AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She recoils, like I slapped her. “You’re upset. I know that. And I should have told you, but just because we didn’t have money doesn’t mean I can’t do this.”
“Yes, it does.” Cruel. That’s what I’m being, I know it and I can’t stop because she betrayed me. “No one that knows me would in their right mind think I’d go for you. That I’d choose someone like you.”
She nods. “You don’t have to be nasty.”
“No, I don’t, but it’s better than what I want to do.”
“Which is?”
I stare at her. “I just can’t believe you lied and I believed you. Jesus Christ, it’s even obvious why you did all this. Your so-called boyfriend?”
“I never said Danny was that.”
“No, but you led me to think that. No wonder he looked familiar. Now I know, it’s the family resemblance. But even better, I really know who he is now. He’s that little shit who practices dodgy real estate and has been trying to get a foot in my door. Which, by the way, will never happen. And I’ll make sure he fails on every count anywhere he steps in the tri-state area. He can stay with the bottom feeders.”
“You can’t do that.”
I smile, it’s vicious and it’s aimed right at her. “I can.”
“Please don’t take it out on Danny. Please don’t.” She looks like she’s going to cry. “He’s decent and he’s good at what he does, he’s had bad luck and made poor choices in who he trusted—”
“I’ll say, if it’s you.”
She breathes out and half reaches for me and she drops the envelope but makes no move to pick it up as she pulls her hands back in, realizing, it seems, what a futile move she’s trying to make. “You don’t need to be cruel, Hudson. I screwed up.”
“You tried to trick me and you did well, I’ll give you that. Better than most. Then again, most don’t have the kind of wares you have.”
She flinches at the meaning of my words.
“But try and tell me this isn’t some sort of scam dreamed up with you and your brother. It was the name, you see, that I put it together. It’s in my report who he is, but no photo, as I didn’t think I needed that. You tried to use me and you failed.”
“Hudson,” she says, real panic lighting her voice, “that wasn’t my intention. I needed money, but I didn’t set out to scam you or trick you or anything. It was one small lie that got out of hand. I’ll fix this. All of it.”
I’ve had enough. I stood. “No.”
“But we’re close—you’re close. And everything you said last night, you can’t give up now. You don’t have to ever see me again after, but we need to see it through.”
It’s exactly the wrong thing to say to me. I don’t need to be reminded of making a fool of myself, of baring parts of my soul to her. I don’t need a fucking thing from her except for her to be gone from my life.
“When you leave my office,” I say, looking at my watch, “right around now, get your things and go. You’re fired. From both jobs. That includes my life, in case I’m not being clear.”
“But—”
“Do not make me call security.”
Scarlett hesitates and I think she’s going to stay, but she doesn’t. She nods tightly and turns and leaves, head down.
I sink down into my chair and close my eyes. A weird emptiness spreads through me, somehow weighing me down.
It’s over.
And for the first real time in my life, I’ve failed.
In all the ways that matter.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Scarlett
