “Why are you asking that now?”
“I have asked you before, many times,actually!”she bursts out. “And you flat-out refused to tell me! And now I know why. Iknow,Logan. I heard.”
“Know what? Heard what?” Iask, but the answer dawns on me just a moment after those questions leave my lips.
She’s been acting strange ever since shortly beforewe left the house. I blamed it on her being nervous, because it made perfect sense. But that wasn’t it. She heard me.
She heard me talking to Jack on the phone.
“Yes, that’s right,” Kat says, as if she could read my thoughts. “You’re a drug dealer, a fucking criminal. And—I don’t know how exactly—but you’re trying to greenwash your name with this silly charade.”
She’s so churning that her breath hikes and her entire body trembles under another assault violent crying fit, causing her to cough violently when she tries to continue speaking.
“Please, Kat, calm down—”
“Calm down?!”she cries out, yanking my hand away once again when I try to console her. “You don’t get to tell me to calm down! I have every reason to be angry—and scared!”
Her lips are quivering and the hurt in her eyes stings like a hot dagger to my chest.
“You are a monster,” she hisses. “You’re trying to fool the world and make them think that you’re this perfectly nice guy, hanging out with the high society and stroking your ego at these charity functions or whatever this is—when in reality, your basement isburstingwith skeletons!”
She’s choking on her tears again, gasping for air as she erupts in another coughing fit—while I’m forced to idly stand next to her, hogtied as any attempt of soothing her is only seen as a form of aggression.
“It’s not what you think it—”
“Oh, it’s not what I think it is?!”she cuts me off, almost shrieking at this point. “So then, I didn’t hear you say that you are a drug dealer? And that your father is in prison and you’re afraid of ending up in there as well? You talked about trying to do better. Better than what? Better than your father? Your brothers? Yourself? Why do you need to convince these people that you’re just a regular family man with no dark secrets then, if you’re such a good guy?”
She breaks off again, sucking in a sharp breath of air before she has the strength to go on.
“And why the hell are you usingmefor this? Why are you doing this to me? Is it because I was easy to agree to this shitshow? Because I was desperate enough to say yes without asking any annoying questions?” She wants to know. “Was I just that easy to take advantage of? And how much fun did you have screwing with my feelings during all of this? How did you even come up with that dreadfully cheesy proposal story? Is this all part of your demonic plan? Killing two birds with one stone—clearing your name while fucking me and breaking my heart?”
She’s interrupted by a violent urge to sob, her desperation painfully palpable as she tries to contain herself.
Her words hit me with painful force, and I find myself stumbling backward. It hurts to see her like this, it’s fucking horrifying actually—but what hurts the most is to hear what she thinks about me. That she thinks I’m toying with her feelings, actively trying to break her heart just for the fun of it.
I never meant to hurt her like this. Never.
“What now, Mr. Scammer? Did I render you speechless?”she probes, and disgust laces her face. “Or areyoujust trying to come up with another lie, to make sure your diabolic plan still comes to fruition?”
“It’s not like that,” I finally manage to say. “You’re getting this all wrong. And I can’t believe you’d think that about me.”
She releases a huff of disgust. “I don’t have tothink, Logan. Iknow. I heard you! I heard you talking on the phone and saying all those things! Are you seriously trying to deny saying it?”
I shake my head. “No. I’m just saying that you’re getting this all wrong.”
