Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 559(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 559(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
“Thank you for agreeing to meet me,” Alexander says. He smiles, and my body recoils. No matter the physical similarity of the two men’s smiles, I’m now fully aware that Alexander’s is designed to hide his sinister, dark soul, whereas Max’s is a window into the beauty of his.
“You’re looking gorgeous, as usual,” Alexander says, drawing me from my thoughts. “Better than ever.”
“Get to the point,” I snap on an exhale. “Say whatever you came to say.”
Alexander smirks. “Can’t you guess?”
I pretend to sip my martini. “No, I can’t.” It’s a true statement, although, if I had to guess, I’d say Alexander is here to threaten me not to go to his wife with news of our past dalliance. I’m guessing when I gave Gigi permission last week to tell her closest inner circle the truth about my fake engagement to Max, Alexander was one of the people she told. Which likely means Alexander, having now realized he’s got no leverage to keep Max from telling his wife about his philandering past with me, is now on a mission to threaten, cajole, charm, or otherwise convince me to keep quiet through any means necessary.
Alexander leans back in his chair. “I’ve discovered the truth about your supposed engagement to Max.” He smiles. “I know why Max went ahead with the ruse. The only question is why you did.” His smile widens. “Clearly, you wanted to make me jealous. To get my full attention. Well, good news, Marnie. Your plan worked.”
My mouth hangs open. “What? No.”
Alexander scoffs. “Come on, Marnie. It’s just you and me here now. We can talk freely. I admit I was jealous as fuck when I saw Geraldine’s post. In fact, the minute I saw it, I realized what I’d lost: the only woman I’ve ever truly loved.”
I roll my eyes. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
“It’s true. The thought of you becoming my daughter-in-law and fucking my son every night was pure torture for me. I swear, I’ve never been so tortured in all my life.”
“First of all, you swearing to anything is meaningless. And second of all, I said yes to Geraldine making that post because you’d treated her horribly during your marriage, and she seemed amused by the idea. That’s it. I was simply helping your ex-wife have a little fun. I promise you mean nothing to me.” I pretend to sip my drink. “I honestly hate you. You’re a truly despicable person.”
Alexander chuckles. “You just gave yourself away, sweetheart. The opposite of love isn’t hate. It’s indifference. If I truly meant nothing to you, then you wouldn’t have continued to go along with the ruse, once Geraldine had had her fun. You kept going with it to get my attention.”
I can’t quickly fashion a response to that accusation, since I agreed to go to family camp only after hearing about Alexander’s horrific comments to Max. In that sense, I suppose I did, in fact, continue with the lie, at least in part, to piss off Alexander.
Alexander leans forward, his blue eyes blazing. “When I found out you and Max weren’t actually a couple, I knew in that moment what I needed to do.” He tries to take my hand on the table, but I yank it away. He says, “I’ve left my wife for you, Marnie. I’ve come here to tell you—”
“What?” I shout. “Oh, God.”
“That I never stopped loving you. Wanting you. Thinking about you. And now, I’m finally free to—”
“Stop, Alexander. Don’t say another word.” My heart is lodged in my mouth. Clogging up my throat. Making my breathing erratic. “Let me be clear,” I spit out. “I feel nothing for you, other than disgust. Not only for the way you’ve treated me, Geraldine, and your other two wives, but even more so for the way you’ve treated poor Max. When he was only fifteen years old, you had the vile audacity to tell him to keep his mouth shut about your unfaithfulness. And when you genuinely thought Max was engaged to me, you told him horrible lies about his fiancée, simply to save your own skin.”
Alexander’s blue eyes are a raging forest fire now. “Admit it,” he spits out. “You targeted Max from the very beginning to get to me.”
Feeling enraged, I glance at my friends across the bar to steady myself, and when I see their kind faces staring at me, all of them ready to sprint over here to stand by me at the slightest signal, I feel emboldened. I return to Alexander and puff out my chest. “Go fuck yourself, Alexander. After I blocked your number, I promise I never thought of you again.”
“Listen to me. Now that I know about your daughter, I know how to make this worth your while. I’ll put you up in a luxury apartment near my office and bankroll a live-in nanny for you. I’ll even send some high-end clients your way, if you’d like.”