Page 125 of The Cinderella Arrangement

My ex-fiancé looked up at me, an unfathomable expression stirring in his eyes.

“What are you doing in my house?”

“I think you know what the fuck we’re doing here.”

The blonde man’s face twisted as Will stepped into the kitchen. They were opposites juxtaposed against each other. Light vs. Dark.

“The fucking photos, Ben. I want them taken down. Take them down and leave me alone, and I won’t press charges.”

“The fuck you won’t!” Will burst out. “Remove them or I’ll remove your fucking balls and boil them in motor oil, you pathetic—”

“Will!”

Ben smiled back at me, unperturbed by the insults. He had an infuriating look of superiority on his face. “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. You should be more worried about whether I’ll press charges against you.”

“That’s cute,” Will spat.

“For what?”

“Breaking and entering. Trespassing. Take your pick.”

My body went hollow. Oh, fuck. I didn’t dare look at Will; I kept staring at Ben. Please just do the right thing.

Will lunged forward, but I grabbedhis jacket and wrenched back.

“No! That’s just what he wants!” I turned towardBen. “The door was open, Ben. There was no break-in. Why are you being so childish about this?”

“Listen, fuckstick. Even if you took them down, I’ve got screen caps of them. I thought you might pull some kind of bullshit. I bet if the cops traced the IP address for the last login on her profile, it would lead back here.”

Or maybe not.

Ben cocked his head, still wearing that smile that made me want to vomit. “To be honest, I was curious about meeting you,” he said to Will. “You’re the one replacing me. The more I looked into you, the more I didn’t understand why Natalie would be into you.”

Will laughed. “Is that all you’ve got?”

“You’re just a foul-mouthed, spoiled, rich boy with a body count. Three people died in that car accident.”

A ringing silence followed his words. He savored the pain on William’s face. For once, he didn’t have a retort.

“You’re unbelievable,” I told Ben.

I tugged Will’s jacket. Willlooked ready to pounce.

“Let’s just go. Jessica was right, this was a waste of time.”

“What’s the matter?” he goaded as we turned around to leave. “Scared to lose in front of your girlfriend?”

Will pulled against me to sneer at Ben. “I’ve already won. Natalie is mine and you’re just a little bitch who can’t even get it up.”

“—Will!”

Holy fucking Christ this is going from bad to worse.

I clapped my hands to my face. I had told none such thing to Will, but it was true and Will had somehow guessed it.

The chair fell over as Ben stood upright, all 6’2” and 180 pounds vibrating with rage. The leaner, smaller Will was itching for a fight. His light, kind eyes narrowed at me, his face purpling. I could see a small gleam of hurt behind the rage.

“You told him our personal shit?”

---